Wild West Trip Sept.2012 Yellowstone Part #2

Map of Mammoth Springs

Mammoth Springs

Yours truly

Jon taking it all in...

Mammoth Springs

Very scenic landscape here

Mammoth Springs

This reminded us of Pumakale in Turkey

Another early AM start

Sunrise

Hot springs in early AM

During blast

This one just finished blasting

Rainbow and geyser

Tues. 9-11-12 West Yellowstone
Flags at half mast today –
We were up once again before the sun, and set out the trail of geysers which did not disappoint. It was really cold and windy this AM, 29 to be exact, so all of the geysers and pools were steamy. We headed down one road at Firehole Lake and were the only ones there that caught one huge geyser eruption, then a smaller one. There was a rainbow reflecting though the steam of the smaller geyser and it was just magical. It was a bit icy on the trails starting out this AM. After about three hours of exploring, we headed to the Old Faithful Inn for breakfast. After breakfast we explored all of the geysers around Old Faithful, including viewing of Old Faithful from a couple of different views. We continued revisiting some of the geysers we had visited earlier in the morning that had more vibrant colors with the sun higher in the sky. We got back to our cabin late afternoon, and we are all packed up and organized for tomorrow as we drive back through Yellowstone east to Cody Wyoming. We have just loved our time in Yellowstone. Some thoughts we have had. The earlier up the better – you beat the crowds and enjoy many areas all by yourselves, witness amazing sunrises, and see the wildlife at their most active. We have really enjoyed being here in the fall – a bit off season. We have had some animal car jams and traffic but I can not imagine what it must be like in the summer ! Also, it has been warm in the afternoons, but much cooler for hiking that in the summer. Some of our best photos and experiences have been off of the main road down smaller roads that often are banned to RV’s, vans and buses. We stayed in West Yellowstone which strategically had worked at great because it is in the middle of either heading south or north so you do not have to keep covering the same territory to get to new areas.

Little hot spring - I think this one was marigold

Edge of the Grand Parismatic

Wed. 9-12-12 Cowboy Village, Cody Wyoming
Up early with plans to arrive early in Cody but……….. The only animals we had on our list to see that we had not yet seen were a black bear, a grizzly bear, a long horn sheep and a wolf. Our 2 ½ our trip took us five hours because we kept stopping to take pictures and luckily we saw a black wolf and a black bear (along with elk, bison, a coyote, deer, birds…….) We then stopped at Buffalo Bill’s old hunting lodge, then on through the Shoshone National Forest. The Shoshone Forest was a surprise to us because the scenery was spectacular with a rugged rocky terrain with large rock outcroppings that reminded us of Arizona. We then stopped at the Buffalo Bill Dam, then rolled into to town. We are staying at another cabin in Cody. We toured around Cody, ate lunch at the Silver Dollar Saloon, then we headed to a museum. Tonight we had dinner at a great restaurant and ate at the bar where we gabbed it up with some locals. We are surrounded by beautiful mountain ranges, and looking forward to our adventures tomorrow !