Day 8 Last day in Yellowstone National Park

Dear Diary,

             We slept in, can’t understand why.  Haha.  Started out very sunny and cold.  There is no accumulated snow thank goodness.  We are driving the western part of the park today.  There is a grand loop and upper and lower loops.  We’ve done almost all the road we can do, the canyon road and east entrance roads remain closed.  Our travels take us over two passes both over 8000 ft.  So the first part of this route is still very deep snow.  But the melt is coming fast, very noticeable in our 3 days here.  The sky is very gray and overcast.  We pass by Old Faithful village and geyser basin and head north.  We follow the Firehole River and we can see why it is called that.  There is geyser etc. activity all along the way on both sides of the road.  There are a lot of bison through the area.  The river drops into the Firehole Canyon but the drives nearer the canyon are closed due to snow.  We can see glimpses of high peaks directly west beyond the park.  We come to the Madison junction and go directly west along the Madison River.  A very pretty narrow river valley and the bison are everywhere, some calves are seen.  A few elk along the way.  It would be a gorgeous place except for the devastation done by forest fire.  The rock cliffs are not as spectacular as those we’ve seen before.  This canyon opens into a wide valley as we approach the YNP west gate.  There have been no geysers since we followed the Madison valley.  We pass through the west gate.  Each gate in the park is different.  This one is a huge log structure done in old park style.  We almost immediately enter Montana and the town of West.  We are at the juncture where 3 states’ borders are very close, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana.  The town is nice, clean with very small shops and businesses, restaurants.  We go into the local grocery for a few things and find the prices very high on most things.  There is a shop in the town called Bud Lily’s Trout Shop, looks like a long established business.  In YNP this early there are no ranger programs as of yet.  Lodges and amenities are just getting opened.  You can fish here mostly for trout with a permit.  Fly fishing only, no bait.  YNP was established in 1872.  Embarrassed to say that I don’t know if YNP is older or Yosemite Nat. Park is.  Spring is good if you don’t mind early spring weather, less services and less access to some roads and trails and if you want to see the animals active, lots of calves etc.  And in the summer there are 3 million visitors between June through August.  We can’t get over the number of elk and bison, especially bison.  They really rule the park.  They poop everywhere literally and tramp through the fragile geyser areas.  We have seen hundreds and hundreds of trees with the bark rubbed off at the same level.  It’s either a territory thing with bison that have horns, or elk who are rubbing velvet off their antlers.  We bet on the bison.  We return through the West Gate and retrace our path.  This time we stop at the different geysers along Firehole River.  First stop is Fountain Paint Pot, all varieties of geysers, pools/springs and all types.  Interesting mud pots and one bubbling geyser that had red rock in it and dyed the pool pink.  This basin covers a large area called volcanic tableland.  Next, we are glad to stop at Midway Geyser Basin, a huge area of activity.  The excelsior geyser is huge like a small lake, it’s hard to see it’s perimeter since the steam rising in the cold air obscures it.  This geyser is pumping 500 gallons of scalding water into the Firehole River each hour.  You can see it rushing down the side of the hill.  There are large expanses of bacteria mats forming odd patterns, very fragile eco-system around the geyser.  Says we need to protect it but the bison plow through.  There is so much steam in this area it clouds our glasses and we have to take them off.  The warm steam feels so good on the face and then wham! the cold wind hits.  It is getting very windy in the valley and it is not very comfortable for walking.  There was an osprey in a tree near the parking lot.  We move on to Old Faithful Geyser Basin.  This is a village of sorts, probably the oldest developed area in the park.  We had dinner at the incredible O.F. Inn 2 nights ago and it’s hard to describe the architecture.  It would be worth coming back just to stay at the lodge.  We park and walk straight to Old Faithful geyser.  We are in time for the eruption.  It’s incredible with the rumbling and 100 ft plume.  It only lasts 4 minutes but is impressive.  There is a suspended walk and large viewing deck to keep people off the fragile crust area.  After this we take off on the geyser trail.  We are able to cover about 3 miles of it.  This area’s geysers differ because there are multiple geysers that have predictable spouting schedules, but have more time between spouts.  Some spout higher than O. F.  Info says O. F. may only be a couple hundred years old, where the others in this basin are much older.  It is too cold to be in open exposed areas so we don’t go on any more trails.  We go into the Visitors Center it is a Gold Award LEED building, using sustainable resources.  It’s very beautiful, updated version of old park style.  Stop in the new Old Faithful Lodge (different from the old Inn).  It’s really a nice place.  Lots of wood and windows.   Floor to ceiling high fireplace burning with rocking chairs.  The windows overlook O.F.  A nice alternative to the old Inn.  We head back to the campsite but remember that Lake Lodge opened today.  It’s on our way only 2 miles before our turn-off.  So glad we stopped.  This is an incredible old lodge.   Completely different style from O.F. Lodge but similar in the art nouveau style of Mammoth Hot Springs.  This is a huge old place and sits right on the shore of Yellowstone Lake.  Again, it is the same yellow paint that we believe has national park historical meaning.  We walk into the lobby and are struck by the fireplace.  It’s not the grand high ceiling fireplace but a massive low tile structure.  It has nature scenes in the tile.  These tiles are very like the Motawi tiles that are still made in Michegan.  Very expensive, each one a work of art.  A grand piano is playing, we heard it at the other lodges as well.  There is a lot of beautiful clear etched glass depicting wildlife.  The gift shop is very upscale, not the usual things.  The dining room is huge but light and cheerful, windows overlooking the lake.   Very elegant.  A large area that is round shaped with windows looking over the lake is just off the lobby.  Lots of rattan and pillows.  A small bar sits in the lobby.  So, glad we stopped and it only opened for the season today.  People were pouring in.

            Got back to our campsite.  Snacks for dinner and a game of Scrabble.  Poor Chuck can’t get decent tiles so Pat wins again.  The light is dimming.  It’s our last night here.  This campground is nothing special but we have only used it to sleep.  It offers all the hook-ups and may be the only one in the park.  The rangers just drove through looking into the forest.  Thinking we have a bear in the vicinity.  We don’t plan on going out tonight!  We drove 144 miles today with frequent stops.  This is a massive park and it requires lots of driving.  Thinking maybe a fall trip and stay in one of the old lodges, what fun!

Nighty night.