Yellowstone Day 1

We stopped in the town of West Yellowstone for alcohol supplies having forgotten to buy a couple of vinos in Utah. There was none to be seen in Wholefoods and possibly this was out of respect of the non-drinking, Latter Day Saints.

Just 5 mins from West Yellowstone we arrived at the park entrance. By now it was 6:30pm and the light was fading. It didnt take long though for us to be in awe of the untouched wilderness. We soon spotted this group of Elk by a river. Some were right at the road side too. It was very surreal how quickly the scenery changed. We had to drive through the main geyser basin to get to our hotel, The Old Faithful Inn. We finally arrived around 7:45 as you cant drive fast for fear an animal will walk onto the road.

The next morning we had b'fast in our room after glimpsing the poor fare of processed food available in the cafe downstairs.

After b'fast we headed out front of the hotel to watch the estimated 8:40am Old Faithful geyser go off. Apparently its faithfully spouting every 90 mins, +/- 10 mins. It was a very icy and slippery on the board walk and after my not so graceful slide at home, I was walking very carefully, remembering Kathy's advice of small slightly shuffled steps. It worked a treat. We ended up waiting until after 9am in the -10C temp. Thank goodness for the warm jackets we have. They worked a treat.FYI - Mark not shaving in preparation for Mo-vember. Reckons it will take him 2 months to grow a moustache!! Yes we are completely unglamorous but warm. I ended up having to pull my neck roll up over the bottom half of my face as I was literally turning blue. Having it over my nose only meant my breath fogged my glasses which then froze and took a bit to clear again so I could see!

We drove north through Madison & Norris to Mammoth Hot Springs. AS it turns out, this is the only town here that is still open. The buildings in the other towns are all completely boarded up. The only thing available is fuel via credit card only bowsers. We were surprised to see these elk happily grazing and dozing so close to town.

Having heard most places would be closed we planned for a picnic. Not quite the gorgeous experience I expected as it was just too cold to be outside for too long. Mark quickly climbed into the back of the car to have his 'picnic'.

This is a view of the Mammoth Hot Springs from the road. Each day, 2 tons of travertine are depostied by te relatively cool (179F) hot springs. From a boardwalk up top we saw that it was constantly bubbling up and overflowing down the side of the hill.

View from on top showing the flow having swallowed trees in its path.

All over the park, there is so much themal activity of differing varieties. It really feels like we are witnessing the birth and growth of earth in some way. We slowed to checked out a plume of steam coming from the side of the road. Here the earth was literally boiling. It sounded like food sizzling in a pan and there was a vague sulphur small here.

One of the pools at Norris Geyser Basin. It was quite deep and beautiful aqua in colour. Not always visible due to the amount of steam coming off it. It took 4 photos to get this shot.

This was taken in the Lower Geyser Basin. Note the water spirting from the ground. There was quite an extensive boradwalk here. Circling small pools then looking across a plain of steaming earth. Its amazing how there can be a clear bubbling pool like above and literally 10m away will be a pool of pink bubbling mud, then right next to that a brown watering mud pool, and next to that a dry hole that is pumpling out steam so rapidly that it sounds like a dragon breathing.

This is in yet another area called Firehole Lake drive.