Road Trip!: June 7-Madison Campground Yellowstone

Another full day of adventure. Today we went from Madison to Mammoth Hot Springs, which is a 1 hour and 10 minute adventure according to our book and we were gone about 9 hours this time, so we made good time. We even ate our wrap for lunch in the van to save time! On our way from Madison to Mammoth Hot springs we stopped Norris which has nice paths and a plethora of geysers to see. There is a very old building that now houses a tiny museum and a bookstore. We stopped at the Artist’s Paintpots and Lower Terraces and walked those trails and boardwalks as well. We slipped into Montana when we wanted to see the beautiful north entrance arch built in 1872. Such different terrain in this area from the South Entrance where there are evergreens everywhere. The North Entrance is more stark with grasses and rocky with cliffs. On our return trip we stopped in Mammoth and photographed the Elk who have their young right in between the housing area on the lawn, we saw one about 2 hours old. They apparently feel safe there and stay there to raise the young ones for a time. From there we went through the Upper Terrace Drive seeing multiple terraces. When leaving that area a lot of cars were stopped so it’s a sure bet there is something to see. This time it was a bear! I thought it was a Black Bear but in retrospect looking at the photos it is a Grizzly Bear! Neither of us have seen one of these in the wild before. One can tell by the prominent hump at the shoulders even if you cant see the rounded and lower ear placement. It was a young bear and not huge. It gave quite a show to submerge in the water and put his feet up in the air. Next stop was Beryl Springs where there was NOT a “no pets” sign so Tony got to take a very brief roadside walk to the steam this time. He was very interested. John might have been more interested in the 2014 Corvette that stopped as well. Nice guy, so friendly, maybe lonely since he was alone. We talked to him awhile. We saw additional Elk and Bison today as well, along with waterfalls and the beautiful scenery that abounds. The last thing we experienced was not so fun. An accident, a vehicle rolled down a cliff off the road, apparently not making the turn. Sort of took some of the joy from our day to know this. There were 6 police cars, 3 ambulances, and at least 3 fire trucks. After getting back we played some cards until the sun dropped and the obligatory rain of the day arrived. It usually rains about 20-30 minutes but it rained pretty hard around midnight ending before 2-3am.

Artist’s Paintpots