Hayden valley near the campground where we stayed.
You could see a lot of wildlife in this valley especially at dawn and dusk.
Some guests to the park would sit on a hill over looking the valley and use scopes to look for wildlife for hours every morning and night.
The black spot out there is a buffalo.
The first herd of buffalo we saw in Hayden Valley.
John and Carlie watching a herd of buffalo.
A hot spring was beginning to form in the parking lot near the larger hot springs.
The boiling Sulphur pots.
As hot as these Sulphur pots are, they tell us the acidity of them is so strong, if you were to fall in the acid would kill you before the extreme heat would.
The smell of sulfur these boiling pots put off is terrible and it clings to your clothes.
The buffalo don't fear people but they are wild and they are easily provoked. One buffalo rammed a car while we were in the park and the rangers told us it was rather common they have injuries in the park from the buffalo. They appear slow and docile like milk cows but even though they can weigh nearly 3,000 pounds they are quick and can run up to 30 miles an hour.
Carlie walking down the board walk.
Her most common request while we walked around the various site, "I walk by self."
Boiling mud.
The Dragon's mouth.
There is a geyser inside this cave and the water is boiling and thundering inside. The water sprays out a little from time to time but the guides told us as recent as 1995 the water was still spraying way out of the hole every time the geyser would go off and sometimes it would reach the boardwalk where we were standing.
These boiling hot springs were every where in the park.
A man fly fishing in the stream.
Yellowstone Lake is the largest fresh water lake above 7,000 feet in the U.S.
The national park lets natural forest fires burn since the lodgepole pines that fill most of the park need fire to keep the forest growing. There were acers and acers burned in some parts of the park.
But just as quickly it all grows back.
Nap time
When we reached Old Faithful it had just ruptured. We were growing tired late in a long day of site seeing and decided to not wait around for an hour to see it. We would go back another day.
This is the inn near old faithful and it is made almost completely of the pine from in the park and the wood work inside of the inn is gorgeous.
Boiling hot springs.
You can see how the trees are killed in the areas where the hot springs come up. The trees turn all white around the base and they are called bobby sock trees.
Carlie, Donny and I at the end of the day, we drove the lower loop of the park where old faithful is and most of the hot springs and geysers.
The minerals build up on the ground where the water from the hot springs runs and turns the ground white and brown and yellow and makes it appear to be covered with ice.
The water can still be heard boiling in this caldron but you can't see it.
Buffalo are everywhere in the park and often hold up the traffic as they take long, very slow, walks down the middle of the road. They obviously know they are king of Yellowstone.
The pictures looks a little pathetic but in reality the mountains are truly breath taking!
Carlie playing in the car on the long rides around the park.
Back at the tent. Carlie singing her favorite songs, "Jingle Bells"
And "ABC's" and "Jesus loves me."
In the days the weather would warm to the sixties but at night it would fall into the twenties.
