Today the weather is sunny, windy, with puffy white clouds and 54 degrees. As we left home, we noticed more snow in the mountains and the little river along the road is wider and running faster.
We entered Yellowstone Park at 8:45 and as we drove into a higher altitude we saw more snow and more water falls. I guess the rain and snow that we had during the night has left it’s mark. The temperature has decreased to 41 degrees in the avalanche area. The small lake that we always pass is still frozen with snow on it in patches.
We have also cleared up some information. I did a google search last evening and cleared up a question I had about animals chewing bark from the pine trees. We had seen the porcupines in Montana who ate the bark off of the pine trees an if they do it around the tree the tree will die. Well, here in Yellowstone we saw bison licking and chewing the bark off of the pine trees as well. Well, google says the bison us it as a way to mark a tree and the females chew the bark to get a certain part of the bark because it is high in protein for them especially when they are pregnant.
Our first picture of the day was Pilgrim Creek.
Today when we reached Fishing Bridge we turned right which leads us to the northern part of Yellowstone and away from the Yellowstone Lake. Our next picture is of bison in a valley near Mud Volcano.
When we reached the Mud Volcano we noticed there was a long path and ramp encircling the volcano area. The path we took was not as steep as the counter clockwise path . We walked about ¼ mile and then turned back and retraced our steps. This is a very low energy day for me, so the walk was very stressful. That pretty well took all of the energy away from me. This area had a very strong sulfur smell and could be very offensive if you stood in the wrong area with the wind blowing at you.
In the late 1800’s, the Mud Geyser erupted every few hours, spewing muddy water 50 feet into the air. By 1927, eruptions no longer occurred.
Half a century later, a swarm of earthquakes shook the area. Soil temperatures skyrocketed, killing many of the trees that surrounded the pool. Around the turn of the 21st century , violent steam vents hissed forth, their large craters gaping open wide enough to swallow the logs that fell into the crater. Nobody knows what will happen next---it will probably look different in the future.
Here are a few pictures of the area.
Churning Caldron
As we left the Mud Volcano we saw some beautiful mountains. They were called the Specimen Ridge.
Lower Falls pictures:
After the falls we stopped briefly at the Canyon stores and then went on to Norris on the Canyon Road. We took many pictures of the Gallian Mountain Range. The first picture is of the Roaring Mountain which has a white face with steam holes punctuating and emitting steam.
When we were about 4 miles south of Mammoth Springs we took the Upper Terrace Drive and saw large rock formations with a water fall.
Mammoth Springs
They had a 2 hour walk for energetic people, so Walt did part of the walk and took some pictures to document the view.
We stopped and had our first fast food at Yellowstone in a little eating area in Mammoth Springs. The area was buldging with people and had some limited housing. After a sandwich we drove thru a valley near the Gardner River. Here are only two pictures of the area.
Our next site was Undine Falls---this was on a scenic drive from the main road.
Next is more bison—
Blacktail Deer plateau—
Petrified Tree---
Tower Falls---
Now we are back on the north east entrance road. This road was opened only 4 days ago, so it is in the highest part of the Yellowstone park. It is 29 miles to the North east Entrance.
As we drove on we entered the Lamar Valley with some beautiful scenery of the valley and the Lamar River running through the valley.
At 3:25 we saw a huge herd of bison---at least a 1000 head.
Soda Butte
We then drove through the mountains and were in Montana while on the drive and then left the park at 4 pm.
We drove through two small towns called Silver Gate and Cooke City. Shortly after leaving Cooke City we found a little turnout along a raging river for a small afternoon snack with I had packed.
After our snack we resumed our drive by turning on the Chief Joseph Highway. It was very scenic and we took a huge amount of pictures.
When we reached Coty , we turned west and 28 miles later we were back home. What a long day filled with many sites.
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