Yellowstone National Park - September 2018 - Part Two

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The Grand Adventure - Summer 2018 - Part Seven

Things that go blurb blurb.

The Teds were off before first light Wednesday morning to Hayden Valley with high hopes that wolves would be coming in to the new carcass there. We left shortly after sunrise to make a driving circuit around the Park. Donna had given us instructions. She likes things that go blurb blurb. Could we bring back some videos for her to see? We would do anything for Donna.

Our first stop was the Artist Paintpots geothermal area. Even mid morning, we waited for a vehicle to back out of a parking spot so we could park. The place was full. But it was also magical.

Up at the top of the loop trail was the prize - things that go blurb blurb.

We attempted to stop at a couple other geothermal areas without success. We could not find an empty parking space. We continued down along the Gibbon River and pulled into the small parking area for the Monument Geyser Basin. There was only one other vehicle in the small dirt pull out. We read the sign and maybe discovered the reason why. It was a .9 mile walk and it is uphill.

What a neat place! Two young men followed us up. The Lady engaged them in conversation and they instantly became her tour guides, happily imparting every educational piece on geothermal activity they could recall. It was fun to watch and the Lady was genuine in her interest, questions, and attention.

There are no barriers, no boardwalks. You watch your own step. We really enjoyed our visit here.

We parted ways with the young men. They shared with the Lady that they were from Washington, D.C. and were on a cross country road trip to see our national treasures. When she inquired what their next stop was, they replied, "Oh we have to stop and see Mount Rushmore before it is dynamited to bits and replaced with a giant comb over!" We liked these two guys.

I really wanted to see and explore the Firehole River geothermal area. It was packed with vehicles backed up into the road hoping for a place to park. We did our part to relieve the congestion and continued down the road.

Old Faithful was erupting as we pulled in. We watched it as we topped off our gas tank. We didn't need to look for a parking spot.

We intersected with the Yellowstone River and drove into Hayden Valley. What a spectacular place! It was now later in the afternoon and several parking spaces were available at the Mud Volcano area.

There are several very interesting geothermal features here.

The highlight of the stop was this female bison. She was dreaming as she slept. All four of her hooves acted out her run across Hayden Valley in her dreams. Look at the earth near her hooves. The crowd enjoyed this moment with the sleeping bison.

It was late afternoon and beautiful perfect light as we drove through Hayden Valley. Swans were on the Yellowstone River. I yearned to stop and pull out the camera. We could not. There was not one parking place. Had everyone heard about the carcass in Hayden?

All in all we had a wonderful day. We'll do our homework on the Firehole and late afternoon in Hayden Valley for a future visit.

The Teds were waiting for us at the campground. They had a nice day but no wolf sightings. They hoped to be "on to wolves" the next day. We showed them videos of things that go blurb blurb and we all went to bed happy.

The next day, Thursday, the Lady and I went for a long hike.

Our Yellowstone adventure continues in Part Three - Please Click Here