West Trip 2019 #16 Yellowstone again :)

August 31- Sept 4th

We took a slow morning as we only had 76 miles to travel today.  We are headed for Grant village campground on Yellowstone lake.  We made it to our campsite by 11am and was able to get setup early.  I made reservations months ago for this site.

Our campsite

beach at campsite,  Thumbs geyser other side of point

What a great site with beautiful views although as in most National parks no hookups.  We spent the rest of the day exploring the area heading to the Thumbs geyser basin which sits right on the lake.

Back to camp for some dinner and an easy night before going to bed, maybe a campfire tonight :)

   Today is our Cowboy cookout.  We have to head to the northern part of the park about 2 hrs away to Roosevelt corral.  The plan was to horseback ride for 2 hours to the site of the cookout.  However, while waiting to mount up Pat's horse was kicked by the horse next to her and Pat ended up with rope burns on her hand and was pretty shook up.  We decided to ride the wagon to the cookout instead and had a hour or so before leaving so we headed for a site close by to see a standing Petrified tree.

At the cookout site

Pats ride after her horse was kicked.

Petrified Tree

   We ended up getting back to camp after dark about 8pm.  Our batteries in the camper was very low so I fired up the generator and headed to the well for some water.  When I got back the generator was off.  Hmmm,  I fired it back up and the next thing I know two campers are ranting at me for running the generator.   One guy had turned it off while I was gone for water and was pounding on the camper while she was in the shower.  We had a few words and then....  I had to eat crow it appears that the quite time starts at 10pm but generator stops at 8pm.    Dang....  Well off to bed.

Next day we up early and heading see Old Faithful before the crowds hit..   What a cool area with the different colors, multiple geysers  and bubbling pools.  As we begin walking to the lodge  a lady came up to us and said " Don't leave the Beehive is about to erupt"  It appears that this geyser makes rare appearances and is pretty spectacular .   IT was!  Makes a load roar when erupting due to the 3 foot cone around the opening.  Here's a tip--  don't be downwind when a geyser erupts.

Beehive geyser

Old Faithful

    We also stopped in to see the Old Faithful Lodge.  Wow it is pretty cool.  Built in the early 1900's with natural materials.
   Next we head for Grand Prismatic springs along with hundreds of our friends.  We got lucky and a guy waved at us and was leaving a parking spot.  Easy walk through the springs on a boardwalk.

Grand prismatic spring

We then head to Firehole lake drive to view another geyser basin.

Next we went to the Fountain Paint pots trail and another busy parking area.  The trail winds through geysers, pools and mud pots.  The sulfer smell was everywhere.

    We headed headed back to camp making stops on the way   Everything here takes longer to reach because of distance and wildlife.  If Bison are in the road well you wait and hope they move on.  On our way back we make a stop at Kepler cascades

and some smaller geysers getting back at dusk.  Its been an awesome stay but tomorrow its time to move on to our next destination as we begin to head south.   We need to be in Page Arizona by Sept 7th for a reservation at Antelope canyon but will take a few nights getting there.  Our next stop will be Salt Lake City.

See Ya Then,
Tom and Pat