Yellowstone National Park

                       

 Old Faithful

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

We had a rather long drive after leaving Polson to West Yellowstone.Knowing what we know now we would go into Yellowstone from the northwest entrance near Gardiner, MT..We stayed in the KOA campground about 2 m. west of the west entrance and I must say it is one of the prettiest campgrounds we have stayed, along with an indoor pool and spa as well as being nestled in the Gallatin Forest. Next morning we headed into the park,,did I mention we, well Ted purchased a lifetime national park pass last year for $10 when we stayed on Mustang Island, and it has paid for itself many times over for us during our little adventure,,,just thought I would throw that in just in case any of you get this same gypsy-lifestyle adventure notion....the road from Norris to Madison was closed for construction so we headed south,,,first up were the elk grazing in the meadow along the Madison River, followed by the Bison scattered about the park and on the roadways,,heading toward Old Faithful you come upon the lower geyser basin and I must say that topping the hill and seeing all the steam rising from various areas of the earth's floor was a bit unsettling,,,but it gets better....of course one has to walk about on the wooden paths to explore the geysers up close with posted warnings along the paths about not getting off the paths, etc. so who built these sidewalks over the boiling water anyway?,,,, did I tell you about the bubbling pools of muck - mud pots and paint pots - water over 200 degrees all around us - oh, and the smell of sulphur? peeuweee...I felt we were in a pre-historic land far, far away..onward to the midway geyser basin and then Biscuit Basin,,,Black Sand Basin and finally up to Upper Geyser Basin where we made it around to Old Faithful around lunch time and just in time to watch her do her thing,,,then had a cold hard sandwich from the cafe,,nothing to brag about...advantages of traveling out of season is not having to contend with hoards of tourists and sometimes getting a break on lodging but disadvantages are also that these places tend to use up what foods they have at the end of the season before they shut down for winter...ever have a 3 cheese sandwich with no mayo, lettuce or tomato? I have to chuckle and laugh at us humans from time to time,,,while driving thru the park [not more than 45mph and crossing the Continental Divide 2 times] all of a sudden you see cars pulled off to the side of the highway,,like sheep others fall in behind quickly whipping onto the shoulder, or even stopping in the middle of the road to see what is going on?,,,,there it is,,,a bull elk taking what started out to be a leisurely walk thru the forest,,no, we didn't stop...but I did roll down the window and gawk a bit to see what the fuss was all about,,,,first of many sitings 'throughout the park,,,I can just see Mr. Bear in the mornings holding the weekly meeting with the elk, bison, wolves and other bears....'okay now you wildlife listen up,,,,seems the bull elk have made headlines in this weeks issue of Yellowstone News..reports of you 'charging' a tourist in your meadow while grazing near the Madison River...also headlining was Mr. Bison,,seems you gored a tourist near where you crossed the Madison River...I say,,let's try to avoid the charging and goring of tourists,,they mean no harm,,although their cameras may look like cannons,,they are only taking photos,,so let's take it easy and only the tourists that are really annoying will suffer your impatience...along with the wolves most of the bears will be heading north to ready our dens for winter and our sightings will be non-existant until spring most likely - so I say to you all,,,just get out there and create some traffic jams this week'....