Yellowstone National Park

The Theodore Roosevelt Arch

We arrived at Yellowstone and stayed right at the north entrance in a town called Gardiner, Montana.  Each day when we drove into the park we would pass the entering into Wyoming sign....as well as the sign for the continental divide.  Yellowstone is the first national park in the world and is in the shape of a figure 8.  There are around 150 plus miles in the park.....IMMENSE!!  These miles are mostly slow, twisty, and hilly with steep drop offs through much of the area.  Along our travels from one destination to another we passed through so many different types of land features.  One moment we would be in a dense forest of tallllllll pines and the next in an area with tons of smoking holes in the ground like the surface of another planet.
The thermal pools and geysers were amazing.  They made us aware of how fragile and volatile Yellowstone is.  Almost like it's just "waiting to happen".  BOOM!! 

opal pool

 

hard to see without a blue sky background

The thermal pools were beautiful turquoise color with different colors of minerals caked all around them.  All over the land there were new holes of steaming, bubbling, and boiling primordial ooze.  There were warning signs to stay on the walkways as the land is very fragile and unpredictable and could and is breaking through all the time.

The sulfur flats were so so noxious to be around.  We could see and smell how toxic they were.  The smell will stay with us forever.

mud pots

Another cool area is The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  Absolutely stunning chasms, waterfalls, and rock formations all around.

Glacier Rock

Chief Crazy Hammer and Princess Glass O' Wine
at Inspiration Point.......getting inspired!!

An osprey perched atop a skinny spire of a hoodoo
with the deeeeep canyon below.

Just as stunningly gorgeous were the dead trees and roots found everywhere.  I called it "Nature's Macabre Artistry".  I felt like a real photographer taking random pics of these.

Nearby to where we were staying is Mammoth Hot Springs area.  Here were beautiful mountains of white and colored minerals continually growing from the springs that are always steaming and spraying up.

We loved seeing the animals of Yellowstone.  Now that people have stopped feeding the animals and stopped being careless with food trash, the bears spend most of their time "up country" in the park.  So we didn't see any Yogi or Booboos around. 

pronghorn antelope
the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere!!

"The Raven"
should have placed him up with the dead trees

PELICAN
who knew!!

beautiful elk

another elk

my ELK BURGER.    :(

Buffy

Hognose snake
(I saw his twin brother behind the truck.
I couldn't get his pic because I was running and screaming!)

We are now in the Grand Tetons area and will soon be headed to South Dakota to see more exciting things.  TTFN   

Glacier National Park

Our trip through Montana to get to Glacier was so interesting, scary, beautiful, and long.  The first leg of the trip took us through more badland territory.  The temps were 97 degrees and the road through the rocky badland terrain was narrow with steep drop offs on both sides.  We were both on the edge of our seats the whole time fearing the truck overheating, running out of gas, or blowing out a tire.  Not a soul was on these roads with us and we again had no cell service.  When they say Montana is the land of the big sky.....it's TRUE.  For 360 degrees around you there is just amazing blue sky.  Awesome amounts of sky.  For us from New England, where all we see for the most part is a little patch of sky at a time.....this was jaw dropping.  Interesting too was that you could see different weather situations far off in different directions....weathers that had nothing to do with where we were and probably wouldn't.  
Finally we started seeing trees and soon signs for towns and eventually had cell service again.  We pulled in for the night mid way and then finished the trip to Glacier the following day.

We found ourselves driving on the flatlands and suddenly we started seeing the sharply pointed and jagged peaks of the Rockies in the distance. This whole area is Blackfeet Native American Nation Territory. 

 We started our climb up and up into the higher and higher elevations.  Our campground was right at St. Mary at about 4,500 feet in elevation.  We faced the gorgeous St. Mary Lake from our site.  Because of its remoteness we had no wifi at our site and missed being connected to the outside world.

We took lots of scenic drives all around the different areas of the park and stopped often to take pics that just don't do justice to the actual sights. 

 We also took a couple of ranger guided walks and hikes.  Sadly the glaciers may only be around for another 7 years based on the speed of how they are receding each year and not able to rebuild themselves.  We were lucky to have been able to see possibly the last of them.  Going, going, GONE!

Jackson Glacier

Some areas of the park were hit with fires back in 2002 and again in 2006.  Sometimes we saw whole areas of burned trees and the new growth starting to come up.  They don't do anything to stop or control these fires.  They let nature take its course.  Some of the plants actually need fire in order to germinate.  So fire is a natural part of the park's system.

Upon entering the parks and trails there were signs of warning that you are now entering GRIZZLY TERRITORY!  YIKES!!  Everyone had a can of bear spray....including US.  We would be walking along a trail and people coming the other way would tell us they just saw a momma bear with her cubs on the trail up ahead.  HOLY SMOKE!!!!  I was very scared.  The cans of spray cost $40 so I think Mario actually wanted to see one to get our money's worth out of it.  MY GOD!!!

Wearing Magen's bear bell!!!!

Crazy Hammer with the bear spray!!

The hike at Logan Pass was such a highlight for us. 

  It was up to an elevation of 6,600 feet and we could really feel the thin air after the long hike up and down.  Especially for us and living in Salisbury......sea level.  haha.  We had a perfect day and took lots of pics of the beautiful wild flowers growing along the way as well as the interesting wildlife that we encountered along the way.

mountain goats

bighorn sheep

Bullwinkle

dusky grouse

Colombian ground squirrel

hoary marmot

black bears

golden eagle

Large and eye catching magpies were everywhere in Montana.

We are now making our way down to Yellowstone National Park and are camping at a midway point near Butte, Montana.  We will spend a couple of days here to relax and stock up on supplies for the next big destination.  TTFN  xxxxxxx