Day 24 - Yellowstone National Park

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Idaho ➡️ Montana

 Today was spent in Yellowstone, after an hour wait to get into the park as we enter the west entrance. (.5 mile progress in that hour)

We saw elk along a river, bison in herds and alone.  We hiked the trail of the Artist Paint Pots witnessing the bubbling of mud that yes, looked like paint in a pot and to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We witnessed Old Faithful erupting and tried to get to Jenny Lake before dark, but failed to do so.  And of course, the many views that the eye took in causing the heart and soul to breathe in deeply, inhaling the splendour, trying to absorb it for what it is.

It was quite late till we left the park and we were sooo hungry only to discover that, at this hour, very little is open except Wendy's and McDonalds!  And it seemed like there were quite a few more who were hungry... 😉 One load stayed at Wendy's and the other went to McDonalds to satisfy the hunger pangs.

This morning.

I was up early to do some laundry and it simply was all things a soul would need.

Every morning there were these sunrise balloon rides by the Tetons

On our way to Yellowstone which was about an hour's drive.

And this boy... can sleep anywhere.   Like yesterday on the UTV ride while bouncing around. 😃🤷‍♀️

and here we wait...  there was so much traffic entering in the line that we barely moved, going .5 miles in one hour!

framework of perspective

Our first stop was at the Beryl Hotspring

Then a hike through the artist paint pots.  It was very picturesque and like pots of paint that were boiling.

This is so fascinating and one of my favourites.

The white part on the bottom of the trees, show, where at one time they would have been in water and the salt left its mark.

Eating lunch before hiking to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. So much water, so much power! The upper falls has 2.5 million gallons of water tumbling over every minute. 

This was quite the trail down to the lower falls.  Going down was fine but one knew that after down is up.

These benches were a welcome rest at times.

and the 'up' continues 

... I think we need to take a picture... 😉😆😍

They were waiting on us and then we decided to take the trail to the left and see the upper falls.

Raindrops

waiting on us adults to catch up and staying out of the rain

On to the upper falls

Carolyn fit right in... surrounded by the men of the group and keeping up her end.

We don't always know where the trail leads or what we will encounter, but we DO KNOW WHO IS WITH US. 

We rest in His faithful love and know His morning new mercies are ever present.

From here we head towards Old Faithful.  We see a bull elk, bison roaming, and we stop to see some more hot springs and bubbling mud.

Old Faithful or as overhearing one man comment, not so Faithful Old Faithful... 😄 The time it takes to erupt is give or take 15 minutes from the last eruption. We got there just as it was trying to erupt. It took it awhile to actually shoot up. 

After witnessing the eruption, we walked around, souvenir shopping, walking the hot springs loop and seeing a buffalo right by the path.  Just as we got back to Old Faithful, it erupted again. This time it came before the hour and didn't shoot as high but the eruption lasted a bit longer. 

back around just in time to catch the second eruption as it went 15 minutes before the hour of the last eruption.

Titus really wanted to go to Jenny Lake.  We were racing the setting sun and didn't make it to Jenny Lake before dark.

As  we realized we couldn't get to Jenny Lake before dark, we came upon this pull off with a gorgeous view of the Tetons along another lake, so we stopped and enjoyed the setting sun, the mountains and the water all in one package. 

Then on to 'home'.

This is a favourite day with so much interesting beauty.  Grateful for another safe day.