Face to face with the wildlife of Yellowstone!

We got up, drove up the road to use the shower facilities and felt like a new person. After which we adventured out around Yellowstone. There is wildlife EVERYWHERE. During the day we saw bison, elk, deer, a wolf, and Alyson even spotted yes, a grizzly bear. To my surprise, she was more excited than I could have ever imagined just a week ago as we were beginning our adventure.

Also, Old Faithful was quite an event. It only erupts every 90 or so minutes so we got there with an hour to spare. As it neared, Alyson INSISTED she capture it on video, so about 20 attempts at capturing it (there were many false alarms) the moment finally came. We have lots of weeding to do of videos from today. There is lots more to discuss, but I have lots more driving ahead of me so I will leave it to Alyson to fill you in. All I will say is that after returning to the campsite, I made a BOMB fire on which we cooked hamburger helper without the neighbors assistance.

Next stop, Salt Lake City.

-Dave

This is definitely going to be a lengthy post, so get comfy! I am writing this while Dave drives us to Salt Lake City.

I guess you can call me a pro camper now for making it through Yellowstone for two nights! The past two nights were terribly freezing (33 degrees). The wind was so loud, you could hear it coming for miles through the trees, but the stars made up for it (there were hundreds). We didn’t stay very warm by the fire the first night, but last night our fire was roaring! Our neighbors came over when they saw us trying to light it, and they impressed : ) Our dinner last night was Hamburger Helper and salad. I think I ate better while camping than I do at home.

Today we covered pretty much all of Yellowstone’s “must see” places plus more. Our first stop was the nice hot showers (this was an attraction for me). We then traveled to our first real place-Old Faithful. It goes off about every 90 minutes, and we arrived with an hour to go, so we got a front row seat for the event. The closer it got to erupting, the more people got antsy. You would hear “Oh..oh..oh...awwww….wait...nope…” The kids behind us probably counted down from 10 about 20 times. When it actually did go off, it was amazing.

The next stop was Midway Geyser Basin. I am surprised nobody has heard of this before because it was just as cool as Old Faithful. The springs there were colored due to bacteria called thermophiles (don’t worry, that’s as scientific as I will get). The colors were so vibrant, and you could even see them from the road. There were red springs and blue springs.

The third stop was Mammoth Hot Springs (very uneventful). The

ride to this place was quite eventful, though. There was tons of construction (you were stuck for 15+ minutes, so Dave stood out of the car and shot grapes into my mouth...I think the people behind us found this amusing). There was also a road closed because there was a really bad motorcycle accident, and they were going to call LifeFlight. When we finally got moving we were stopped again! This time it was because of an animal. Cars were parked in the street for about a quarter of a mile, and a ranger walked by us with his walkie talkie, “Okay, so where’s the bear?” I immediately popped out of the sunroof with my camera ready. Unfortunately the bear was too deep into the woods for a picture, but I definitely saw it walking into the woods. It was brown, which meant I saw a grizzly!

Our last stop was at Yellowstone Grand Canyon. Dave insisted that we hike down the trail to it, so I put my brave face on and walked down to the canyon. It was 300 feet down and 300 feet up, but on the way up it felt more like 3,000. It was so difficult, and I felt so out of shape, but Dave reminded me that at high elevations (7,800 feet), oxygen levels are pretty low. I think he said that just to make me feel better, but then I noticed everyone else having a super hard time. The canyon itself was beautiful! The colors of the rocks were really bright, and there was a huge waterfall tumbling right next to where we stood.

After this adventure, we decided it was time for dinner. We didn’t want last night to turn into a night like the night before. Our trek back to camp was stopped when the cars in front of us stopped abruptly. Annoyed, I popped out of the sunroof while Dave peered to the side. We both saw a bison in the middle of the road just walking along, not a care in the world, no rush. I took a video because it was too funny; the bison had to be less than a foot away from Dave’s open window! (see video below!) After the bison had passed by, we were set again, hoping to make it back soon to eat.

Not too long after that, we noticed a handful of people standing on the side of the road with binoculars, which made us curious...we had to stop again. I am glad we stopped because when we asked a lady what everyone was looking at, she replied, “There’s a black wolf on the other side of the river.” Dave and I looked at each other, and, with everyone else, started jogging to the edge of the cliff to see the wolf. Sure enough, we saw it! It hung around for about ten minutes before walking back into the woods. On our way back to the car, I stepped in bison poop (and for the record...bison poop is pretty big)! I threw my shoes off and refused to wear them, so I walked around in my socks. Finally, we got back to the campsite after another while (stopping for people taking pictures of bison, more bison, elk, deer, and more bison).

I guess I’ve finally covered everything. I will let you know how today goes later…

-Alyson

PS- Every time I open a stupid bottle, it explodes on me because of the pressure. I don’t think I will ever catch on to this.