July 9th, Tuesday

Sun shining again ! 20 degrees to start the day. We drove thru the vibrant town of Bozeman with a busy downtown as well as Mall area. From there to almost Yellowstone park Bernie described the landscape as "this must be where all the cowboy movies are filmed". Desert like, spots of green, rolling hills, rivers. The Plains. The Yellowstone Park archway gave up the good roads and we were down to narrow, windy, no shoulder roads. At Mammoth Springs Elk greeted us everywhere on the lawns and streets and then we did the 2km walk up the boardwalks (climbed 200m up) to the beautiful Mammoth Hot Springs.Mineral laden hot water from deep beneath finds it's way to the surface and builds tier upon tier of cascading, terraced stone. Beautiful !

As we drive onto the Blacktail Deer Plateau we are above 2000m and will be this high for a few days. You can feel it when you are walking especially uphill. Flat area, small trees, bison, elk, bear. There are signs of a huge forest fire in the past years as logs are everywhere on the hill sides and the tree growth is young. A species of pine that has seed pods that only open in intense heat are everywhere. They love forest fires. Our next stop is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Park and what an awesome sight from the North Side of the Canyon. The Yellowstone River snakes thru the Canyon and the sides are multi coloured due to hot springs, volcanic rocks, wind, and water.

Another weird and wonderful spot is the Fountain Paint Pot

Our last major spot was Upper Geyser Basin, the home of Old Faithful and many more geysers, hot springs and mud pots - Beehive Geyser (shape), Flume Geyser, Doublet Pool (series of ledges, border ornaments and blue water), Crested Pool (constantly boiling), Pump Geysers, and we saw the Solitary Geyser and Anemone Geyser erupt. All so interesting.

And then there was Old Faithful - we hung around and waited for its performance and it went off as scheduled

After leaving Old Faithful we headed for the South Gate of the park and it was a workout for Bernie driving - narrow, windy and looking right down the cliff side to the river. Slow and easy :-) Found a tent spot at Teton National Park - no power or water but a quiet campground. This has been an interesting part of the world. Well worth the drive.