July 18, 2006

July 18, 2006

This morning we get a slow start. We stayed the night on the outskirts of West Yellowstone. It is a cute little town with lots of fly shops. Besides getting gas, which is much cheaper here, we stop at the library and make use of their wireless Internet to post a couple blogs and catch up on news in the outside world.

We head back into Yellowstone. The road within Yellowstone is basically a big circle and it is difficult to make the circuit without a lot of backtracking if you don’t intend to arrive and depart from the same entrance. We decide to cut across the middle and see the canyon area today on the eastern side. Along the way I make a few casts on both the Madison and Gibbon rivers that the road follows. No luck but there is an elk watching me fish the second time. We also make a quick stop at Tuff Cliff, which is an exposed cliff that shows how thick the ash was that covered the park after its last volcano eruption. Aimee poses in front of the interpretative sign. At that moment, a rather large coyote walks right behind her, giving her a jolt. I hadn’t seen her move that fast in awhile.

We next explore the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It is a very nice canyon carved by the Yellowstone River that flows through. It is interesting because of the colors of the cliff walls. They are multi-colored in many areas because of past and present hot spring activity along its 25-mile length. The highlight of this area though is the two waterfalls at the head of the canyon. The Lower Falls is a stunning display of water. The Yellowstone River gushes out of a flat window of hard volcanic stone and drops into a canyon of softer material below, all within a pine mountain background. Picture Perfect. Unfortunately we almost missed it. As we did the canyon drive we got tired of seeing the canyon from the many angles and skipped one. It was the one with the Lower Falls. Later, I figured there had to be a better view of the falls so we backtracked and stopped at the missing pulloff. Thank God.

We planned to stay the night at the Canyon area campground but it was full, so we had to drive farther south towards Lake Yellowstone. Along the way we stop at Mud volcano. Along with bubbling mud, we see one cave-like opening called Dragon’s Lair that is spewing steam and stench. A dragon flying out of it would not come as a surprise. About 7:30pm, we pulled into the Bridge Bay campground and got a site. After dinner, I am looking at our mostly treeless site and thinking the grass here is way too high. For the fee, I figure the park can mow the grass once in a while or at least get a goat to graze here. Just then I spy a buffalo next to an RV 50 feet away. Well, I guess a buffalo will do instead. Aimee comes out and we make a stroll around the campground. The third site down we see a tent and a car with “44 in 27” stenciled on the back window. We have to stop and ask. It turns out to be a father and son team who are almost done with a goal of seeing all of the lower 48 states in thirty days. That is a lot of driving. They have a website www.naffie.com. As we are talking two big bull bison walk right by us. Aimee and I both step to the other side of their car just in case.