Yellowstone National Park

After some refreshing showers at the Colter Bay Launderette, we bid the Tetons farewell and headed north towards Yellowstone National Park for the day. As we drove north, the slight smell of sulfur started to emanate through the car and we began to see steam rising from the earth on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. We had last visited this park on our trip in 2010 and had spent a few nights at the Norris Geyser Basin. Today - we would just be passing through.

We enjoyed the scenery along our meander through the eastern side of the park. Our first stop was at the Uncle Tom's Trail and Artist's Point near Canyon Village. There was a solid crowd enjoying the view today evidenced by the busy parking lot and lines for the bathroom. We walked the trail, but the stairs that we fondly remembered leading into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone were under repair. We got some great shots of the Yellowstone River falls from the rim though!

Heading north - we found a herd of buffalo running back and forth across the road (and naturally tons of cars stopped with cameras at the ready). We joined in and Lisa particularly enjoyed the bounding young bison.

Our next stop was at Tower Falls - we pushed through the crowds to get a view from the top and enjoyed the lack of humans on the descent into the canyon. All it takes is a little elevation loss or gain and people thin right out! The view from the bottom was gorges and looked like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

We then started heading west with a quick stop at the petrified tree. We had seen the ancient redwood tree before and we snapped a quick picture. Our real destination was Lost Lake which was a short hike away. We were happy to lose some of the crowds again as we made our way.

We also made a quick stop at Undine Falls.

Our last stop for the afternoon was at Mammoth Hot Springs and the crowds were the thickest of the day. It was in stark contrast to the last time we visited at 6:00AM... We walked the boardwalk and enjoyed the mineral formations that seemed less wet than the last time we were here. Either way, the sulfur smell was quite present.

We spent the evening in Townsend, Montana where we slept next to a snorting pig-hog.