Bill: There is construction being done on roads in the park and delays can last 20-30 minutes. We entered the park today and immediately came to a halt. The delay lasted about 20 minutes as we crawled along. Come to find out that the delay was due to an eagle's nest atop a fir tree. Everyone had to stop, look and take pictures. It's interesting that the nest was the same one we had seen as we left the park yesterday. It seems traffic stops of course when animals are on the road, but also when someone spots an animal off the road in the woods.
Eleanor: Today we traveled the northern and eastern parts of the park. The Mammoth Hot Springs section is comprised of terraces of calcium carbonate. Very different, but not that pretty.
We stopped at a general store and when we got back to the car, which was parked by a picnic area in a small park, we noticed a mule deer coming out of a thicket and onto the grass. Five others followed. The couple at the picnic table were very brave (foolish?) to stay with their food as the deer approached. The man began waving his finger at the deer and I was afraid he would charge at them, but, after staring for a while, he walked off. We had another close-up encounter with several bison and their young further down the road and later spotted a small black bear
On the way to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone section, we stopped to take a picture of Tower Falls, which has a 132 foot drop. The water flows into the Yellowstone River. Our next series of stops were at the rim of the canyon, where we saw the Yellowstone River flowing 1000 feet below. The yellow of much of the canyon walls reminded us why the Park was given its name. Even though it can't compare in size or drop to the real Grand Canyon or in sheer drop with Black Canyon, it was quite an impressive sight. To repeat what I said yesterday, Yellowstone may be famous for Old Faithful, but what impressed us more was the vast diversity within its 2.2 million acres.
We were booked in a motel in Cody, WY this evening, so we continued toward the eastern exit. Our drive took us past Yellowstone Lake, the same one we had started our visit at as we came in the southern gate yesterday. Its size makes it North America's largest mountain lake. It was amazing to see the amount of ice still in the lake in June. There was no ice on the southwestern side, perhaps due to the proximity of all those geysers and mudpots simmering at its edge. We drove on to an elevation between 8000 and 9000 feet and a temperature of 37° until we were practically in the wispy clouds. There was so much snow we couldn't resist stopping to make snowballs. In spite of the unfavorable weather--they had had three weeks of showery weather--Yellowstone was a highlight of our trip.
The couple in the picture could be Pat and Dan! "Here, Moose!"
ReplyDelete