8/21/14

Saturday afternoon we had some visitors to the campground. They were particularly interested in the grass around one of our friends trailer.

 

 Monday afternoon Penny and I took a drive around the lower loop to see all the Bison in the Hayden Valley that people were talking about. We didn't see a single one. We did see some pelicans though.

On the way home, between Old Faithful and Madison Campground, we took the Firehole Lake Drive and found Pink Cone Geyser erupting.

 

Tuesday we made a  grocery run to Bozeman, so no touring.

Wednesday we decided to take a drive to the Lewis River Canyon that is just north of the South Entrance to the park. Since the canyon is on the east side of the road, we drove to the south entrance and turned around before we started doing our sightseeing, so the canyon would be on our side of the road. Between the south entrance and the canyon is a short hike to Moose Falls on Crawfish Creek. It's a beautiful little waterfall down a heavily forested path.

You can also walk around to the brink of the falls.

 

 There aren't too many pullouts along the Lewis River Canyon and only a few of the ones available give you a good view of the canyon.

 

 We chose to end our trip by hiking the boardwalk around the Mud Volcano. This time, we were lucky enough to find a herd of bison in the Hayden Valley, which was on our way. There were from 75 to 100 bison in this herd, with a few babies.

The Mud Volcano is another thermal feature in the park, with a number of hot springs and the cave with a hot spring in it called Dragon's Mouth.

 

It is right across the road from the Yellowstone River that cuts through the Hayden Valley.

We got home around 5:30 that evening, just as it began to rain. It was a good soaking rain that should help keep the fire danger low. We enjoy listening to the rain on the roof of our trailer.