Yellowstone National Park

The drive from Grand Teton was relatively short, both National Parks are next to one another and as an additional bonous the weekly visitor passes are valid in both parks. The weather is still not great, cold, cloudy and drizzle. We made a few short stops in Yellowstone at a waterfall, Yellowstone Lake, Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron.

Our main aim for the day was to find accomodation as we had not organised this. We were hoping to stay in the park, like Grand Teton, but the prices quickly ruled this one out. The visitors centre was really helpful giving us a list of phone numbers and a phone to make some calls. We ended up deciding on 'Hillside Cottages', just outside the north gate. Since we entered through the south gate we had to drive the length of the park, but that was ok.

Day 1 - With 3 days in Yellowstone we thought that we would have a day up north and then one in the canyon area and one at old faithful.

Our first stop was only a short drive from the north gate, Mammoth Hot Springs. This is a series of boardwalks (mum would love it!) leading up and around a heap of thermal pools and hot springs. They are very nice, all different colours and stages of life (from dormant to new formations). Some were very spectacular, especially with steam rising off them. We also spotted a Jack Hare, which was cool, like a rabbit but with longer legs and ears.

After lunch at Wraith Falls it was off to see a petrified tree (tree which has been turned to stone). On the way we pulled over with a bunch of other cars, a Black Bear was meandering along the top of a hillside. It was no where near as close as the Grizzly at Grand Teton but still the highlight of the day. After a few minutes he disappeared over a ridge.

Then not 10 minutes down the road, on the way to the petrified tree, another traffic jam. Again we pulled over, and saw another Bear! This was a lot closer (20-30m) from the car, although a ranger on a power trip, was herding people like cattle! Before we got moved on we got a decent photo and saw him stand upright and scratch his back on a tree, very cool! We sat in the car for a while just watching from a distance, until the bear eventually moved off into the hills.

By comparison the petrified tree was quite unexciting.

The rest of the afternoon we intended to do a hike in the Lamar Valley, although we never made it! A series of stops led us to see a Big Horn Sheep within meters of a Red Fox which was bounding all over the place chasing squirrels. We sat on a rock for about an hour and a half waiting for Badgers to come out of their holes, they never did, but in the same spot was a Pronghorn Deer, patrolling the area, on the look out for a pesky Coyote. She had a day or so old baby hidden in the field, which you could only see when she returned to it, every hour or so. Apparently the baby doesen't have a scent for the first week, so that its harder for predators to find them.

We kept driving in hope of seeing a Moose or Wolf, saw some more Bighorn Sheep in the distance and some young Prong Horn Deer playing in the fields. Heading back toward home we saw some Bison with calfs rolling in mud, 3 male Elk with big Antliers. Then finally a Moose grazing in a lake and some more deer playing in the foreground.

The wildlife in Yellowstone was so amazing. There was so much and all the babies had just been born. There is a lot more than what we saw in Yosemite, although the walks and waterfalls in Yosemite were more spectacular.

Day 2 - Today was forecast to be the better of the next to as far the weather goes. We thought that we would use this day to explore the Geyser area as there might be a bit of sitting around.

The drive to the old faithful area is about an hour through the park. This was made even longer by the 2 bears we saw playing by a lake. They were a bit far away, but still very exciting. We also had to stop as a herd of Bison were on the road, some nice close up photos and we stopped briefly when we saw a coyote on the side of the road.

When we arrived at the Old Faithful Geyser, we only had to wait about 20 minutes for it to blow (they are able to roughly predict 5 of the geysers in the area). We enjoyed our lunch while we were waiting. When it blew gas and water were shot into the air about 30m high, this goes on for about 5-6 minutes.

We did another boardwalk over and around some more thermal areas, which led us to the Daisy Geyser, which luckily, blew about 5 minutes after we got their. This one was very similar to old faithful, although not as high but a bit wider. Very powerful!

At the end of the boardwalk was Morning Glory, a very deep pool with an amazing range of colours (reds, greens, yellows and blues). From morning glory we were about a mile and a half from the shops and car. So naturally, this is where we were when it started raining, and then hailing.

After a coffee and warming up, we headed to Castle Geyser. About 10 minutes and a bag of M&M's later, it started to blow. This one was probably the most amazing, the first 15 minutes it blows water about 20m into the air, and after that it continues to steam for about 30 minutes. At different times rainbows would form under the steam and mist. This was the last geyser we watched before heading back home to the cottage.

Day 3 - We had an early morning today, headed to the Canyon and waterfalls for a ranger led walk at 9am. Of course on the way we saw 2 more Bears on the side of the road! After breakfast in the carpark, we headed over to where everyone was meeting.

The walk was along a canyon between the lower and upper yellowstone waterfalls. It was quite a leisurley pace and the ranger had a few interesting things to say about the canyon falls and park in general.

After the presentation had finished we continued along the path to Artist Point, a viewing platform of the canyon. This had some amazing views of the canyon and the river that runs through it. To finish the walk we took the trail to Lily Pad and Clear Lakes, rather than return the same way. This took us along some more thermals and mud pools, as well as a couple of nice lakes. Towards the end of the path it got a bit wet and muddy, fine for us in our hiking boots, but not the fat american girl coming along the path in the opposite direction. Christine had a brief chat to her, reassuring her the track dried up just around the corner. Not soon enough tho, she fell flat on her face in the mud just after we passed them, looked sooo funny. Then she asked Christine if she had a roll of paper towel, yeah cos thats what we carry on a 6-8 mile walk! Definately the highlight of the morning!!!

We did a few other short walks to views of the falls and the canyon. We wanted to eat lunch at one of the view points but it was raining so we sat in the car and watched the approaching storm.

One of the last walks we wanted to do, tower falls, was closed just before the end so we didn't actually get to see the base of the falls, kind of annoying!

We intended to just head home as the rain had set in but ended up making another stop, we had seen some big horn sheep on a sheer clif face, and took a closer look. Turns out they also had tiny lambs as well, on the edge of this cliff.