There are so many parts to today, I’m going to break it down into sections!

Yellowstone and it’s hydrothermal features: Silly me, I thought the big deal was Old Faithful and that was it. I could not have been more wrong! What I thought would be a “one and done, cool, what’s next” site turned into a ten mile hiking day exploring an abundance of geysers, fumaroles, hot springs, travertine terraces, and mudpots. Gorgeous, surprising, captivating displays of the earth’s power!

Animals: Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Well, not lions and tigers – but yes bears, elk, and bison! Most animal sightings occurred in the northeastern portion of the park. While traveling to the northeast gate, multiple times cars would be stopped with everyone hanging out of windows or walking in the road, aiming their cameras and phones in the same direction. Once, there was a mama black bear with her two babies following her. Another time, a herd of elk was next to the road. The bison, though, were cute – if you can call a humongous hairy animal cute! – at first. But then, they became annoying – and a bit scary! Twice, a bison took his half out of the middle – meaning, walked down the highway on the yellow line before finally deciding to leave the road (see video below!).

Road closures and camping: When looking for a campsite for these three nights on recreation.gov, I found availability at Greenough Lake campsite, national forest, out of the northeast gate. [Note: there is NO cell service or WiFi in Yellowstone.] Well…one road is closed for maintenance in the park, so I had to drive all around the park adding 33 miles to my route. Nearly three hours hours and many bison sightings later, I find the road to my campsite is closed from 7pm to 7am, Monday thru Thursday, for maintenance. I remembered passing a national forest campground between Yellowstone and the road closure. All sites are booked! However, the campground host so very sweetly is allowing me to “park” – not “camp” – for the night in a parking spot so I have a safe place to sleep tonight.