Bucket List Road Trip part 2

We wanted to get one last look at the geysers before leaving Yellowstone today. On our way to the geyser area we saw Great Fountain geyser playing in the distance. We pulled into the parking lot hoping to catch the show up close. Great Fountain geyser only goes off every 10-14 hours but it plays for almost an hour when it does. Another, smaller fountain geyser next to it was going off at the same time.  Great Fountain Geyser We saw Great Fountain Geyser erupting in the distance. It looks like the whole Lower Geyser Basin is active. We saw Old Faithful again, but it was a small, short show, especially compared to the big geysers we have been seeing. We walked around the whole Upper Geyser Basin and saw another fantastic display of Grand Geyser, like we saw yesterday. We also got to see some really pretty springs. Mother nature is truly amazing!  Chromatic Pool Chromatic Pool Beauty Pool We are glad we got one last look today. Tonight we traveled to Pocotello, ID, half way ...

 We saw 3 major geysers play today. (Play is the cool word they use to say erupt). We got the estimated play times for the 6 predictable geysers and headed right to Grand Geyser. It’s the tallest predictable geyser in the world (200 ft) and plays every 6 hours, plus or minus 75 minutes. We only had one chance to see it today. We went right to Grand Geyser and sat for about 45 minutes waiting for her to come out and play. We learned how the geyser pool needs to fill up and little waves start to form in the pool before a geyser erupts. We had front row seats when she burst. It was amazing! After about 10 minutes it looked like the show was over, but she surprised us with an encore that was even more powerful. Someone told us that second eruptions only happen less than 40% of the time. It was our lucky day! Front row at Grand Geyser   Grand Geyser's powerful burst Behive Geyser put on a show    As soon as Grand Geyser finished her encore we heard that Beehive, a more co...

We are enjoying Gardiner, MT. It is the north, and orginal, entrance to Yellowstone Park. It is a small town, not a lone place out in the woods where we were before. Easy to get in and out of the park. Today we started north to visit Chico Hot Springs resort, which was recommended by our trail ride guide in Cody. We swam in their 2 naturally fed hot spring pools. Traveling The Back Roads Looking For Bear On the way we detoured onto some rough roads that wound up the side of the mountain, past several ranches, looking for bears because some guy at the Antler Bar last night guaranteed we would see bears there. We didn't. In the afternoon we came back south into Yellowstone to visit the Mammouth Springs and Norris Geyser Basins. Mammouth Springs is the park headquarters and where the rangers live. The large hot springs that formed the landscape were probably beautiful a few years ago, but most of them are dormant now. September is elk mating season. The rangers were very protective be...

Today we headed to Yellowstone north entrance, where we are staying for the next 2 nights. We got a much more appropriate place to stay for us, and for seeing Yellowstone, in Gardiner, MT. It's called The Roosevelt Hotel. At breakfast a local told us to go up to the northeast entrance through Cody and the Shoshone Mountains National Forest rather than through Yellowstone east entrance. We wanted to see Lamar Valley, so this was a good choice. Bison up close (from the car!) Lamar Valley is referred to as The American Serengeti, where you would see the most wildlife. We didn't see much wildlife. Just lots of bison, a fox, a few elk, and a few deer. But we see beautiful vistas and enjoyed a short hike to Trout river. Elk as we walked to dinner in Gardiner Beautiful mirror image at Trout Lake Phil on our hike Fox crossing the road

  With our trail guide, Connor, and his horse Snow Queen We got a late start this morning, in part because the main lodge of the Absaroka Mountain Lodge is the only place we can get internet and telephone service and we spent some time getting updated. Since we decided not to stay on the eastern side of Yellowstone we spent the day in Cody, making the best of it. After breakfast we went for a trail ride with Connor, our trail guide at Cedar Mountain. That was lots of fun! The horses were amazingly sure footed! Loved their signage! Slow horses for slow riders, fast horses for fast riders, and horses that have never been ridden for people who have never ridden. HA HA Cody in the background At the top of Cedar Mountain Phil on the trail The weather was nice for a change. We walked around town, visited the Cody historical museum, spent some time at the library, and got some great ice cream at The Big Chill ice cream shop. Cody is one of the best places in the country to see a rodeo, bu...

We said good bye to our AirBnB in Victor, ID today and headed to Yellowstone. As we left, our host recommended we see Upper Mesa Falls, just outside the west entrance to Yellowstone. They were beautiful.  At Upper Mesa Falls Upper Mesa Falls  As we continued through Yellowstone to our new lodgings just outside the east entrance we were able to see bison, hot springs, waterfalls, the famous Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and miles of forest that were burned down in the big fire of 1988. At The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone The iconic view of Yellowstone. Gorgeous! Boiling Mudpots Are So Strange Colorful painter's pots created by the chemicals that bubble up from the hot springs More painter's pots Beryl Hot Springs. It's amazing that such hot water and steam are coming out of the ground right in front of us! The bison held up traffic, but we got a good close up view! What a long drive from one side of the park to the other. There is nothing on the west side where the forest burn...