Day 6 - Bison

I am starting to type this entry from the car in an Elk backup on the road through Yellowstone (people are slowing down to see a herd of elk off the side of the highway). We are heading toward the West Entrance after a solid first day in the park. 

Leaving Cody at around 9:30, it took up a little over an hour to get to the east entrance. We decided to purchase a National Park Pass, and they prorated it since we had already paid to get into the Badlands. We figure with Tetons coming and possible another park in North Dakota if we go back that way, it will be worthwhile. Plus, it's good for a year, and if my cousin's wedding is the 6th of July, as they are thinking right now, we will be able to use it in the Colorodo Rockie's next year. 

Let me describe the layout of Yellowstone in terms of the roads. Basically, there are two big circles, the bottom one larger than the top one, so it's shaped like an 8. The east entrance comes in (from the east, imagine that) in the middle of the bottom circle of the 8, and the west comes in from the west on the bottom. So for our drive today, we came in, straight east, into the east entrance and when we came to the circle we went north and and then west, staying in the middle of the 8 shape. We went a little south and then out the west entrance. I'm not sure if we will see all of the top circle, but the drives in Yellowstone seem easier and faster than those in Glacier. In Glacier, you were on the side of a mountain a lot. In Yellowstone, it is a bit more open, at least in the parts we were on today. 

So, our first stop just inside the east entrance was at Eleanor Lake. It was more like a pond, but our Eleanor was proud to have a lake named after her in a National Park. We didn't tell her it was probably after Eleanor Roosevelt. At this stop, there was a trailhead for Avalanche Peak, so we headed up the mountain. This trail was rather steep, but fun. Like clockwork, Eleanor announced she had to go to the bathroom shortly (the harder one), but we kept going. We had no idea how long it was to the top, but we were curious to keep going. Admittedly, for the first part, I was nervous about bears. There was the usual sign warning us to start, and there were very few people. Finally, we saw a few guys who told us the top was a ways up but that we would come to a clearing soon with a great view. That clearing had creeks running all down and was filled with purple and pink wildflowers. It was gorgeous. Ethan, my peak hiker, and I went up a bit more, but it was pretty steep, making him want to turn around after a few minutes. The way down was faster, certainly, but actually harder on your legs and feet. You have to be careful not to slip on the dry dirt and rocks. We made it all in one piece and set off to find a bathroom, which ended up being a pit toilet down the road. Eleanor suddenly didn't have to go number 2 as badly.

The next big stop was at Lake Yellowstone. Lake Yellowstone looks a bit like Lake Michigan, with mountains. It is HUGE. I believe I read in the guidebook that it's the largest alpine lake in North America. That seems about right. There are over 100 miles of shoreline. We saw a rocky beach to stop at, so we pulled over, took our shoes off, and took a toe dip. It honestly didn't feel that bad, even though my book warned that it's not a good lake for swimming because the average temp is 41. But it felt warmer than that for sure. Eleanor was ready to put her suit on, but since we still had a lot of road to cover and knew we'd be stopping a lot, we opted not to get all wet. 

I would need the map to know for sure, but I think we stopped and looked at some rapids from here. We just walked along the Yellowstone River along a path. We learned it was trout spawning season, so they were busy swimming upstream. Will found a calm spot were three huge trout were resting before the rest of their journey. They were probably a foot and a half long. The only bad thing about this spot was that there were these long winged beetles of some kind, flying around and landing on you. They didn't bother me, but Eleanor kept having them fly at her, so we didn't stick around too long. This was the only spot we saw these bugs. I think Ethan said he heard a guy saying that the fish eat them. Maybe they were the flies that fly fishermen use. 

Next, we ended up at the Fishing Bridge camping area, where they had a large store and a little snack bar. Of course, there was a line for the ladies room. Whoever thought two stalls in such a large place was a good idea was clearly a man. We shopped around for a bit and ended up with a pin, a patch, a shirt for Eleanor, and a little deer for Eleanor. Eleanor decided to blow her souvenir money in the first stop. 

From here, we continued along the road to this sulfur spring area, and this is where we encountered our first of many  bison of the day. There were some out of the right side of our car, and then there was one in the road, about 5 cars ahead of us. Traffic was stopped on both sides as this beast of an animal just took it's time crossing the road. Just ahead, we parked on the side of the road and walked across to the Mud Volcano area. It was a series of these sulfur springs. The mud was just bubbling up out of the ground, and you smell rotten eggs. It's kinda nuts. And there were more bison - lots! There were some rolling in the sulfur mud, presumably to cool off. There was this boardwalk surrounding the sulfur pits, and there was one directly underneath. Of course, tons of people were right above it, posing for pictures. We chose to back up and go the other way. Everything we've read about bison attacks is from people getting too close. People are dumb. We try not to be those people. 

Eleanor started a tally of all the bison that we saw, and I believe she got up to at least 25. Not bad for day one. As we drove on from the sulfur volcanos, we could see many off in the distance, chilling in the valley. At one turn off, we saw a ranger who had a telescope pointing one way, so we stopped. There was a herd of Elk across a river. Through her binos, you could see them, but they were a bit far way for my zoom lens. All I saw were some dark spots. 

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It is as it sounds, a large canyon, except at the bottom was the Yellowstone River instead of the Colorado. It was a loooong way down. There are two waterfalls to see, upper and lower falls. Lower falls is the highest in Yellowstone. We saw it from a lookout spot above and could see people right at the top of the falls, behind a railing. Determined to see it, Ethan and I set off. It was 3/8ths of a mile down a switchback trail down. Will wanted to skip it because it was already after 5. But I was worried we wouldn't be back this Far East and didn't want to miss out. I promised him we'd go fast. It took us about 10 minutes to go down. And it did not disappoint. This was, by far, the most massive waterfall we have seen up close. It was probably about 40 feet across and a few stories high. The amount of water rushing over it was incredible. We took some photos and video to show dad and Eleanor, and we went up as fast as we could. I timed it on my phone, and we were up in 8.5 minutes. Not bad. 

Now it was really time to head out of the park, and, luckily, the next stretch didn't have any big stopping areas. And we were moving pretty quickly, too, other than a couple of animal slowdowns. We went about 45 miles in an hour and got out of the park a little after 6. Upon exiting, you are immediately in the town of West Yellowstone. It's small, with a ton of hotels, motels, restaurants, and souvenir shops crammed into a small area. We found a tiny, expensive grocery store, picked up some ground beef for spaghetti, and some fruit, etc. Our cabin was a 10 minute drive from there, so it really is very close to the entrance but away from the crowded town.

Our cabin is very nice. Large living room/kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. There is short shag carpet everywhere but the kitchen. The cabinets are all knotty wood, as is the ceiling. I would call it cowboy modern. And our front yard is mountains. Can't beat that. We have a little porch with a grill and table for four. In the back, there's a small deck with a table for two. You can hear a small creek (our cabin is called creek side), but you can't really see it as there is a bunch of brush around it. We were in a rush to get dinner going when we got home, and we didn't want to have the kids outside on their own. Honestly, if we see a bear at all, it will likely be out the kitchen window. 

We got the car unpacked, made a quick dinner, and tried to organize a bit. Kids just went to bed, and I am following soon after a shower and some laundry. Will is talking about a ranger hike at 8:30 at Old Faithful. I'm not sure I can be up and out early enough to make it there. We will see. I don't have it in me to proofread this right now, so please excuse any errors.