Yellowstone National Park - MT, ID & WY

We planned to stop in the Bozeman area on our way from Hungry Horse but we ended up driving about 400 miles before we found a place to camp.  The drive was beautiful the whole way with the mountains and fields of wild flowers:

We landed 8 miles outside of West Yellowstone at Yellowstone Holiday RV park:

OK park.  Woman at the desk was clueless but she wasn't coming with us so whatever.  That afternoon we drove out 287 toward earthquake lake - nice scenery but nothing for wildlife.

We have been so lucky with the weather throughout our travels.  Since we've been to the Yellowstone area 70s-80s and blue skies!  Our 1st day in the park we hit the northern loop.  This was the scenery just as you drove into the park from the West entrance:

As you're approaching the Canyon area you hit higher elevations where there is still considerable snow on the ground:

We also crossed the Continental Divide a couple of times along the way (all waters east of here flow to the Atlantic and west of here flow to the Pacific):

This is the lower falls at the Canyon area.  Short, strenuous hike with very cool scenery:

and looking at the bottom of the lower falls down into the grand canyon of Yellowstone:

Check out the rainbow too

From a little further down the north rim looking at the canyon:

As we drove from the Canyon toward Tower-Roosevelt, we came across this grizzly chowing on what looked like an elk:

He didn't look like he wanted to share:

There's a caldera ridgeline viewpoint along the way where you can get an idea of just how large the mouth of the volcano was which erupted here 600,000 yrs ago (all of that green which is now part of the basin once erupted leaving remnants as far as Texas and California):

Wildflowers were growing in the fields all throughout the park:

Later in the day we made our way around the loop to Mammoth springs:

There are walkways all through this area to check out the springs & geysers:

Looks like a winter wonderland scene:

and another:

This slow drooling geyser mound was one of a kind:

On our way from Mammoth back toward Norris Junction we passed this coyote on the prowl in the wetlands.  Here he's just about to pounce on some hamster sized rodant and with 2 bites it was gone:

After a couple nights, we moved from Yellowstone Holiday RV to Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone just outside of the park entrance.  Later that morning we decided to drive to Idaho to check out Big Springs & Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.  Along the way there were fields of wildflowers that were incredible:

We checked out Big Springs (one of the largest in the US) and saw a few good size trout there hanging by the bridge.  This spring produces 120 million gallons of water a day as it forms the headwaters of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.  Enough water to meet the needs of a million people surges out of the ground here.  With a year-round water temperature of 52 degrees, Big Spring’s trout get BIG. No fishing allowed however.  

This grouse ran across the street and into the woods in front of us as we were leaving the springs:

From here we continued on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.  There were several interesting paces to stop along the byway including several falls:

We were going to hit Cave falls to hike but this nasty storm kicked up so we turned around as soon as tree branches started flying in front of us (don't mind the radio):

Later that night when things calmed down we went into the park for a short ride.  Along the road we saw many Bison including this one with calf close by:

A herd hanging near a geyser (you can see hoof prints in the warm mud beside the geysers too):

We hit the park early one day and headed straight to Old Faithful then on to explore the south loop.  We got to Old Faithful just in time to see this eruption:

After we watched OF go off, we went on a hike around the area.  We saw several other geysers:

Along the hike we came across this bison just off the trail:

The colors of the chromatic pools were incredible:

Some of these hot springs were crystal clear:

and some hot springs more colorful than others:

There were hot springs with geysers right next to them:

The hiking trail ended at the morning glory pool:

A little closer look at morning glory pool itself:

Some of the geysers along the path were very small but just as fascinating to watch:

In between all of these geyser and hot spring pools were thermal grounds where wildflowers flourished:

and just for Greg we've included this guy we spotted along the trail:

We decided to keep hiking on the bike trail another mile to Biscuit basin.  Along the way we saw some more of the same.  But Biscuit basin had this unique pool:

And this one looked inviting:

OK maybe this one instead:

From here we decided to keep hiking up to Mystic Falls - beautiful hike with a nice waterfall at the end:

On the hike back we checked out this geyser near OF that constantly erupts:

We were beat by now (7-8 mile hike). Hopped back in the truck and headed for West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake.   This is the largest high altitude lake in North America (110 miles of shoreline and sits above 7,000 ft elevation).  We checked out more geysers and hot springs near by and the lake itself was beautiful:

This is Mud Volcano, another stop along the park road (hydrogen sulfide gas - pee you!):

Another day we headed out for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to spend the day exploring.  Our travel was held up by this herd of bison walking down the street:

We started at the brink of the upper falls.  Short hike down but incredible falls to be standing over:

From here we hiked around to the south rim trail.  On our way we ran into this marmot sunning himself after a morning swim:

We were hiking along the edge of the canyon wall (nothing between us and a very long fall):

You can see the edge of the canyon wall in the shadows here

There are several great spots to catch the upper falls along the hike but nothing like the view from Uncle Tom's trail.  This is a hike straight down and back up the canyon wall (all kinds of warnings about avoiding this hike if not in good health - well warranted):

Check out the rainbow here too

Climbing up Uncle Tom's along side of us was this friendly marmot:

After about 4 miles of hiking we hit Artist Point which is the most photographed place in Yellowstone.  This is looking toward the lower falls from Artist Point:

And looking the opposite direction toward the canyon itself:

We saw a few elk in a field along the hike too (this one looked like he was trying to stay cool):

Again a long hike (7-8 miles) and we were beat by the time we got back.  We decided to drive the Northeast entrance of the park where we were told we might run into wolves.  No wolves but we ran into something swimming in the pond.  We were backed up in traffic a good 100 yds so we couldn't tell what it was until it leaped out of the water and started running around and climbing trees:

We saw 100s of bison along the north east entrance drive.  And not 1 min after I mentioned that we hadn't seen any pronghorns in this park we see this guy hanging out:

We tried saying the same thing about the wolves but no dice today!
Our last day here we decided to explore the West Yellowstone area checking out the bike trails (20' wide snowmobile trails in the winter).  Great for us novice hybrid riders but may not be challenging enough for the mountain bikers.  We did see a red tail hawk but too quick for the camera!

Later we headed back into the park to hit more of the OF area that we didn't get to before.  We stopped at Fountain Paint Pot where we saw more geysers:

along with more colorful hot springs:

Here's some geyser and chromatic drainage going on:

Then we hit the Firehole Lake area where the streams running from the lake had a deep blue tone:

The lake wasn't the main attraction here as much as the geysers, hot springs and runoff:

On our way out of the park we saw this eagle perched over the river:

The Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone was a good place to stay.  Full hookups, wifi and cable but a little pricey and spots were a little tight.  Great location to access the park from!  We're off to Grand Teton Nation Park in the Jackson Wyoming area for a few days.  More to come . . .