Wandering about the Yellow Stone

Yellowstone turned out much less annoying that initial perceptions suggested it might be.  The crowds promised were nowhere to be found. Weather proved as tolerable as the size of size of the civilization.  Temperatures generally started off around 5° C, reaching as high as 25 °C on one date.  All of this made for a relaxed and comfortable journey throughout the park.  The only looming opposition to planned progress turned out to be the pending government shutdown.  In the end, it too turned out trivial and easily managed. 

Our first day started with a hike from the front door over to the Grand View of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  It was the perfect start to a near perfect day.  Jumping on the road, partly cloudy skies led the way to a visit with Old Faithful.  Arriving just in time to find a front-row seat for the eruption with only a few minutes to spare, we did not linger for long.  We were concerned there would not be time for other points of interest.  It was good thing we did too.  The Grand Prismatic Overlook, Firehole Canyon, and a wrong turn along the trail in Norris Geyser Basin consumed the remainder of the day. 

The following day proved much more of a challenge as regards finding sunlit locations. Mostly cloudy skies and slightly cooler temperatures shrouded a good portion of the day. Escaping through Dunraven Pass, we stumbled on a wolf sighting just before The Petrified Tree.  The latter proved more of a sighting than the former.  A random detour easterly along the Lamar River turned up little beyond reconstruction of the overpass and a distant herd of bison.  Most "herds" counted as 10 or so loitering about the landscape.

Turning about halfway along, we made Mammoth Springs a proper priority and spent a good amount time lingering there before moving on to Gardiner and sustenance.  That is where we found the Elk were hiding, counting more than in all of the park. A lazy reentry through the Roosevelt Arch followed, managed by a dump truck ambling along at 25 km/hr.  It finally peeled away, enabling a more expedient progression on through the Silver Gate, ending with the amazing Sheepeater Cliff, before returning to the comfort of our quiet cabin in the pines.

The last day in the confines of the park was also the first day of the government shutdown.  Generally, it turned out to be a non-event.  Someone had told us they would boot us out.  That turned out to not be the case.  We had scheduled the visit to West Yellowstone for this day anyway, just in case, and proceeded with those plans.  Skies full of sunshine, coupled with billowing clouds in the distance and warmer temperatures, encouraged taking time to get there.  

Arriving in West Yellowstone, we found breakfast no less costly than it had been in the park, and relatively comparable in taste too, or lack thereof.  The Grizzly Wolf & Discovery Center offered an hour or so of amusement beyond that, though not quite on the scale anticipated.  It is a miniature zoo, with animals in jail.  The bears were not doing any product testing but were allowed to wander about The Yard for a short time only.  The wolves looked homesick and bored.  Heading back into the park, we headed over to the Grand Prismatic Spring in an effort to take a close look.  It had been clogged with traffic the day before and wholly inaccessible.  They have a very tiny parking lot that is a traffic bottleneck on the best of days.  

We found success in accessing the Grand Prismatic Spring on the return journey.  The day before the route into the parking lot had been clogged.  The size of said space contributes to the gridlock found there.  In celebration, we found our way back to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone for a look at the same from the South Rim.  That is not the place to be for sunset though.  The angle is all wrong, so Inspiration Point ended the day.  It is not a great place either but was a lot closer to our final food source of the day.

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More video from these 3 days is available through a playlist on YouTube.

also

Stills from this adventure continue to be published to 500px and a link to a more specific gallery will posted here upon completion..

This post will be updated when that process is finally complete.  

lastly

A Google Maps view of the 3-Day Adventure for your enjoyment.