Day 14 - Yellowstone NP (Day 1)

Greetings everyone!! Today Ryan and I did a whirlwind ten hour Ranger tour that encompassed all of Yellowstone National Park. We woke up at 7:00am, had some breakfast sandwiches at the local Mammoth Springs eatery and boarded our tour bus. Several of the passengers on the bus were from Pennsylvania. They were mainly Pittsburg Steelers fans and gave me a hard time about the Eagles. However, I did remind them that the Phillies were the 2008 World Champions of baseball (Thanks HK). So, we got our tour started and one of the things that Ryan and I noticed right off the bat was that we could not tell if our Park Ranger was male or female (nor could any of the other passengers). Our Park Ranger had a very deep voice and short hair, but had a bust like a women. We did not figure this mystery out till our first bathroom stop where the verdict was in fact a female (I really thought it was a male at first). I had a similar issue one time on a train in Sydney Australia (remember Pheebs?)

Anyhow, let’s get back to the Yellowstone. In the morning we traveled to many of the hot springs, geysers, steam vents, painters pit and bacteria pits in the western side of the park. I had never seen anything like this, and learning all about the eco-system and volcanic activity of the park was very interesting. I can’t even describe in words how beautiful everything looked so you are just going to have to look at all of the photos. At around eleven we made our way to the Old Faithful Lodge. There we had lunch including hamburgers and milkshakes at the General store. Everyone there was very friendly and it has such a cozy type atmosphere. If we were not frugal with our money, this is definitely the place to stay in Yellowstone. They even had some cell phone reception here….WOW!

After lunch we made sure to get a prime time seat to see Old Faithful erupt. Old Faithful gets its name because it is a cone geyser that erupts roughly every 92 minutes. It was a really cool sight to see water shoot up in the air about 200 feet. A must see if you visit Yellowstone NP. Check out the pictures and video of the eruption. After seeing old Faithful we boarded the bus and headed down the road that crosses the continental divide. I had no idea what this was so I asked the park ranger and this point is where the water either flows west to the Pacific Ocean or east to the Atlantic Ocean. I wanted to get out and pour some water on both sides of the divide but we didn’t stop. Once we were past the divide we saw something that hopefully we never see again. A black bear got hit by a pickup truck!!! We were traveling down the road and all of a sudden a black bear jumped into the road and this truck hit him. The bear flew across the road and then quickly sprang up. Then the bear slowly limped into the woods and up the mountain with a definite injury. The park ranger said that most likely the bear will die in the woods and that the person who hit the bear will have to pay a $1000 fine if the bear dies. Everyone on the bus was shocked to hear this because anybody could have hit the bear.

For the rest of the day we made several more stops. Check out the beautiful pictures of Yellowstone Lake and the mountains in the background. Ryan and I loved this area so much that we are going to try and rent a boat on the lake tomorrow to enjoy the scenery even more. Plus, Ryan just wants to drive a boat. After the passing by the lake we came to an area called “The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”. This was by far the most beautiful part of the Park and the waterfalls really reminded me of Niagra Falls. This is also a must see for those traveling to Yellowstone. While on the tour today we saw many animals including Bison (which is the same as a Buffalo), female elk, male elk, pelicans, cut-throat trout, another non-hurt black bear, lots of birds, and some deer. It was really quite novel to see some of these animals in their natural habitat and not being shot with a tranquilizer gun on the 6pm news. Seeing the black bear running through the fields was a really cool experience.

Finally, Ryan and I got back from our 10 hour tour and headed into town (Gradiner, MT) to grab some dinner. We also wanted to get some cell phone service and feel somewhat connected to the outside world. We ate dinner at a local saloon and the food was pretty good. We also went and had ice cream at the same place (Helens) as the night before. Wow, what a day!!! Tomorrow Ryan and I are headed to Yellowstone lake to do some boating and then renting some bikes and riding on some trails. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and that everyone is doing well!! Byebye!