When we arrived in Yellowstone National Park, it was very late in the evening of September 4.
We had high hopes of reaching our destination, The Old Faithful Inn, inside the park within the hour.
The road going into the park at the east entrance was very winding......we passed millions of lodgepole pine trees that had suffered with the pine beetle and were gone.....the remains of the trees were like toothpicks stuck in the ground, only taller. There also had been a forest fire in 1988 which also destroyed many pines.....it was so sad to see all that devastation even tho, our tour guide explained today, that most of the areas hit by the fire were becoming reforested. However, many tree skeletons still exist.
On our drive into the park it became evening quickly. Our goal was to not drive in the mountains after dark, but, that didn't happen....Yellowstone, in my / our opinion is very negligent on updated signage.
And, we learned that GPS does not work well in the mountains (no signal). Our little GPS unit became confused and took us down an incorrect road that was closed......we turned around and found our turn .... In the dark..... in the mountains..... with poor signage...and watching for buffalo on the road.
We were fortunate that it was a clear moon-filled night.....and, as late as it was, there was still traffic on the roads, so, we could follow their headlights. After driving two hours in the park....in the dark, curvy mountains we were able to settle in with our reservation and breathe and relax....the temperature dropped to 28 degrees....
Personally, I was a wreck.......Phil did a terrific job driving in uncharted territory and I kept my eyes off the edge of the road, so, I wouldn't startle him when I inhaled deeply......I was white knuckled!!
Friday, September 5, 2014
We awoke to a bright, clear blue chilly morning.
Phil had reserved a tour for us for the day. Our tour was with "Yellow Bus Tours" and we had a great, informative tour guide. There were about 20 folks on this tour from Chicago, Nashville, Pennsylvania, Germany and Indiana.
Our first stop was at Mammoth Hot Springs
Geyser Art
There are 800 geysers in Yellowstone. And I think we saw 798?! Yellowstone is the only place in the world to have that many geysers. New Zealand coming in 2nd.
The Steamboat Geyser...does not erupt frequently, but, it did for us this morning.
Just as good as Old Faithful!
Devastation of trees and forestation following numerous eruptions.
OLD FAITHFUL....the one geyser that people visit from around the world...see the rainbow?
On our tour we saw many water falls. Yellowstone has over 500 waterfalls.
And Canyons....this canyon is called the Yellowstone Grand Canyon
Tomorrow we head north to Montana and Glacier National Park. It is a 400 mile day trip....through the mountains in the daylight.....
"Journey Mercies"
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