We’re in for a lot of driving today.
Our first stop is at Yellowstone Lake which is the highest crater lake in the Americas. It was formed by two separate volcanic eruptions several thousand years apart. There continues to be hydrothermal activity at the bottom of the lake which keeps the temperature of the water a bit warmer than just melted snow. There are several hot pots next to the lake in the area where we stopped and some just off shore. A bagel of kayaks paddled by. That does look like a beautiful place to paddle.
We stop at the Southern Rim lookout but it is starting to rain. We decide to catch it on the way back. We have been very lucky weather-wise. Really mostly clear days everyday!
Our drive takes us up over the continental divide at 8859’ at the Dunraven Pass. The expanses below are good places to spot wildlife. There are pullouts with people lined up with cameras and special equipment for spying those elusive bears, elk, buffalo and deer. A sign saying to be careful as wildgame is on the road. It’s a moveable sign and a little further on there are buffalo ambling along side the road. Okay, I’ll take a picture of that.
There are lots of waterfalls scattered around the park. We stop at Tower Falls. These are beautiful falls but we’ve seen so many really impressive ones that we just say, “Very nice!” And move on.
At the top of the “8” is Mammoth Hot Springs. Coming up to it, it looks like a HUGE snow wall. I’m thinking that it is going to be something like the hot springs we saw in Turkey. Nick’s back is hurting and the sight of all the stairs up is daunting. There appears to be a middle level. Nick thinks he can do that much. We get there and it just isn’t the cool place I was envisioning. The road to the upper section was closed so the only way to get there was all those wooden stairs. We’ll never know if at the top it was super cool. We have seen so many super cool things on this adventure that if we miss one, the world won’t fall apart.
At this point, we turn back and start retracing the Eastern side of the “8”. There are some places that we held off on for the drive back. At Canyon Village we try the South Rim again where it was raining this morning. Well, it’s still sprinkling there. (I think it may be the only part of the park where it is raining) It is an out and back road. The end of the road is called Artist Point. well, we have to see that! It is really nice and the people’s emotions just seemed a bit more relaxed and happy. People are generally friendly everywhere at the parks but there was something special here. Everyone was smiling,, offering to take pictures for people.
We head back to our campsite in the Tetons and plan to stop at a pizza place that is on Jackson Lake and has good reviews. By the time we get there, it’s raining. Glad we’re not planning to cook a meal at the campsite. We see a bus pulling out as we pull in. Seems that there is a back-up of orders. We ended up getting the last 2 personal sized pizzas. All the other sizes were already sold out. I felt bad for the people who came in after us. I think the bus threw their predictions off. Also, it’s early in the season and they doxn’t have it quite down yet.
What to do on a cold rainy evening when camping? Hmmm. There’s a laundromat at the visitor’s center and not only is it heated but it also has internet and we have a boat load of dirty laundry. Now we have a pile of clean clothes and it’s bedtime.
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