We awoke this morning with Yellowstone in our sights. Kristi was up at 5:30 local time, and after packing, showering, and breakfast, we were on the road by 7:30. We stopped for a quick coffee in Bozeman, then it was back to I-90.
The kids wanted to hear more Charlotte’s Web, so I read them several chapters as we completed our I-90 trip and merged onto MT-89. We made it to Gardiner, MT by 9:30. We stopped for a bit, to pick up ice and other sundries, and passed under The Roosevelt Gate at 10am.
The Roosevelt Gate
Even before we got to the entrance pay station, we ran into our first tourist traffic jam, photographing a few Pronghorn antelope hanging out near the entrance to the park.
First stop was at Mammoth Hot Springs,
Mammoth Hot Springs
where we got a chance to deal with thin mountain air, gusty winds, and lots of tourists everywhere.
We stopped at the Visitor Center to grab a couple extra maps for the kids, and we were off to Tower Falls.
On the way to Tower, though, we twice got to participate in that most beloved of Yellowstone tourist rituals; pulling over to the side of the road to photograph some wild animal or another. The first one was a lone bison, and we were actually the first car to stop. Brett and I walked back along the road to say hi, and the bison was only mildly interested in a shrieking kid and his camera-toting dad.
Please don’t yell near the bison.
The second one was already a pretty major traffic jam by the time we got there;
You get a lot of this in Yellowstone.
a black bear was browsing through a meadow,
seeking pic-a-nic baskets
and it was much easier to spot because of the ever-shifting mass of paparazzi keeping a respectful 100yd distance.
There was also a still-standing petrified tree, where Brett found a cicada.
Just before the Falls, we saw a large group of cars pulled over at what would otherwise be just a scenic overlook, so we stopped, and it turned out that a family of Bighorn Sheep were hanging out on the other side of the canyon from us. There were at least 2 kids and 2 adult females. I pulled out Wobble (set up as a spotting scope), and we got a nice little look at them. Nice. Plus, no traffic jam, because there were ample pull-outs.
We made it up to Tower Falls without further incident, and stopped for a bite to eat. We were going to enjoy some cake with the meal, but it was really windy, and we occasionally got a gust with road dust in it, so we decided to table the motion for later. A couple deer came to visit the campground across the street, but I didn’t score a photo of them. The Falls were impressive, and I’m sad that I missed them last time through.
One of Yellowstone’s icons
Lucy contemplates the Tower Falls.
After leaving the Falls, we drove up the pass and got a photo in a snowbank.
Reminds me of a photo from 1998.
We dropped into the caldera, and decided that we weren’t going to make Old Faithful today, so we started looking for a campground. On the way across the center of the figure eight, we saw a moose.
What, no flying squirrel?
It was everyone’s first moose, and very cool.
We dragged out the spotting scope and took a good look up close. On the way out of the moose hollow, we saw 3 bison, and really irritated the car behind us with the stopping and starting trying to line up a good shot (didn’t exit the car).
Home on the range
Norris campground was full, so we headed to the Norris Geyser Basin, and got a load of a bunch of cool geysers,
really our first ones of the day, and even had 5 minutes in front of Veteran’s Geyser where we were the only people in sight. That was refreshing.
First Quarter Moon over Yellowstone
- Some oddly spindly trees, about the diameter of my leg
Off to check Madison Campground to see if we could find a place to stay for the night.
… and then we ran into The Traffic Jam. About 8 miles short of Madison, our second attempt to find an open campground, we ran into a line of cars near Artist’s Paintpots that was at least 1/2mi long. By this time of day, we were pretty used to the whole Yellowstone tourist thing, but this was really pretty ridiculous. Kristi said “There better be two bears tussling over an elk carcass while chasing off a wolf.”
So after creeping forward for about 20min, it turned out that it was, in fact, a wolf. Everybody’s first time seeing a wolf, although I was the only one who spotted it.
There were times when I wished for a telephoto lens.
By now, we had reached the “oh, look, another geyser — keep going” point in the program;
Lucy checking out the huge herd of bison
- Must have been 300 head out there, but Kristi was not stopping for a look.
we made it to Madison to find the campground similarly full. We had a short conversation with the rangers about where we could find a campsite, and they suggested a place that’s outside the west entrance to the park, just north of West Yellowstone, MT. I could have sworn Idaho was over on that side of the park, but I guess Montana extends down far enough to cover it.
We found the campground with no problem, and found a campsite, too. We paused for a moment to put up the tent and have a bit of birthday cake,
Thus did we celebrate
and then headed into town for dinner. We had some steaks along with us, but the campsite grill was not really up to snuff, so we decided to have them later.
We found a nice little spot to eat, and were surprised by a local all-singing, all-dancing troupe that came in to advertise their evening’s entertainment, a theater production of some kind. It was fun to watch them do their thing.
It’s been a long day in the park, and I’m looking forward to a night under the stars, and then back at it tomorrow — we still haven’t seen Old Faithful!