Cody, WY to Yellowstone National Park 9/12 and 9/13

Before we left Cody on Tuesday we made a stop to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.  An amazing museum with a lot of western history and art.

We left Cody after the museum with a stop in Cook City, Montana for lunch.  Cook City is an old mining town in the Bear Tooth mountains!


We had a nice lunch then walked around a bit and had the famous Huckleberry Ice Cream!  We visited the historic general store and then got back on the bus to head to Yellowstone National Park for the next two days.

So I know it has been 3 days since you have heard from us BUT we still haven't seen a bear.  We have seen Bison, Bison, Bison...and more Bison.  I am bored with Bison now.

 We did get to see a huge Elk herd hanging out at Mammoth Hot Springs on the way to Yellowstone just like they owned the place.  Which in all reality they do!  Susan and I may have been fussed at by a ranger for being too close...however there was big bus getting ready to run us over but the Elk can't be disturbed!:)  See below they were lined up around buildings in the shade..

 Crossing streets..

 This one was grazing on the nice green grass

 Oh it is siesta time here in these below I believe!

In all seriousness they were in rut and the bull was making sure the females were staying close and not running off on him.  Michael heard him bugling and he ran another bull up into the mountains.  So for our safety distance was best.  It was really a cool thing to see so many and watch them.

Here are some photos of the first thermal feature we saw in Yellowstone~Mammoth Hot Springs.

Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. Wikipedia

We left Mammoth Hot Springs  and continued to look for a bear and moose sightings as we headed towards the first of many water falls in YNP.

The first was Tower Falls on the Tower River

Then we visited Brink of the Falls on the upper Yellowstone River

We headed to our first lodge in YNP! Canyon Village Lodge and even though we knew this we were still shocked that we had no AC and it was hot!  None of the lodged in YNP have AC we were told. YIKES!!!  This is a new lodge only opened last year.  Nice but rustic!

That ended our first day in YNP and still no bear sightings. Here are a few pictures of the lodge room at Canyon Lodge!

Day 2 YNP

We were up and left the lodge after breakfast at 8 am.

Artist Point the most painted and photographed spot in the park.  It is the lower falls of the Yellowstone

 The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Park

The rest of our day was spent seeing more thermal features in YNP including the famous Old Faithful.  

  

The Fountain Paint Pot was our next stop and is a mud pot located in Lower Geyser basin in Yellowstone National Park. The Fountain Paint Pot is named for the reds, yellows and browns of the mud in this area. Wikipedia

Isa Lake is located in Yellowstone National Park, in the U.S. state of Wyoming.^[2] The lake straddles the continental divide at Craig Pass and was first discovered in 1891 by Hiram M. Chittenden, who was exploring the best routes for a road to connect Old Faithful and West Thumb geyser basins. Chittenden named the lake after Miss Isabel Jelke, from Cincinnati, though it is not clear why.^[3][4]

Map of Continental Divide at Isa Lake

Isa Lake is believed to be the only natural lake in the world which drains to two different oceans.^[3] (For similar cases see List of unusual drainage systems.) The east side of the lake drains by way of the Lewis River to the Pacific Ocean and the west side of the lake drains by way of the Firehole River to the Atlantic Ocean.^[5] This is the opposite of what one would expect since the Atlantic Ocean is east of the lake and the Pacific Ocean is to the west.

The lake is easy to visit as it is adjacent to the road that now connects the Old Faithful and West Thumb geysers basins, on what is known as the "lower loop" of the figure-eight roadway which traverses through Yellowstone.

 Snow poles have been placed and ready for snow this weekend in the park.  Check out the height of those poles. They allow them to find the edges of the road to allow them to know where the road is to allow them to groom and clear the road ways. The Bison have already started to put on their heavy winter coats so this tells them that winter is coming and should be severe.

Sunset at our next lodge in YNP Grant Village 

This ended our stay in YNP.  I will update yesterday and today later on today. Still no BEARS!


PS  I need to say that I had worried that I wouldn't get my steps in being on a bus all day....NOT a problem here are the stats for steps so far ~


9/7 - 11,403 - travel day:)
9/8 - 6,474  - a little off
9/9 - 7,809  - back on track (7,500 is my goal each day)
9/10- 14,193 - lots of extra walking
9/11 - 10,641 - 400 mile bus ride day lots of walking at UCross Ranch
9/12 - 12,220
9/13 - 11,027
9/14 - 11,297