Yellowstone Day 3

We decided to change campgrounds today to a midway point in Yellowstone. This will bring us about 25 miles deeper into the park and it will make seeing the rest of the park easier. We scoped out the new campground last night and the site that we wanted would be vacated today. We stopped and talked with the people  that were in the site to see when they would be leaving. So I got up this morning and took Hooptie up to secure the spot while Tommy took the RV into the closest town, Gardner, to get water and dump our tanks. What a plan! and best of all, it worked. Now we are at the Norris Campground, we found we like it even better than Mammoth. This campground is wooded and more private.  We plan to make it a shorter day of sightseeing so we can go back to camp and look for the Elk and Grizzly bear that has been coming around the camp area in the evening. Last night when we were checking out the new campground, we saw these two Elk resting in a nearby meadow. This one guy is huge and has a perfect rack (antlers). They are almost a mirror image. These boys were gorgeous. People started to gather to take pictures, and by then the Elk wanted to leave the area. They had to cross the road to get to another meadow. We watched as the Elk approached the people and most of the people did not even move. They are crazy. If that Elk got spooked and felt like he needed to defend himself, well… those antlers are sharp. Anyway, what a beautiful treat and hopefully they will be back and bring their friend the Grizzly.

The Artists Paint Pots were interesting pools of thermal water. Each one was colored differently due the minerals that were present in the pool. Mud pots were also there making plopping and burping noises to get your attention. This one was as white as snow.

Beryl Spring is the color of the most desired aquamarine gem stone. I could have stayed there for hours watching it boil and seeing all of the steam come from the vent. The heat and smell of sulfur wasn’t too bad today with the help of the strong breeze.

Terrace spring brought us a few more thermal pools.    It is so strange to walk up to a pond of water and see it in a full raging boil. 

Firehole Canyon ….gorgeous! This drive had it all, water falls, a gigantic canyon,        a swimming hole, and of course, the beauty. Tommy found himself on top of the world here in the canyon,      even if it were only for a few minutes. We will be sure to bring our bathing suits tomorrow cause I’m going in if the weather holds up. We just heard that we might have rain, hail, and possibly snow over the next few days. Yes I did write snow. It was 90 degrees yesterday, but with low humidity, it felt great and it was in low 80’s today. They, the rangers, said the weather can change quickly here.

Nothing says Yellowstone like Old Faithful. She is the heart of Yellowstone. She did not disappoint. As predicted she steamed and smoked  to keep the crowds attention until she spouted water high into the sky for several minutes. She truly is the original fountain display. What a show she did put on and will do encores every 90 minutes.

Dinner at the lodge was enjoyable and it allowed us the time to hike a trail to see the Opalescent pool. These pools are everywhere and some look really deep.   After another short trail, then hike up the side of a mountain, to get a good vantage point, we were able  to see one of the prettiest natural formations I have ever seen - the Grand Prismatic Spring. The colors of this fantastic spring were changing right in front of our eyes. More blues  then it morphed into greens with yellows on the edges and red fingers. Now this really was an awesome sight. I think I will have to go back to see this again.

What was to be a short day of sightseeing turned into not getting back to the RV until 8:30 pm. That is a sign of a great day. Yellowstone you are a marvel!