Of course, the one thing everyone knows that is in Yellowstone is Old Faithful. However, that's the one thing we didn't see that day. What we did see right off the bat while driving up to Mammoth Hot Springs was a bison, who was taking his good old time to cross the road! We also saw many mule deer, some pronghorn, and a few elk, although most of the elk were pretty far away and thus not really that photogenic.
On the way to Mammoth Hot Springs were some impressive waterfalls. What I didn't really know about Yellowstone coming in is the number of non-geothermal features, like the waterfalls and canyons, that were scattered amongst the entire park.
The Mammoth Hot Springs were a little less productive than usual, so everything was pretty much just dry and white. The color comes from the 'bacteria' (archea?) that live in the water, so when they're gone, so is the color.
From Mammoth Hot Springs, it was just a few minutes to Montana, so how could we resist?
We continued around the Loop Road, and here, the views turned more from neat geological curiosities to sweeping vistas. The size of the park is awe-inspiring: we traveled over a hundred miles just within the park alone! Everything is on a different scale, and everywhere the road twists and turns, new sites pop up.
Take Tower Falls, for instance. These falls are tucked back into a valley, but are twice as tall as Niagra Falls!
On top of that, as we continued onward, we spotted our last elusive animal: a young grizzly bear, happily foraging through the brush on the side of the road. We didn't get out for a closer look, although many others did!
Nevertheless, probably the most spectacular thing that we saw was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Now, I've been to the 'real' Grand Canyon in Arizona, and while the Grand Canyon is clearly massive in terms of its size and sheer force, the Yellowstone Canyon clearly rivals the big one:
We backtracked toward our campsite through Norris, which hosts a lot of the different geysers, springs, and different geothermal features in the park. Things were pretty quiet when we were there, but there were still some things worth seeing.
The last thing we saw were the paintpots. The mud in these pots is actually rock which has been dissolved by the sulfuric acid that is created from the bacteria that live in the vent (which gets it from the hydrogen sulfide gas).
We had dinner Hawaiian style (spam and noodles), and then called it a night. Luckily, it wasn't as cold, so it was a lot better of a night's sleep.
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