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