It's About the (RV) Journey....: Taking a little drive through the park.......

We are so lucky to be spending so many weeks here in the Yellowstone area. There is so much to see and do, never a dull moment. There is way more to this park than Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs. One day, we decided to take a little drive (which ended up being all day) to stop at the areas we skipped on previous days. We even went back after dinner!

Terrace springs...a quiet little area with two nice springs. Again, the bacterial mats providing some color. The water is boiling hot, and right next to it, grass and flowers grow. So cool!

hello Miss Elk

such crystal clear HOT water

color from bacterial mats

very cool looking (to me!)

isn't that an inspiration for pool/spa design?

such different ecosystems side by side

that is HOT!

Tuff Cliff....another little turnout that we stopped to explore. We started walking the trail, but there were so many downed trees across it. We felt like football players doing their training exercises. (Wait....maybe I should have spent some more time there!!) We were heading back to the car when we spotted a "new to us" yellow bird flitting from tree to log to branch....and tried following it to catch a photo. When we got to the parking lot, another visitor spotted the bird and started doing the same thing! Too funny....its not just us!

walking on the trail...wasn't easy-got to thinking it might even be closed!

cool yellow bird

not easy to photograph!

Tuff Cliff

Virginia Cascades...We took a side road to view the Virginia Cascades. We followed the one-lane one-way road through the woods, and caught a glimpse of the waterfalls. There was no turnout to admire the falls or picnic; it was just a drive-by of an awesome view.

the mighty Virginia Cascades

Driving along the mountain road to Mount Washburn area....Driving a bit more through the park, we drove along the section of the Loop Road heading toward Mount Washburn. The landscape is quite varied all along the way, from fields with rivers meandering through, to tall lodgepole pine forests, and then heading up, up, up the mountains, with both forests and meadows.

pretty!

verdant meadow

tall lodgepole pines with a grass bedding underneath...

heading up the mountain...with views of forests everywhere

just stunning scenery

wildflowers growing everywhere

may have to enlarge the pic to appreciate the many flowers covering this area

thermal features from afar...its wild how they are visible throughout the park...randomly

In the Caldera

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River in the distance

winding mountain roads with gorgeous scenery all around

pretty...steep countryside

no matter how steep-flowers everywhere!

another gorgeous view, near and far

gently rolling hills

wildflowers in a blue and yellow palette here

lots of dead trees here as well, from previous fires

You just never know what you will see! Who would have expected this?

poor little fox, stuck in traffic

more mountainous views

beautiful mountains for as far as we can see

the new trees growing in between the burnt ones...

forest growing back...

beautiful around every turn

these yellow fields of daisies have recently "popped"

another "paintiing"

these fields of daisies are striking

"painting"

Enjoying the flowers

"painting"

wow...an abundance of these!

the road through the "painting"

Tower Falls: The area of Tower Falls is usually quite crowded - it has nice bathrooms, and a store/restaurant and is a perfect spot for a break. Behind the store/restaurant is a path leading to the view of Tower Falls. Its really nice. You can't get too close to the water though from the viewing area, even via the trail leading down into the canyon.

the geology here is fascinating

Tower Falls

Tower Falls-lots of water flowing...big snow melt this year

another view of Tower Falls area-down river

Calcite Springs area: Another stop along the loop road that is usually packed...these rock formations are intriguing and everyone takes tons of pictures here. Okay, well then, I did too! Haha. Farther down the road just a little is the Calcite Springs overlook and parking lot for the short trail along and above the water. Again, this is a geologists heaven, I am sure!

wild rock formations

looks hand chiseled, doesn't it?

view from a distance

geologists dream vacation

distance for perspective

Calcite overlook

still at Calcite Springs

beautiful views across the river

"flood of fire" and more directly across the river

amazing geology

the river...a long way down

sparkling water flowing nicely

"flood of fire"

Yellowstone River

Lunchtime: We found a nice shady spot. There are picnic areas everywhere, and they are well used! The views were really great...

lunch break...right near Lamar Valley

yum...tuna today

Petrified Tree....along the way, we stopped at Petrified tree...which is exactly that. There is a short steep walk up to the tree, and along the way, guess what? More wildflowers! So pretty. The petrified tree is enclosed within a fence. There were 3 of these, but people took them as souvenirs. (Take only pictures....leave only footprints)....The landscape nearby was so pretty as well, with rolling hills and valleys. And always a bison seems to be around.

well these are pretty too!

new to us

petrified tree

rolling hills

across from petrified tree...such a nice ravine

this little guy is a pica....hanging out in the parking lot

Between Canyon and Norris: Driving along, there is a beautiful meadow surrounded by forest. If you look closely, you can see elk in the background, feeding near the forest. Not far from here, there are many people camped out every day along the side of the road with their spotting scopes all pointed in the same direction. And the spotters are just sitting there in their chairs...not even looking through the scopes. We were wondering what they were all looking at, but never stopped to ask. But, this day, I saw a black lump at the bottom of a tree in the distance and took a random picture, not being too sure if it was anything other than a shadow. Check it out! Bison or bear or what? It kinda looks like a huge black pig to me. What is it? It looks like its bedded down.

elk in the distance

what is it? Its definitely not just a shadow under a tree!

Hayden Valley: Heading back towards home, we passed again through Hayden Valley and said hello to another elk near the road, and watched a bison cooling off in the clear cool water. The elk herd was still in the distance, and we thought we'd stop again to see if we could spot the grizzly from the other day (that we didn't see through the spotting scope!). No luck on that, by the way. The bison herd was a lot closer to the road this time as we were driving through.

elk near the road

cooling off in Hayden Valley

elk herd grazing and swimming in Hayden Valley

we know there is a grizzly in there...

moving closer to the road

Nearer to Madison: We stopped again for a pic of Tom at Tuff Cliff (in honor of Cliffie the cat!). Not far from there, is an old gray (hey now!) buffalo, that doesn't look too healthy. He actually looks pretty bony. He is always just sitting in that same field. I hope his days aren't numbered!

Tom at Tuff Cliff

senior citizen

Evening in Yellowstone: Being so close to the park now, we went back to the park after dinner to check out the happenings. The elk near Madison (about 10 minutes drive for us) were out and about. There were 2 "couples", and lots of fighting going on between the males. The park in the evening is so different than during the daytime hours.