Day Sixteen: Yellowstone National Park

Before I show you the pics from today I am happy to announce the winner of the "Yellowstone Prize" Check out this video to see who the winner is!!!!

 

As we have crossed the country we have made a special effort to post the state line pics as we crossed the various borders.... Much to the disappointment of my friend Teri, the Utah pic was omitted. The reason for that is because the first time we entered Utah there was no sign.... The second time, the sign was in a gorge and no place to pull over... Finally as we were living the state, I crossed the emergency vehicle only u-turn spot on the interstate to get over to the sign to make the pic.... I then had to cross the u-turn spot again to get back into Idaho... Nonetheless.. Here is the pic!!! I am attempting to ski like the guy in the pic! 

Onto the good stuff... today we entered Yellowstone... This pic is a little off center but it was a nice older man who took the pic... I have really come to appreciate people who snap pics for random strangers.... Without them we would have way too many single shots.

Almost instantly as you enter Yellowstone you will start to see wildlife... Below are several pics of some of the animals we have seen so far....

There are thousands of these Bison all over the park.... These 2 we saw early this morning, but go to Matt's blog to see what craziness we saw this afternoon... IT WAS CRAZY!!!!!

These things are called Prong Horns..... The irony is we haven;t seen any with horns.... We did see 2 grizzly bears but they were just far enough away that you couldn't really tell what they were on camera... Honest we saw them... There were tons of people stopped on the side of the road looking at them... Maybe tomorrow we will see one like we saw that Bison on Matt's video!!!

One of the first areas of the park we visited today was called Mammoth Hot Springs... It was a neat place where all theses rock formations had formed because of the acidic water from within the earth... the smell was weird around here... A sulfuric kind of smell... I kept asking Matt was that him??? 

Right near Mammoth Hot Springs was a hiking trail called Beaver Ponds Trail... It was 5 miles long and somehow Matt talked me into it.... The weather was perfect for a hike though, and that's what we were here for.... So.... Off we went!!!

Scenes of me enjoying the hike!!!

After the hike we drove on around the park to find another trial to the top of this mountain... Matt and I climber up there and set the timer on the camera so we could be in the pic together... This pic just doesn't do it justice... There was snow everywhere!!! This was possibly my favorite spot of the day! 

Just to give you an idea of how much snow... Check out this pic..... I think the snow will be here 'til it snows again in the winter!!!!

As you continue around the park the scenery changes with every turn... It really is the neatest thing to wait to see what comes next.... 

As we turned to the south of the northern loop we came upon the falls of Yellowstone... the sound it made was just overwhelming... You could hardly hear yourself talk... It was beautiful!!

All that viewing the falls and the long hike earlier in the day made us want to get in the water... So we went way down stream and found a place to soak our feet... We walked around in the river for a while 'til some Fly Fishers ran us off. The water was cold but it felt great on my tired feet!!!

That was our day.... We walked and hiked more today than maybe our whole trip combined... I am pooped!!! Congrats to the winner of the prize!!!

Day 16 Stats:

Mileage: 100 miles

Drive Time: From 10 this morning 'til 6 tonight (just around the park)

Gas: $4.29 (Due to the speed we had to go in the park today, we got 30 mpg WAHOO!!!!)