Mammoth Hot Springs
The park started to get slightly more crowded since it's Labor Day weekend. Also, it was slightly colder, but still pretty nice.
We started the morning with a hike up Mount Washburn to the observatory. It was relatively calm when we started, but it was really windy at the top. It wasn't too hazy despite the fires, so were able to see pretty far in each direction. We went out of the glass part and onto the observation deck, but it was really, really windy up there and I was afraid I might get blown off. The walk back down was windier as well -- as well as more crowded, since most of the people got up later than us.
It was only noon after that, so we drove around the park looking at other things. We saw some waterfalls, some columnar basalt, and looked for wildlife but didn't see much except for ravens and a few small herds of bison that were all in the same valley.
We drove back to Mammoth / Hot Springs and saw the visitor center there. We also saw an elk cow and her calf (although I didn't have my camera ready the time we went past when the calf was visible). The hot springs there seem to be less impressive than they used to be, but were still kind of cool. There just seemed to be less water, so maybe it's all ended up somewhere else.
The ranger talk was about the Yellowstone volcano.
We started the morning with a hike up Mount Washburn to the observatory. It was relatively calm when we started, but it was really windy at the top. It wasn't too hazy despite the fires, so were able to see pretty far in each direction. We went out of the glass part and onto the observation deck, but it was really, really windy up there and I was afraid I might get blown off. The walk back down was windier as well -- as well as more crowded, since most of the people got up later than us.
It was only noon after that, so we drove around the park looking at other things. We saw some waterfalls, some columnar basalt, and looked for wildlife but didn't see much except for ravens and a few small herds of bison that were all in the same valley.
We drove back to Mammoth / Hot Springs and saw the visitor center there. We also saw an elk cow and her calf (although I didn't have my camera ready the time we went past when the calf was visible). The hot springs there seem to be less impressive than they used to be, but were still kind of cool. There just seemed to be less water, so maybe it's all ended up somewhere else.
The ranger talk was about the Yellowstone volcano.