Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Tuesday: John stopped by the Moose Flats Campground early. Brought us a loaf of good bread & a cinnamon roll. Joined us for breakfast. About min-morning we left for Yellowstone NP, West Entrance. Stopped in West Yellowstone for propane & a few groceries. This was the same place we stopped two years ago. Drove to the Madison Campground. Registered, dumped our tanks then filled with water then took off exploring. Saw lots of buffalo on the way to the campground. We drove to the Norris Geyser Basin. There was a good accessible trail so we were really able to see lots of the thermal features. We have a very nice campsite. There is a large wooded area behind us. Carol’s job is to look for critters out the window. It’s been too cold for her to want to go outside except for our walk around the Basin. At the campground we ran into a Lazy Daze couple from Pennsylvania. Talk about a small world. We had camped right next to them in Burlington, VT four years ago. The weather forecast for tonight & tomorrow is dreary. Rain, maybe snow & windy .

Wednesday: Awoke to rain. We decided to head towards the Bridge Bay Campground. The Madison Campground is near the West Entrance to Yellowstone. Bridge Bay, where we stayed during our visit two years ago, is near the East Entrance. Tomorrow we will be leaving Yellowstone via the East Entrance as we work our way to visit Suzanne in Longmont, CO. We left Madison about 9:30. As the day went on, the weather improved. Some clouds for a while then the sun would break through. A much nicer day than forecast. We stopped at just about every pull-off. At the Fountain Paint Pot area we walked all around the most beautiful fumaroles, geysers, springs, etc. We walked for over an hour. In 1959 there was a major earthquake at Hebgen Lake; about 20 miles from here. This event dramatically changed this area. Some new thermal features were formed; some disappeared. After that we took the Firehole Lake Drive and stopped several times for close up looks at the hydrothermal areas. Stopped at the Biscuit Basin area for lunch. Took pictures of fly fisherman to e-mail to Johnny. Remember the saying “A bad day fishing if better than a good day at work”. Stopped briefly at the Old Faithful area. Since we had explored that area two years ago, we decided to continue on. Crossed the Continental Divide at 8,391’. The ground is still covered with snow and the lakes partially frozen. Stopped at a picnic area. Gopher just loves running through & rolling in the snow. Fun to watch. We continued our drive, stopping several times on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. Arrived at Bridger Bay about 3:00. Last time we were here there was a resident bison. People were leery of walking too close to the bison. They tell you to stay well away from them. No bison this time. Tomorrow we leave Yellowstone and start heading to Colorado.

Montana

Johnny fly fishing
Rafters
Lunch. Trout.
Carol & Gopher by our campsite.

May 29, 2008

Montana:

Thursday: Drove for about 4 hours on I-90; a very pretty drive through mountains. Camped at the Beavertail Hill SP just east of Missoula. Had a site right on the Clarks Fork River. Mostly cloudy today but warmer than it has been.

Friday: Headed for the Moose Creek Flat campground. The ride along this part of I-90 is very pretty. Mountains, cattle & sheep ranches, lots of pines. Stopped in Three Forks to do laundry at Mable’s Laundry and dump our tanks. Mable’s has a dump station; $5 plus you can fill up with water. Found a little bakery. Bought a loaf of rosemary bread that just came out of the oven. We needed to do some grocery shopping for the week so we went to Boseman. Saw a new looking store we had never tried; Rosauers. Wow!! Like a very large Whole Foods, Fresh Fields, etc. Stocked up on good salads, cookies for Carol plus things we needed. I needed toothpaste. All they had was very expensive “organic” toothpaste for $7-$9 a tube. I wanted Crest for $1.89. Will get Crest someplace else. Called Marge to let her know we were in town. They will stop by tomorrow. The campground is very nice. Our site backs up to the Gallatin River. Wonderful view of the river. We have found some of the most wonderful campsites on this trip. This is among the very best.

Saturday: One of the prettiest, sunny days we’ve had in quite some time. Johnny & Marge came by about 10:30. Had lunch together. Johnny fished a lot right behind our campsite. Caught at least 6 fish. Tomorrow we’re having a fish dinner. This Campground is a popular place to put in for kayak & raft rides. In addition, this weekend a group of people are training here for water rescue. It was fun watching the rafts & the training. See the photos. I called today and made reservations for Tuesday & Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park. We’re only an hour from the entrance. We were here two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The main area by Old Faithful is fully accessible.

Sunday: Partly sunny with some rain here & there. John & Marge came over about noon time. We cooked John’s trout on the grill plus Marge made a rice dish. A nice treat; I didn’t have to cook.

Monday: Carol & I enjoyed a quiet day reading. John & Marge went to Bozeman to get their car repaired, run errands, go site seeing, etc.

Tuesday: Johnny stopped by early so say goodbye. We're heading up to Yellowstone NP in the morning. Their plans are uncertain. We had a wonderful time visiting with John & Marge. Hopefully again in the future. Once Johnny retires from Hallmark, they hope to spend more time traveling.