Waking up on our 4th day in Yellowstone we were set for a long day. Today we would be taking a side trip outside the park with a few stops in the park as well. First up for the day was a treat for us. Our normal breakfast usually consists of fruit, yogurt and cheerios, today however we would be going out for breakfast. All over Yellowstone were Yellowstone General Stores. There are 5 or 6 of them and all varying in size. They generally carry souvenirs, have a small grocery store and a gas station attached. The one next to our RV Park was one of the larger stores and actually had a diner inside it. We drove the very short drive over, sat down and had a great breakfast prepared for us. What a treat!
Next up for the day was to drive to the northwest corner of the park, which held Mammoth Hot Springs. After around an hour and a half drive from Fishing Bridge we were there. Mammoth Hot Spring is as the name implies a huge hot spring. Unlike the other ones in the park, which are a deep blue hole in the ground, this one is flowing down the side of a big hill. The springs also contain calcium carbonate, which created white pools along the mountainside so there are tens if not hundreds of small to large white calcium pools in which the water flows from and pools into on its way down the hillside. Like every other thermal area in the park boardwalks crisscross the area. Being on a hill you must go up and down multiple sets of stairs to see the bigger pools. It was pretty neat being up on the side of a hill seeing all this water flowing under your feet with steam rising on all sides. It was beautiful seeing this in the morning light.
From Mammoth Hot Springs we were taking our first trip outside park boundaries. We were heading north to Bozeman, Montana for the afternoon for lunch. Mammoth Hot Springs is located almost on the park boundary so in no time at all we were out of the park and crossing into Montana. From the parks edge to Bozeman the drive was a little over an hour. The drive took us through a mountain valley and along the Yellowstone River. It was Sunday so the river was full of people fishing. At almost every launch point that we passed the parking lot was full of trucks and boat trailers. From the 2-lane road north from the park we hopped west on I-90 and within a few miles we were exiting the highway and were in Bozeman. Entering Bozeman we were a bit surprised. We were expecting an old west themed town like we saw in Cody, WY a few days prior. What we drove into though was a small cosmopolitan town full of high-end stores and galleries. It was quite the surprise. We parked Bubbles and started to walk around. In walking around we found out that Bozeman is home to Montana State University, which was probably part of the reason that the city was so cosmopolitan for being a smaller isolated city. We eventually found a gift shop and got a few good restaurant recommendations as well. We ended up at Starky’s Authentic Americana, which was a great meal. We even met a fellow Buffalo Bills fan there. Small world.
Leaving Bozeman it was about a 3 hour drive back to the Fishing Bridge RV Park. Once back in the park we stopped at a few little springs taking some pictures in the great late afternoon light. Our route back to the RV Park on this day took us through a huge meadow where herds of buffalo like to hang out. On this afternoon they were creating quite a traffic jam. One heard of around 100 buffalo decided that it would be a good idea to hang out right next to the roadway with one crossing every minute or so. This created quite the traffic jam. Buffalo can be quite angry animals and can charge without notice. For their size they are also extremely quick. They can run up to 30mph so unless you’re an Olympic athlete there is no way to outrun them. The traffic jam took about an hour to get through with one car going, then a buffalo standing in the middle of the road for a bit until a park ranger with his car would slowly move the buffalo out of the road. This process continued car by car by car. As much as traffic jams are frustrating, the fact that this one was caused by buffalo was pretty fun. Once we were finally through the buffalo jam we made our way back to the RV Park and called it a night.
The next day was our last in the park. We had grown accustomed to it so we were a little sad that we would be leaving. Today we would be driving to the far northeastern part of the park before having dinner in one of the main lodges. After a quick breakfast we were off for the day. Today within the first 15 minutes of driving we had our first animal sightings. While buffalo, mule deer and elk are common sights in Yellowstone, wolves and coyotes are not. We had stopped along the Yellowstone River and looked over before Julie said “look over there”! We looked to the other side of the road and there was a wolf slowly walking at the edge of the woods oblivious to seeing us. It was really neat as neither of us had ever seen a wolf before. We watched it for a while before it disappeared into the woods. We were then about to leave the river when we noticed that a lot of people had gathered on the main road and were looking intently into a meadow. We stopped and looked as well and finally noticed that they were looking at a small coyote making its way toward the river. The coyote was much smaller than the wolf and not nearly as fierce looking. We thought it was pretty neat that we had spotted 2 rarely seen animals within an hour of each other.
From Yellowstone River we made our way up into the mountains of the northeast part of the park to an area knows as Tower-Roosevelt. This is one of the least travelled areas of the park and is known for two things. Tower waterfall and the Roosevelt lodge. The Roosevelt lodge is an area where President Roosevelt loved in the park so the area was named after him. Both areas were very impressive as the waterfall was hidden in the side of a mountain so you had to walk on a path that curved on the side of the mountain until it finally came into view. It was a great short hike. The Roosevelt lodge was pretty special as well. It was the smallest of all the lodges in the park and the least crowded. You felt like you had the entire area almost to yourself as sometimes you could not see another soul. We had lunch in front of the lodge looking out onto a buffalo filled meadow. It was a great memory that we will both have forever.
As great as this area of the park was we had dinner reservations for our last night at the Lake Lodge near the RV Park. We drove Bubbles back to the RV Park, taking a shower before heading over to the lodge. The lake lodge was great, a huge yellow building overlooking Lake Yellowstone. It was a little fancier then we were used to as it was a white tablecloth affair. The dinner was great as we were seated in a table close to a window overlooking the lake. Julie had buffalo steak (which was amazing!) and I had a Lake House burger (also good but not as good as Julie’s buffalo steak). After dinner we took a drive back down to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, which we had been to a few days prior. We wanted to see it as the sun set. We got there walking around seeing how the colors in the hot springs changed with the changing colors of the sun. Just as we were about to leave we noticed a few people looking through the steam of one of the hot springs and saw a family of elk coming closer and closer to the springs. It was really neat watching them through the spring with only a few other people. It was a very special moment. As it was getting dark we walked back to Bubbles and drove back to the RV Park.
Overall we had an amazing time at Yellowstone. While it may not be the easiest place to get to its easy to see once your there why it is one of the worlds special places.
Next up….we head south to Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, WY!
