Monday, May 11, 2009

Yellowstone National Park

We arrived in Yellowstone quite late through the South entrance. Realizing that it would get dark soon we decided to get to the camp site as soon as possible. There were two available this time of year so we headed for Mammoth, which was in the northern part of the park. Unfortunately when we arrived we found that half the camp site was closed and the other half was fully booked. Furthermore the stores had closed and so we had to go to a dining hall to get some food. After our expensive dinner we found out that Madison (the other camp site) had plenty of room so we headed there. On route we spotted a couple of Bison and a wolf before arriving at the camp site approximately 10.30. We pitched our tent in the freezing cold and crashed to a very cold and uncomfortable night’s sleep.

In the morning we got up early and made our way to Old Faithful where the predictable geyser erupted roughly every 78 minutes. On route we found some smaller geysers and fantastic sulphur pools. We arrived at Old Faithful around 11.30, 20 minutes before it was due to blow. Not wanting to waste time we had a look around the area just making it back in time for the eruption. While it was great to see we all felt somewhat disappointed after the expectation and so decided to finish off looking around the area. On our way back to the van we were very lucky to see the Bee Hive erupt, this happens every 10 hours to 5 days and so we were very fortunate to be there when it went off, as it was much more spectacular than Old Faithful. That afternoon we went to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and found a couple of waterfalls which included one that was over 300 feet. By this time it was early evening so we headed north of Mammoth Springs to get some burgers and sausages for a BBQ, however on the way we were flagged down by a park ranger for having a home made tag plate. Once he realized we were exchange students and the car wasn’t stolen he let us go. After picking up the food we had our burgers, a few Buds and created a bonfire to keep us warm for the night.

The next morning we got up early after another cold and uncomfortable night (the bonfire didn’t help) and headed for Mammoth Hot Springs where we found some thermal pools that flowed into the river where we could bathe, which was absolute bliss after two nights in the freezing cold and no showers! By the time we left the thermal pools it was 20-25 oC and blue skies. We picked up some food and headed for the Yellowstone Lake where we got some stunning photos of the mountains while we had lunch. After lunch we exited the park through the South Entrance and made our way through Grand Teton, which also gave some fantastic views of the mountains and lakes. At one point a park ranger started following us and it was only a matter of time before we got pulled over, which we did. The park ranger approached the vehicle with a hand on his pistol as might be expected when approaching a van in the state of ours. Kev turned to speak to the officer who then instructed him to face the front and put his hands on the dash. Kev later blamed the cold for his uncontrollable shaking but we all knew the real reason he was shaking. As soon as the ranger confirmed the van wasn’t stolen and checked our documents he sent us on our way. The next couple of hundred miles we encountered about three short bends, 50 cars and towns with populations as low as 100 people. We reached a milestone of 200,000 miles on the van though we think it may have been clocked so it could have been much higher. We eventually arrived in a town and crashed for the night in a motel, which felt like a 5 star considering we had a bed and hot water.

Unfortunately there are no photos on this post either, we'll probably upload some in the next couple of days.

- Joe

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