September 18
Today we spent twelve hours in Yellowstone and yet there’s so much more to see. The thing about Yellowstone is IT’S EVERYTHING.
It’s mountains and forest and rivers and waterfalls and geological anomalies and animals and birds and plants and EVERYTHING. I’m going to try to sum up the day, and I’m sure I’ll have to leave a lot out just so I can get to bed eventually.
We got started early and were through the northern entrance of the park by 7:30. We had breakfast at the Mammoth Hot Springs Dining Room, an art deco style restaurant with a civilized sit-down breakfast that you wouldn’t expect in a US National Park. The food was fantastic and the service even better. After breakfast we walked over to check out the actual hot springs which are otherworldly.
We decided to make a goal of getting to Yellowstone Falls by the end of the day. The first rule of Yellowstone should be “abandon all goals” because something amazing is around every corner that can disrupt your plans.
Spoiler alert – we DID eventually make it to Yellowstone Falls, but we had lots of cool stuff to distract us along the way. First distraction- mountain goats. We quickly learned that when you come around a curve in the road to see a dozen cars parked at a turnout with everyone looking way up a hillside pointing and aiming cameras we should check it out. Wish we could have gotten some good photos but they were moving between trees and far away, but what an experience!
We traveled on and soon came to the Obsidian Cliffs, where for thousands of years people made tools and arrowheads using the black volcanic glass found here.
I’m happy to report that we saw lots of birds today—bald eagles, trumpeter swans, red-tailed hawks, pintail ducks, grebes, even a robin and a blackbird.
The first time we saw a bison my heart nearly jumped up out of my throat. It was pretty far away so we were safe and could still get some great photos. After that we started seeing them often on hills or in meadows along the road, all at a distance. As we were on our way out of the park, however, there was one right next to the road. He was standing there sticking his tongue out at us and grunting, so how could we resist? These magnificent creatures just want to be left alone so after a quick snap we were happy to oblige him.
Along the way we also saw elk, deer, and pronghorn antelope.
At the visitors center we learned about volcanic activity in the park and how Yellowstone was formed which was fascinating.
We saw Yellowstone Lake, the Yellowstone River and finally Yellowstone Falls, along with a couple other amazing waterfalls. I know this sounds like just a big list of stuff, but Yellowstone is so much everything, I could never fit it all in here.
It was a full day of complete sensory overload, and we only saw a small loop in the northern half of the park. Tomorrow, we head south for more exploring, because there’s so much more to see!
At the park exit, this guy stood bugling to his nearby lady friend. Goodnight loverboy!
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