Yellowstone, Day 2

Day 16

We weren't eaten by bears again. Or the coyotes we heard howling.

Yet.

It rained last night and the small tent is also leaking now. Our bedding was wet, so we rigged clothes lines for it. Fortunately, the air is dry out here. In Georgia we'd be up the creek.


We headed into to Mammoth again to grab breakfast and a shower. More elk. Then it's back to camp to arrange for a second night of camping. A deer carcass was found gnawed by a bear on the campground that morning. Swell.

We swapped out tents, putting an extra tarp over the big tent, finished drying everything out and greeted our new camp neighbors, and English couple with a springer spaniel. By noon, we're ready to actually see the park.

We headed around the north side again, through Mammoth, then around to the south over Mt. Washburn. MarKay is not enjoying the switchback roads overlooking cliffs, which are a recurring theme on this trip. We grabbed a mediocre lunch and checked out the visitor center at Canyon Village, then down to the south rim of the Yellowstone River. We went on a long walk to Artist's Point, which has an amazing view of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. It's incredibly scenic, but the 1 1/2 mile hike was more difficult than it looked on the map. After navigating the steep grades on the trail, we stepped out into the Artist's Point parking lot. MarKay was not happy to realise we could have taken the car. The road has no shoulder and curves a lot, so walking back along the side wasn't safe, so we hiked back to the upper falls. MarKay and Sean were about done in by then.


And that was our day. Everything in Yellowstone is so far apart, that you can spend most of your day driving to things. A late start and just a few stops later, it was time to go back to camp and cook dinner. The steaks we bought back in Utah finally made it to the grill--best meal of the day.

We carefully packed everything into the car. Everything, that is, except the water container we dowsed the fire with. In the middle of the night a ranger woke us to stow the water bottle to avoid attracting bears. Any container is verboten overnight. The rangers were really patrolling that night, which was both reassuring and a source of concern.