This is my (our) Country, Land that we love!

Daily Mileage=169;Trip Mileage=7392
Today we arrived at Yellowstone National Park. In 1872 this area was declared a national park by President Ulysses S. Grant. It was the world’s first national park and we have to admit it is still pretty spectacular. This is the first really bad weather day we’ve had on the entire trip so we are not complaining at all. It has been cold (in the 30’s and 40’s the entire day) and it’s been raining and snowing (not sticking when we first arrived) the entire day. But we were determined that even though this is not the best way to visit Yellowstone, we would do our best to see all that we could. Fortunately, we have rain and winter gear with us and we are using it all now!
We entered from the north entrance at which there is a beautiful stone arch you drive through. It reads, “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” (There are 5 different entrances into Yellowstone through which you enter the 2.2 million acre park. Definitely a big piece of the US!)

We stopped at one of the prime sites up north called, Mammoth Hot Springs. I don’t know what most of you think Yellowstone is like, but our impression was that it had Old Faithful, a lot of mountain scenery, bears and other wild animals which were bothered by a bunch of tourists. Like Jellystone Park in the old Yogi Bear cartoons. Well, we’ve been quite shocked at the place. It has many (in fact the most in the world) hydrothermal features. Basically, it’s not just Old Faithful but all different kinds: hot springs, geysers, mud pots(steam no water), fumaroles (dry geysers) and they are all over.

Mammoth Hot Springs looks like ice terraces but they really are calcium carbonate deposits which look quite different than geyersites seen elsewhere. Of course it was pouring but here are some views of the area.

We then traveled south to our hotel at Yellowstone Lake. This lake is another feature we didn’t know existed nor its enormity. Well, the Lake happens to be the largest high elevation lake in North America (132 square miles over 7,000feet high). There is about 80 miles between where we entered the park and where we were going. Did I say big distances out here yet?

Along the way we stopped at numerous geyser fields. It’s really amazing because a field may have hundreds of vents, geysers and springs. They are set up very nicely with trail boardwalks over them because the ground is fragile and hot. Many of the features have different colors based on the minerals, light refraction and micro organisms that are in them.
We’ve attempted to show a few different kinds in the photos here.

We saw one, cone shaped, actually erupt while taking the picture. We haven’t seen Old Faithful yet, that’s for another day.

Now, in addition to all these geysers, we drove through vast and varied topography. We went from mountains to wide open meadows to green rolling hills to flowing rivers, streams and waterfalls. It really was beautiful (even in the rain) and magnificent. I, for one, thought that by now Yellowstone would be ruined with the over 2.5 million tourists it gets a year. It’s not. They really have done a great job at keeping it natural.

So, of course we saw animals everywhere. Moose, wolves and the highlight today, bison. We saw a mother with two calves on the side of the road. They didn’t seem to mind Rich taking a photo (from the proper distance). Later we discovered a herd of bison in a popular field, as did all the other tourists. Now, I have to give one of my “I believe” stories again. I believe that if the rule is to stay at least 25 yards away from large animals like bison (that weigh 2,000 pounds) you should not be driving your car next to them! Well, I’ve included a photo to show how there are actually “wildlife jams” because people

have to get right next to them for the photo and won’t get out of the car to do so! YIKES!! Help us.

The snow started to stick while we were at dinner in a nice restaurant right here in Grant Village. On the way back to our lodge, we saw a herd of elks eating in the small meadow next to our building. It was really cool. Here’s our attempt at photographing the snow outside at night on June 6th. Something we’re not used to seeing at all much less in June.
Good night. Love & Joy, Mare&Rich