Yellowstone

Day 39 (September 1, 2021)

Today we had a quick breakfast and drove to Yellowstone! We've decided to take a couple relaxed days driving through the park. As expected, all the lodging in the park is full so we'll be camping outside the park on some National Forest land. 

We drove in to the North entrance which is close to Mammoth Hot Springs, a unique, multi-colored, geothermal area. 

Next up was a drive down to a petrified tree.

And a stop to look at a herd of wild bison.

On the way back out we stopped by some elk in the Mammoth Springs areas, and chatted with a ranger about the local herd. Apparently the group that we saw was one small harem in a herd of of over 4,000 elk that live in the northern part of the park. They like to hang out around people because the people keep the wolves away.

In the evening, Monisha gave Nolan a haircut, and we put together another delicious pasta dinner using the fresh tomatoes and garlic from Becky. 

Day 40 (September 2, 2021)

Today we drove through several geothermal areas, each with their own unique set of features. 

At one point along the road, all the cars stopped, and we knew there must be some sort of wildlife nearby. We did not anticipate just how nearby that wildlife was!

We had heard that you can look up the expected geyser eruption times online, and we were excited to see that two of the predictable geysers both had an expected eruption time of 12:30pm. The two of them are both near Old Faithful, so we made sure to get there by around noon. We were rewarded with a great show by Castle Geyser.

Sadly, Grand geyser had already erupted by the time we arrived. We considered heading out without waiting for Old Faithful, but then decided that it was worth it to stick around. It's kinda funny sitting around watching some steam with hundreds of people, all anticipating the next eruption. The next predicted time was 2:21pm, but the geyser didn't go off until 2:35 or so. Quite the crowd had gathered by that point.

Post Old Faithful, we were stuck in a serious line of cars caused by everyone leaving the area at the same time. Luckily we found a good parking spot near the Grand Prismatic Spring and spent some time there to let the other cars disperse a bit. 

That concluded our Yellowstone visit. Onwards, to Idaho!