Day 12 - YELLOWSTONE (first day)

WE MADE IT!!!

After talking about this trip for most of a year, we finally found ourselves at northeast gate of Yellowstone National Park. By golly we made it.

Before I go on, here is a heads up for all those over 62 years.  The America the Beautiful Senior Pass is something you should know about. It is a one time (lifetime) cost of $10.00 and gives you free entrance to most national memorials like the Little Bighorn, Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP.  In addition, camping fees are half price. You can purchase your pass at any national park visitor or information desk. Learn more about it here. America the Beautiful Pass

We entered Yellowstone on the northeast entrance (see map).  We had no campground reservations so we stopped at Pebble Creek to check it out.  It was nearly full and the camp Ranger told us even though it was after Labor Day weekend, the "new normal" for travelers this time of year are two people who have raised their family and vacation at national parks year around. He was right - while most campgrounds were not full, a couple had the no vacancy signs hung out by mid afternoon.  We decided to keep going across the northern highway and spend the night at Mammoth campground which is circled in the map below.

Basic map of Yellowstone including campgrounds.

Yellowstone is a large park and it takes a while to get anywhere. The speed limit is 45 MPH but the real speed is probably 10 - 15 MPH less than that because of...well, Yellowstone visitors are there to see things and not just speed from one place to another.  Basically, the roads are two circles that form a figure eight so we decided to camp in Mammoth and explore the upper circle first then move south in a day or two to see the southern area.

We entered Yellowstone through the northeast entrance (see the red arrow).  It's about 50 miles to Mammoth from the park entrance.







 It didn't take long to experience our first traffic slowdown only a few miles from the entrance and that could only mean one thing...there was wildlife around.  Animals have the right of way which can bring traffic to a stop.  There are lots of pull-offs if you want to stop to view something or take photos. 

In this case, there was a huge herd of buffalo.  Probably 200 or 300 that were grazing along the river in the Lamar Valley.  The Lamar River and the Soda Butte Creek run through the Lamar Valley and is known as one of the best areas in the park for seeing all sorts of wildlife.

We were on the lookout for buffalo, elk, moose, bear, wolves and anything else that we don't usually see in the eastern midwest.  In the three days we spent in Yellowstone, we would see more buffalo than any other animal.  They are massive and interesting to watch.  Finding the other animals turned out be a challenge.

After stopping to take a few pictures of the huge buffalo herd, we headed west toward Mammoth campground with a short diversion to see the petrified tree.  It's not one of the most spectacular sites in Yellowstone but hey, we can say we've seen a petrified tree. 

We arrived at Mammoth and checked in.  Mammoth campground is on a first come-first served basis. We talked to several of neighboring campers including a retired couple who worked at Yellowstone all summer who felt Mammoth is one of the nicest in Yellowstone.  One reason might be the general store, gas station and hotel that is over the hill.  If you are interested in the sights, the Mammoth Hot Springs are about a mile away.

Overview of the area

The Mammoth Hot Springs area is not nearly as active as many of the other hot springs areas we would explore but this was a good start to our adventures.  The campground is just behind the buildings you see in the background.

The Liberty Cap was created from mineral deposits from many years of water spewing from the hot springs.  It's 37 feet tall so imagine how many years it took to build this thing.

The formations and colors are remarkable.

Our Mammoth campsite was on the northern edge of the campground.  It was a great spot that gave us a view of the mountains that were beyond the river.  We were hoping elk would come through the camp and cross into the valley.

 To keep the posts from getting too long, I think we will stop here.  Day 2 at Yellowstone will follow on the next post.