Homeward Bound-Day 5

---

We entered the park through the west entrance again this morning. Today we were only greeted by a few bison along the road. We did spot several elk grazing close to the road, unfortunately we did not get a photo of them. We stopped at some amazing guiser basins which had bubbling clear blue water that rushed off the basin and flowed directly into Firehole River. The scenery was spectacular again which was whetting our appetite for 'Old Faithful'. Old Faithful is a bit off the main road, but because of it's popularity, the area is well prepared for visitors. We were lucky to have timed our stop as Old Faithful was estimated to erupt about 10 minutes after we parked. And almost right on cue, it erupted. If we had arrived a few minutes after the eruption, we would have had to wait another 90 minutes for the next expected eruption. We continued our travel over the continental divide toward Yellowstone Lake. There was a lot of geothermal activity near Yellowstone Lake. We enjoyed lunch at the park, near the eastern entrance. The road to the eastern park entrance had major evidence of forest fire damage. The road to Cody, Wy was especially scenic as was the Bill Cody State Park. We stopped to see the Shonshone River Dam which forms the lake in Bill Cody State Park. At the time (1905) the site for the dam was very remote. Roads and lodging had to be built to accommodate the workers building the dam. The granite canyon walls are very narrow, but the dam had to be high to create the water reservoir needed for irrigation. The concrete dam was not steel reinforced rather they put larger chunks of granite in with the concrete. It took five years to complete for the small dam, due to mismanagement and several floods which also washed out their work. We spent the night in Worland, a small town of about 5,000. We had dinner and drinks at a local hangout. Tomorrow we head toward Mt. Rushmore.

---

Photos

Old Faithful
It was much higher at its peak, which we caught on video.

Waiting for Old Faithful
Erupts about every 90 minutes. Each eruption lasts between 1 to 5 minutes.

Comments

[Jim Worden]

Enjoyed all your photos
Hi Linda and Al, I am enjoying all the stories and photos, what a wonderful experience. Are you on schedule for your return to Mechanicsburg and "The Lake". The weather here is colder than a witches you know what, low last night was in the low 40's, day time temperatures in the middle 60's. Can't wait to hear all the stories in person.

[Pineyapple]

Weather here
We are on our way back home, starting to yearn for our own bed. The weather has been exceptional as you can see from the photos. We only had rain one afternoon in Yellowstone.