Tuesday, July 15
Before leaving Helena yesterday we took a great boat trip on the Missouri River through a wild place that Merriwether Lewis named "The Gates of the Mountains" when he came through here with Clark and the rest of the gang in 18-ought-4. It's a wilderness area that they say hasn't changed much since that time, other than the water level is about a dozen feet higher due to a dam downstream. Saw some wildlife and some pictographs that had been there since way before Lewis & Clark's time.
After the tour we drove on down to Yellowstone Park, coming in at the north entrance. We took the time to stop at the Mammoth Hot Springs on the way in. Walked about a mile of boardwalk there to see a couple of small springs bubbling out of the rock. Then we drove on into the park to our campground at Canyon Village. Not real impressed with our campsite as its really nothing more than a turnout beside the road just wide enough to get our camper in and let the cars go past in and out of the loop. The park is full so when we asked for a different site we got nothing more than a "Sorry about that..." from the ranger. Oh well, that's what the comment cards are for.
We did the driving tour of Yellowstone today, from Canyon Village around the circle counter-clockwise back to Canyon Village. Took in the Flower Paint Pots, Old Faithful, the West Thumb geysers, Yellowstone Lake, Mud Pot, etc. The four of us walked from Old Faithful to Biscuit Basin - about 2 1/2 miles and saw numerous bubbling and spouting geysers and pools of steaming water. Connie and Leo left us at the West Thumb and went back to the campground. Denise and I stopped here and there wherever we saw something that interested us. We saw a lot of bison - many individuals at first, and then a large herd of them in a meadow along the Yellowstone River - and several elk. We saw one huge black bear (actually brown in color) just before getting back to the campground. The colors here are amazing - the soil, the foliage and the flowers, the boiling springs which range in color from gunmetal gray to the most startling azure blue you can imagine. Some of them remind you of the Caribbean until you see the huge lodgepole pine trees around you. Large areas of the park show the result of the 1988 fires that burned so much forest here, but it is making a comeback. Young pines are coming up thickly, a natural re-seeding from the fire, and some are already fifteen feet tall. I am adding 3 pictures to the blog. The first, of course, is of Old Faithful. We were lucky and only had to wait about 10 minutes for his regularly scheduled (every 90 minutes) eruption. The second is of one of the numerous pools we saw. The color is gorgeous, it looks like something you would want in your backyard. That is until you look at the 3rd picture and realize the water temperature is around 200 degrees. A little too hot even in the winter time. Enjoy. Tomorrow is day of driving and then on Thursday we will be at Mt. Rushmore. We should be home around Sunday or so. We are ready. We miss everyone and I hope Maggie still remembers us.
Before leaving Helena yesterday we took a great boat trip on the Missouri River through a wild place that Merriwether Lewis named "The Gates of the Mountains" when he came through here with Clark and the rest of the gang in 18-ought-4. It's a wilderness area that they say hasn't changed much since that time, other than the water level is about a dozen feet higher due to a dam downstream. Saw some wildlife and some pictographs that had been there since way before Lewis & Clark's time.
After the tour we drove on down to Yellowstone Park, coming in at the north entrance. We took the time to stop at the Mammoth Hot Springs on the way in. Walked about a mile of boardwalk there to see a couple of small springs bubbling out of the rock. Then we drove on into the park to our campground at Canyon Village. Not real impressed with our campsite as its really nothing more than a turnout beside the road just wide enough to get our camper in and let the cars go past in and out of the loop. The park is full so when we asked for a different site we got nothing more than a "Sorry about that..." from the ranger. Oh well, that's what the comment cards are for.
We did the driving tour of Yellowstone today, from Canyon Village around the circle counter-clockwise back to Canyon Village. Took in the Flower Paint Pots, Old Faithful, the West Thumb geysers, Yellowstone Lake, Mud Pot, etc. The four of us walked from Old Faithful to Biscuit Basin - about 2 1/2 miles and saw numerous bubbling and spouting geysers and pools of steaming water. Connie and Leo left us at the West Thumb and went back to the campground. Denise and I stopped here and there wherever we saw something that interested us. We saw a lot of bison - many individuals at first, and then a large herd of them in a meadow along the Yellowstone River - and several elk. We saw one huge black bear (actually brown in color) just before getting back to the campground. The colors here are amazing - the soil, the foliage and the flowers, the boiling springs which range in color from gunmetal gray to the most startling azure blue you can imagine. Some of them remind you of the Caribbean until you see the huge lodgepole pine trees around you. Large areas of the park show the result of the 1988 fires that burned so much forest here, but it is making a comeback. Young pines are coming up thickly, a natural re-seeding from the fire, and some are already fifteen feet tall. I am adding 3 pictures to the blog. The first, of course, is of Old Faithful. We were lucky and only had to wait about 10 minutes for his regularly scheduled (every 90 minutes) eruption. The second is of one of the numerous pools we saw. The color is gorgeous, it looks like something you would want in your backyard. That is until you look at the 3rd picture and realize the water temperature is around 200 degrees. A little too hot even in the winter time. Enjoy. Tomorrow is day of driving and then on Thursday we will be at Mt. Rushmore. We should be home around Sunday or so. We are ready. We miss everyone and I hope Maggie still remembers us.
1 comment:
I was expecting to see some skinny dippin then i read that it was 200 degrees WOOOWOO STand back! So excited to see pics from Mt. Rushmore. I am just stillin back watching jailhouse rock! call me when you get settled back in.
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