Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone Falls
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This morning we drove into Yellowstone. It was a beautiful drive – crossed the Continental Divide (7988 ft.). We arrived at the Fishing Bridge RV Park about 12:30. Got settled in and then packed a lunch and took off to cover half of the Loop Drive around the park. Yellowstone Lake is the largest mountain lake in the US and it is beautiful. Saw our first herd of buffalo they were all over the place including the road. Went to see Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone where we took some photos. Headed on towards Mammoth Hot Springs which is at the far North side of the park. We drove along a beautiful road that overlooked the entire Eastern part of Yellowstone. A big part of the park is located in a huge caldera (crater) created by the huge volcanic explosion that took place here 600,000 years ago. The sky is so blue and the air so clear it is wonderful. Stopped at Tower Falls and had the best ice cream cone ever. Mammoth Hot Springs, our next stop, is a large area of hot springs that bubble out all over everything. The rock is snow white and everything smells like rotten eggs. On the way back we got involved in a one hour traffic jam because the buffalo were crossing the road. It was fun to see them so close but what a mess. We didn’t get home till about 8:30.

Buffalo Blocking the Road
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After a great breakfast we headed out again to do the Geyser section of the park. We decided to drive around the buffalo area first hoping to miss the traffic jam but we didn’t. Turned around and headed the other way to avoid sitting for an hour. It was cloudy and cooler today, thunderstorms threatening. We went to the Old Faithful section and walked the entire area – saw many geysers and pools. Continued driving in the geyser basins and stopped at the Firehole River Falls which was beautiful. There are so many waterfalls here you can’t see them all. Drove back through buffalo territory to get home and waited again. They were all over the place. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday though. We were pooped when we got home.