Yellowstone NP

9-10-15 to 9-15-15

We could see on the national park web site that all the campgrounds in Yellowstone were filling up early. The reason we waited to go to Yellowstone after Labor Day was because in our previous visits the crowds had cleared out and getting a camping spot was not a problem. Wrong! I don't know if it's the lower gas prices, baby boomers retiring, or everyone figured that once school started, the park would be less crowded. So we got up early and crossed into Yellowstone from the Tetons and were at the nearest campground by 9:30 AM and no spot for us. The smart people had made reservations. So off again for a first come first serve campground on the northern side of Yellowstone called Norris CG.

We got one of the last spots at 10:30 AM and considered ourselves lucky.

Our destination the next day was Mammoth Hot Springs CG which was first come first serve. We arrived at 8:20 AM, and much to our relief, we were able to great a site with a very nice view. Mammoth Hot Springs is on the northern side of Yellowstone, only about 5 miles from the northern entrance to the park. The big draw here are the elk herds that inhabit the surrounding area and are frequently in the campground. We would wake up in the morning with bugling elk walking in between the campsites.

We had one large buck with his harem of about 10 or more cows claiming our campground. We had to be careful when walking around the CG so as not to disturb the elk.

The elk would also invade the town of Mammoth Hot Springs, much to the delight of the tourists.

The road in Yellowstone is a large figure eight and is quite a distance to cover. We spent several days covering the different sections. There is quite a variety of terrain, from mountains to flat plains with lots of rivers and lakes. We saw hundreds of buffalo feeding on the grassy plains.

We did have one unusual experience. We were headed east to the Lamar Valley, which is know for lots of wildlife, when we had an encounter with a buffalo herd. We were on a very long bridge hundreds of feet above a river, when a buffalo herd decided to cross over the bridge coming towards us. Believe me, they were much larger than our little Honda Fit. Everything was okay until they decided to start running towards us and cause the bridge to vibrate up and down.

The other days we visited thermal hot springs, and of course we had to see Old Faithful erupt. It's amazing that it erupts with such regularity of about every 90 minutes, give or take.