Winter Family Travels in 2005: Day Thirty Seven

Yellowstone National Park is the first National Park in the United States and was a blueprint for National Parks across the world. You think of Old Faithful and assume they have a couple of more geysers. As it turns out Yellowstone is sitting on a super Volcano and has 300 geyers, hot springs, mud pots, steam vents and all sorts of stinky, wonderfully wierd geothermal activity. Along with wildlife, mountains, lakes, rivers prairie, meadows canyons and most spectacular variety of landscapes. We started our adventures at the Norris Basin. You feel that you are in another world. The colours, smell and heat are hard to describe. We had lunch at a picnic ground and then drove off to Mammoth Hot Springs. This huge hot spring has been depositing minerals for centuries and producing a magnifienct work of art. We then went to the Boiling River for a swim. Run off from the hot spring flows into the river forming a warm spot in the river. All the hot springs here are much hotter than Banff; the water is close to boiling. They believe that the hot molten lava is only 3 to 5 kilometers below the surface.

As you drive around Yellowstone, you see much wildlife. They have many elk, mule deer and at least 3000 Bison. We saw single bull bison by the side of the road, beside a boiling mud hole, just about around most corners. We saw a coyote, and a bald eagle nest with a fledgling perched beside.

In 1988 Yellowstone had a huge wild fire that burnt a large section of forest in the park. After 17 years the forests have reseeded themselves very well. There are still many dead standing burnt trees but the floor of the forest is thick with young trees. This fire certainly made it easier to see wild life.

After a full hot day we returned to camp, tired and hungry and ready for bed.