Woke up to a cool, but sunny morning. I guess cool is relative in some ways. Temperature decreases with altitude and we are about 7000 ft up, this means the temperature here is approximately 10°C cooler than it would be at sea-level, so our wake up temperature of 10°C would be a balmy 20°C at sea level.
Breakfast, with a view:
Once we had eaten we headed off for a three State trip. We started out in Idaho, crossed into Montana after about 10 miles, then about fifteen miles after that we entered Wyoming. Of course we had to pick up some caches along the way, among them was our first Montana cache, which was also my 400th.
Today’s destination was Yellowstone National Park. Again, thanks to our friend’s, Alan & Marie, donation of their National Parks pass from last years Alaska trip, we were able to save on the $30 entrance fee! It seemed we had picked a good day weather wise for a change, we had good visibility, blue skies and warmth!
The title is borrowed from a comment Lyn and I made to each other when touring S. Africa. In one particular area, there were zebra everywhere, hence the phrase “Not another bl**dy zebra” Today was similar if you replace zebra with bison. They wander freely throughout the park, along the road, on the road and crossing the road. We pulled off into a lay-by when we saw other cars ahead doing the same thing. There were three bison walking along the edge of the road, they passed within 6 ft. of the truck.
A little farther along we spotted a calf.
We headed off around the park and got our first view of geo-thermal activity in the distance
There are a number of these areas around the park, consisting of geysers, steam vents, bubbling water and “glugging” mud.
The first area we stopped at was called Fountain Paint Pots, the water was deep and clear with a vivid blue colour
Also in this area was the Red Spotter, one of the “gurgling mud” holes.
Moving further down the road we came across the Grand Prismatic Pond
Here 4000 gallons of boiling water flow into the Madison River every minute.
Next stop lunch, we’ve had a picture of Breakfast with a View, so here is Lunch with a View.
Next stop on the tour is what Yellowstone Park is famous for, Old Faithful. This geyser erupts every 92 minutes ± a bit.
Below is the start of the eruption
and this is it in full swing. We had to wait about 45 minutes for Old Faithful to do its thing, during which time it started to rain. We weren’t sure whether to wait it out, or leave. We decided to wait, which was the right decision. The show went on for about 8 minutes and was quite spectacular.
We were also lucky enough to catch sight of another geyser erupting, this one blows randomly, sometimes twice a day, other times once a week.
As we headed back to the park entrance we stopped at a spot we missed earlier, Black Sand Basin.
The last picture is of the Sunset Pool.
We headed out of the park into the town of West Yellowstone to get a few groceries that we couldn’t find locally. Guess what, the town also had a quilt shop! We picked up another cache on the way home, and got back to the trailer after a long and pleasurable trip.
See Lyn, I didn’t mention Chinese tourists once!!