Old Faithful

***Miles travelled today: 135

***Total Miles: This is becoming a bad habit as we still have to calculate it!

***States travelled through: Montana and Wyoming

Being only five minutes from Yellowstone National Park, one would think there was plenty of time to get there before any exploring began, but not in our case! We'd already planned to complete a circular route that took us around the perimeter of the existing caldera and which included crossing the continental divide a few times (I know this sounds geeky but heyho - you guys already know this) as well as travelling between two States. Now 'that' would take half a day, but knowing how much stopping we'd have to do; we figured we needed alot of time and it's a good thing too. One just never knows what one will see !!!!

And so today's excitement began with spotting buffalo (yes I know that together with female elk, they are becoming 'a dime a dozen', but they all look different if you watch for a bit) and taking in the hideously wonderful smells of sulphur that permeated the air long before we found its base. It's really quite incredible to watch as the earth bubbles away in what appears to be huge mudpools - big enough for a party to roll about in. The mud is so thick that it takes the shape of a long bubble before making a 'gloop gloop' sound and bursting..... As for some of the scenery, it appeared at times that the landscape and rocks were 'letting off steam'. The steam was that sporadic that everywhere you looked, you could imagine tiny little kettles emitting plumes of hot steam into the air....

In all honesty, there were two things we were looking forward to seeing today - we both wanted to see the 'Grand Prismatic Spring' and Linz (in particular) was looking forward to watching 'Old Faithful geyser' erupt. You may not know the Spring by name, but I'm sure you've come across photos in magaziness/national geographic/TV etc where you've had this aerial view of what appears to be a bubbling lake with infinite colour - the oranges and yellows forming the circumference of the lake. Well, she didn't disappoint! The Spring was exceptional as the steam rose off its surface taking on the hues of rusty orange, mustard yellow and cyan blue (we debated the blue as Linz thinks it was aqua blue) and to sit and watch a while meant that you could almost lose yourself in a rainbow of colour, such that the smell becomes non-existent. Other springs didn't compare but were equally odorous and different in their character. From there, we made our way directly to Old Faithful where we were lucky enough to wait only ten minutes before she erupted (she erupts every 60-90mins). Linz waited with the camera whilst I looked around at the hundreds of people watching and waiting, some complaining that she 'was late' and others saying that she was 'on time'. I was looking for that 'one real geyser-gazer (pronounced guy-zerr-gay-zerr)' - the one with all the paraphernalia and log book and I found him - behind hat, glasses, tripod and Huge camera. Linz said it would be 'too rude' to take his photo, even from a distance! As for funny comments, a little boy who'd been impatient 'whooped' when she erupted and turned to his mother saying,"All she needed was a bit of support" (me thinks there's a social worker in there!)

As we left, we headed towards Yellowstone Canyon where we wanted to see the waterfalls that everyone had recommended. Some likened it to the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe whilst most Americans described them as 'grand'. Linz found the Lower Falls to be more impressive mostly due to the canyon and the fact that geothermal activity continues in the area. I prefer Victoria Falls.

On the way to the Falls, we came across a few young male elk (are they called bulls even when their antlers haven't velveted?) and again, spent time watching them watching us, clearly comfortable in the knowledge they were safe. A little further on, we discovered a huge traffic jam and wondered what was causing it, thinking it 'just had to be bear' but couldn't see anything except for a large crowd of people some distance into the plain. The ranger told us it was a mother grizzly bear with her three cubs,newly born in February and that we were welcome to join the crowd as 'there were some spyscopes out there'. Well, who needs a second invitation? Linz had barely (!) bought the car to a standstill and I was out! The only thing was that when you joined the crowds, the four bears looked like 'rocks' in the distance and our camera doesn't have a powerful enough zoom to capture the image. I wanted photos, not only to show Linz but so that others 'could also see' what I was experiencing, if that makes sense. A gentleman gave me permission to look through his 'spyscope' and what I saw was magical! The cubs were minute as they played and rolled about against their mother and the 'bear-watcher/spyscope owner' said he'd been there since this morning watching them. We chatted for a bit before I thought to set my camera lens up against the spyscope viewfinder and managed to get a few pictures - both zoomed in and from a distance. What a highlight! Who would have thought we'd be lucky enough?

As for the rest of the day, it all passed in a bit of a blur of steam and sulphur. We have walked a few miles and climbed over rocks to get the views we wanted. I've learned not to tie my hair up as I've burned my ears and Linz has learned to use self protection on her feet. All in all, another lovely day in the park. Linz is now using downtime by sifting through the 'library of leaflets, magazines, maps, business cards etc' that have been collecting these last eight weeks and has agreed to send some home (and get rid of duplicates). I'm smiling because she's even cataloguing what we have and this folks, is what makes her an 'organised scrapper' (scrapbooking) !!!!

Tomorrow we make for Glacier National Park but shall be stopping at Missoula on the way up.

Surprise surprise, we haven't even decided what route we're taking!