Day Four - Yellowstone

Thursday May 3 2018 The thermals down to Old Faithful

While yesterday’s trip was all about wildlife, today was about thermal activity. Amazing how these two areas of the park can be so different! We drove all the way down to Old Faithful, figuring we’d hit all the “hot spots” on the way back. At OF we checked out the visitor center and walked around the complex a bit, just in time to see OF go off at about noon. (As many times as I’ve seen it, it doesn’t have the excitement it used to have!) There were thousands of Asians on their tour buses to see the event – people come from all over the world to see this. They are annoying – loud, always taking pictures of the oddest things, lots of selfies. We wonder, what do they do with all these pictures when they get home? A favorite photo was of all the people taking shots of OF on their cell phones.

Leaving Old Faithful, our first stop was  Midway Geyser Basin. This is our favorite place in the park, The Grand Prismatic is always spectacular! Such colors!  (We would learn the next day that the Park Service just built ann overlook for the Grand Prismatic - a trail by the Fairy Falls trailhead. Be sure to look for that ext time!)

Next stop was the Lower Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pots with its bubbling vanilla or chocolate colors…..blurp, blurp! The boardwalk around this area features some very active “thermals”. 

Time was short so we decided not to check out the Yellowstone Falls area. We did stop at Norris Geyser Basin but the trail down was long and steep so we opted not to. You do get a good view from the top!

We returned to Mammoth Hotel about 5:30. Sam headed to the room for a power nap, while I hiked all the way to the top of the Terraces. Spectacular features but really tough on these old knees!

Another great dinner at the hotel dining room (there are no other options, unless you wanted to drive down to Gardiner). This place seemed a lot busier than yesterday. How will it be in the summer?

Another sunny day, a bit warmer with the temps in the lower 50s. Only wildlife sighting today was a Sand Hill Cane.

Leaving tomorrow, heading to Miles City, Montana. Sorry to leave Yellowstone. A great place indeed!!

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Sand Hill Crane

Yellowstone Inn

Watching Old Faithful

Mostly Asians!

Midway Geyser Basin 

Grand Prismatic

Grand Prismatic

Norris

The Golden Gate

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Miles of boardwalks, thousands of steps