My night-time jitters left me feeling not very well-rested, but hey, I’m sitting in Yellowstone National Park on a fine morning with birds singing, so a little loss of sleep is acceptable in my book! :)
The weather was still gloomy, but not as bad as the day before. Before we get back out to the main road we come across several dozen vehicles pulled off and everyone has their spotting scopes out. It must either be a bear or wolf I think. Turns out everyone was watching a wolf den waiting for the momma to make an appearance. We watched the den for a while too and we got to see a few of the wolf pups running around and that was good enough for me. I can now say that my first time seeing a wolf in the wild was at Yellowstone. Too cool!
We headed back to Mammoth Hot Springs, then south. We wanted to get to Canyon Village by lunch and then see the falls after lunch. Along the route the numbers of bison and elk were amazing.
After lunch we headed down to Inspiration Point to see the falls, but things were still pretty socked in. After a few shots in the rain we went around to Artist Point for a better view. One cannot go to Yellowstone without making a stop at Artist Point to see the falls. As we were pulling into the parking lot, we noticed a few patched of blue sky overhead and then we thought, no way, it’s finally going to break! The views of the falls were spectacular and the flow was really high with all the snowmelt and rain. We snapped a few photos in the good light.
We headed south along the Yellowstone River and started smelling the sulphur that the volcanic areas here are known for. We stopped at Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron for a few photos.
Once we got down to the shores of Yellowstone Lake, I was really impressed with just how large it was. The lake was still frozen over too, so the whole area around the lake felt like being inside my WAECO fridge!!
We head on down to West Thumb where we take the turn west toward Old Faithful, another must-see when you come to the Park. The parking lot was half full, but still, it was a lot of people. We had a little over an hour until the next blast from Old Faithful, so we looked around the Old Faithful Inn and grabbed a beer and some appetizers in the bar. The Inn is a must-see in and of itself because it is so gorgeous. My pictures from the inside do not even convey how big the place is and all the logs!
Then it was almost showtime, so we walked over to the now full boardwalk.
After the show we headed south in the late afternoon light toward the Tetons…
After days and days of rain and snow, the sky really started opening up. You couldn’t ask for better timing as we rolled into Teton National Park as the afternoon light was starting to get intense.
We continued south to the Snake River Overlook.
To the east of us more storms were hitting, but were still in the clear.
At dusk we found a few open spots in the Signal Mountain Campground as another excellent day came to an end...
Here is a little map of the route we took the 25th...
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