Thar she blows!!

WOW!! What a day! We were detoured out of Cody north into MT and back down into the north entrance of the park at Gardiner. The park is still working on clearing its roads, so some entrances won’t open for another few weeks. In other places the park roads are clear but the public roads are not because they are being left snow covered for the snowmobilers a little longer. None the less we enjoyed our trip in from the north too; what’s a couple of extra hours of drive time? We drove thru sun, snow and rain today, but the roads have not been a problem at all. It is interesting to see how the mountains differ - some rocky, some tree covered, some snowy, some that look like the Badlands – all right there in view.
We were a bit disappointed that we had not seen any bison as we drove through the Badlands this time, but boy did we make up for it today! They are literally roaming the streets here, and they have the right of way no matter which lane they choose. We came upon several last night as we were trying to leave the park standing out in the middle of the road across both lanes. As Nathan slowed and approached, there was a younger one out front that just stood there and stared into our headlights completely undaunted. Nathan tried the horn once, but that didn’t faze them either. We had no idea how long we would have to wait for them to mosey on, but I got me a smart fella! He realized that we were beside a parking lot on the other side of a median, so in the dark, he backed up a couple of hundred feet, past a bison we had made it around, and was able to bypass the pack. Fortunately they were not blocking the exit as well.
Snow had begun falling on us again as we entered the park this morning, and the ranger told us it is supposed to be like this for the next couple of days – found a sign somewhere else in the park that states highs are to be 32-36 with lows 17-23. Our first stop in the park, we took the opportunity to hike down a muddy path observing bison and elk tracks so that we could wade in the water of the Boiling River, and boy, did it feel GOOD! We had a blast and wished we had had shorts with us. On our way back we met the elk that had been on the hillside when we came through. They had come down for a drink, and like the bison, they were not the least bit interested in moving out of our way. So there we were the five of us facing the 10-15 of them with no metal in-between. It was a bit exciting. They did not appear agitated, and we wanted to keep them that way especially since they had some young ones in the group of which they might be extra protective. They were spread entirely across the trail and not interested in moving, so in a single file line nice and close, we gradually and quietly made our way toward them with Nathan occasionally clapping or hollering at them. They eventually meandered to one side or the other, and we skedaddled right on passed.
Next we hiked some of the trails around Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin. We saw some beautiful formations, interesting colors created by the microscopic thermophiles that live here, and smelled the wonderful aroma of sulfur, a bit overwhelming at times! There were places we looked out across the horizon that it appeared the park had been on fire and was still smoldering because of all the hydrothermal areas and vents. We read that this 2.2 million acre park contains half of the geysers in the world! We enjoyed spotting them on our hikes and watching them burble in preparation to blow off some steam.
It takes awhile to drive through this park because the speed limit is 25-45 the whole way, and we were still 51 miles from Old Faithful as soon as we entered the park. But slow driving helped us to take in all the waterfalls, wildlife, and other views. It is sad to see the destruction that remains from the fire that swept through back in 1988. Small trees are thriving and coming back, but the charred remains and giant skeletons tower above them as a reminder of the damage that was done in this forest.
We came around one curve to discover three guys in the middle of the road with cameras. (Now it is not uncommon at all to find folks out here pulled to the side snapping pictures at any point, but three raised our suspicion. As we pulled to the side we discovered the interest. Down by the riverbed stood two new mother bison with their brand new calves. One was still wet when we pulled up! The eight of us watched in quiet awe, as the newest little one worked to get its feet under him to stand. He managed within minutes to stand steady, but then shortly decided it was too much work yet, so he lay in the sun while Momma grazed and drank by the river. What a precious sight!!
We finally made it to Old Faithful around 8 p.m. There were only about eight of us down at the observation deck. One lady told us that the steam had been increasing so it would probably not be too much longer. There is a webcam down at Old Faithful, so Nathan was trying to call his family and have them pull it up while we were down there so they could see us and Old Faithful, but we have discovered that although we have full bars down there, reception is horrible. (The same is true with our reception here in West Yellowstone; we have full bars but are unable to access the internet to transmit our entries. That is why this journal is late.) We were able to see Old Faithful live up to her name and blow her top; SPECTACULAR! We plan to go back tomorrow and watch her again. The beauty is overwhelming; the Bible tells us that even the rocks rise up and call Him blessed. How wonderful to be out here and hear it! Hope you enjoy the pictures. There is so much to write about; there will be more to come.
A special thanks to Flat Stanley for taking so many pictures for us!