Yellowstone–Father’s Day 2013

 

This Bull Elk (the first we have seen) seems to be enjoying his Father’s Day taking a nap in the mid noon sun.  Life is good when its not hunting season!  In our drive today, we traced the Yellowstone river for about 30 miles. 

We came upon a  large area of Mud Caldrons, at first glimpse they appear to be boiling  areas of mud.  They in fact are at about 150°, the boiling effect is from the fact they are venting a large amount of subterranean gases.  This type area is surrounded with dead trees, the geothermal activity is active and ongoing, the ground heat kills the trees.  several earthquakes in the late 1970’s opened up fissures that have varying degrees of activity from day to day.

To access them we had to traverse a strenuous (8,000’ X Compromised Breathing) walkway in the form of a loop.  By the photos you can see that it had a moderate grade (insert Huff & Puff sound here).  I’m thinking Medicare will pay for this as my stress test for this year.

 

 

Back on the road, we had another traffic jam brought to us by Bison Bill and his singing group.  I am amazed at the number of Class ‘C’ rental motorhomes that are used in this area.  In our campground, about 25% of the sites are filled with them every evening. 

There was a small side road signed, “Artist’s Point” which seemed to be a dead end.  Well, it wasn’t!  We were taken to spectacular over looks at The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Here is my attempt at a panoramic view of this area.

Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon

 

 

 

 

Boiling Sulfa Pots were a few miles away.  The largest on the right could swallow a Volkswagen.  The area of the park with this type activeity is about 40 miles in diameter.  I can’t help to think that there will be a big bang here some time in the future.

On returning to camp, we found this unusual rig located near us.  We’ve seen the one on the Discovery Channel and one at The Grand Canyon.  This one is being used by a French Couple who are touring the world.  Built on an IVECO chassis, it is about 25’ long and weighs about 20,000 pounds.  note the huge tyres and the fact that you need a ladder to get in.  Build to military specifications (used as UN command centers) it has 4wd and is completely self contained, including a laundry.

While sharing Adult Beverages, they were quite amazed to hear the story of our Dutch friends who were duplicating their route in a 1905 Model T.