09-22-08 Monday (Hot & Sweaty Springs)

There’s still another leg of the park we wanted to see so a day trip to Montana was in order. The target area is known to have bears in the area. We never saw one but the drive was still worth it. On the way out of the park in the Mammoth Hot Springs area (still within Yellowstone) was Elk O’Plenty. They were all over the place. I asked a park ranger if this was typical for them, and he said that this particular group of Elk liked to “hang out” here. It was amazing.

We skipped the Hot Springs for now; we were low on gas. We did stop to see “The Petrified Tree”. I took a photo, but we weren’t all that excited.

Once out of Yellowstone, we ventured into a small town called “Gardiner” where we stopped for fuel, then to the “Two Bit Saloon” for burgers. After lunch, we hit a souvenir shop, and a grocery store. At the grocery store was this reward sign. Read it, I thought it to be amusing.

Jim drove us up this dirt trail around a small residential neighborhood called “Jardin”. It almost became scary at times, as I felt like any minute, I’d hear dueling banjos. Some sights were pretty and some not so pretty. Here’s something you don’t see everyday; checkout the home made RV. This qualifies as one of those redneck motorhome photos similar to the one at the top of my blog that I rotate out on the title. I really thought some of this was just bogus on the internet but now I’ve seen one with my own eyes. Scary.


Back into Yellowstone we go. We stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs and toured those. Well, they rock just like the others, only this set has created terraces. This area varies on active and inactive hot springs. The white stuff in these pictures isn’t snow. Checkout the warning signs they always have posted at the various hot springs. I love the illustration of the boy getting toasted.

As usual throughout the park are many hot springs. One roadside set struck me as very unique as there wasn’t much water but rather the entire soil area bubbled and made sizzling noises.

A coyote sighting! Look below, we were so close to it but stayed inside the Cherokee. The people outside and up close to this thing are stupid.

2 Coyote videos below:







During the remainder of the drive, it began to rain. Rain then turned to snow. We pulled over to document our first snow. While I was raised in NY and dealt with snow more times than I’d care to remember, this was cool for Jim. We eventually drove out of the snowing area, so we don’t know if it stuck.



Wait! There's more!

Slideshow

Montana Drive (above)

Montana Stream (above)

Yellowstone River (above)

4 scenes from Yellowstone Mammoth Springs below