Yellowstone - Day 2

After leaving the Grizzly and Wolf Center, we headed into Yellowstone Park through the West Entrance and continued on with our adventure. Because John is so much bigger and taller than I am, I really couldn't see ahead, so I spent my time enjoying the scenery on either side of the road as we zoomed along. It's really nice being the passenger, because you truly do get to enjoy all the sights, sounds and smells without any of the stress of trying to keep the snowmobile on the road and heading straight. Ours had a tendency to want to veer off to the left, and a couple of times, we found ourselves suddenly on the wrong side of the road. That was a bit unnerving to say the least. After the first couple of times it happened, and after John got tired of me screaming and hitting him, he found how to control it. Thank goodness! I had visions of us plummeting off the side of a cliff or something! Every now and again I would lean out so I could peer over John's shoulder and get a peak at what was coming up. Here's what my view looked like . . .

Quite often as we were cruising along, I saw signs like this one posted along the road . . .



There have been quite a number of fires in Yellowstone over the years, but the biggest and most damaging was in 1988 and burned about 36% of the park. That fire burned for several months and nearly destroyed two of the major visitor destinations and caused the park to be closed to all non-emergency personnel for the very first time. But nature is truly amazing, and the trees are growing back. You can see the recovering forest sticking up through the snow . . .



Our first stop of the day was at . . .

Gibbons Falls

A better look at the falls

A little further and we were at . . .

Beryl Spring

It was so interesting to me that the ground around all the thermal areas is bare, but just adjacent to them, you will see . . .

Beautiful snow-covered trees

Next stop, lunch at Canyon Village. Our guide packed a picnic lunch for us each day and we would stop at the different visitor centers to enjoy it while we warmed up and used the "facilities". The food was yummy and the conversation was always lively and fun.

Canyon Village Lunch Break

L-R - My John, John & Ruth, "Florida John", and Sue & Ken

First stop after lunch . . .

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Ever wonder why they call it "Yellowstone"? The name comes from the Indian word "Mitzi-a-dazi" which means the "River of Yellow Rocks". The high sulfur content causes the yellow coloration in the exposed rocks in this canyon area. I never knew that before, did you?

In case you want to know more about the waterfalls

Truly awesome View of the Canyon and
Lower Yellowstone Falls

Notice how the water is frozen on the right side of the falls

John & Ruth, John & Me

Yellowstone River at the bottom of the Canyon

Yellowstone River

We rode along the Yellowstone River for awhile. Soon we were at the site of . . .

First National Park Ranger Cabin

You probably already know that Yellowstone was the very first national park, established by an act of Congress and signed into law by President Grant in 1872. Since it was the first, the National Park Service had not yet been established. A superintendent was appointed, and he hired Harry Yount to protect the park from poachers and vandals. Yount is considered to be the very first National Park Ranger, and lived in this cabin. Yellowstone is huge and the task to protect it in its entirety was way too much for one man, so eventually Army soldiers were stationed in Yellowstone to oversee and protect the park until the National Park Service was established in 1916. This cabin is now a museum and when it isn't covered in snow, is open and well worth a few minutes of your time to check it out. We just looked at it from across the river and continued on to . . .

Roaring Mountain

Click on this photo to see puffs of steam coming up
from the various cracks in the surface
Tony says when the conditions are just right,
you can hear "roaring" sounds
coming from the mountain.

Not far from Roaring Mountain is this awesome sight . . .

Obsidian Cliff

There are huge ribbons of obsidian running all through this humongous cliff. Our guide joked that the Indian that discovered this must have immediately been made Chief! Obsidian was super important to the Indians who used it to make all sorts of tools and most importantly, arrow heads for hunting.

A look at some of beautiful scenery we were passing.

At the end of the day, we exited by the North Entrance where we passed through . . .

The Roosevelt Arch

In all my many visits to Yellowstone in my lifetime, I had never seen this arch before. And the North Entrance is the only entrance that is open all year long! Go figure!

Our hotel for the night was in Gardiner, Montana, just outside the North Entrance. We celebrated Valentine's Day together, and topped dinner off with Huckleberry Ice Cream! Yum!

L-R - Me, John, "Florida John", our guide Tony,
"Washington John", Ken, Sue and Ruth

This seems like a good place to tell you a little about our fellow travelers, since you can actually see them in this photo . . .

"Florida John" is a young private practice lawyer who got fed up with the rat race and decided to take a break. He is spending this year traveling and having adventures all over the world. He has already been on a motorcycle tour of England, Ireland and Scotland. He was on the snowmobile tour with us, and next up is another motorcycle tour of Germany, Austria, and Italy. A really nice, soft spoken guy with a very gentle spirit.

Tony is a fifth generation guide and has lived in this area all his life. He has been leading snowmobile tours for 14 years and knows just about everything there is to know about Yellowstone. At first he seemed shy and quiet, but once we got him talking, he was full of stories! When he's not snowmobiling, he is leading hunting expeditions.

"Washington John" and Ruth are our forever friends who moved from Corona to just outside Spokane last spring. We're having a great time traveling with them, and have another trip planned together in the Fall to Washington DC.

Ken and Sue are a really fun couple from New Hampshire. They have known each other all their lives, high school sweethearts, etc., and have been married nearly 40 years. Ken is an avid hunter, so he and Tony had lots to share and talk about. He keeps his freezer stocked with deer, elk, buffalo and bear - his wife, Sue, says she hasn't darkened the door of a butcher shop in years.

Sue is an amazing woman and a true inspiration. Since 2006 she has battled lung cancer and a brain tumor which left her deaf in one ear. None of that is getting her down, she is full of life and raring to go. Seeing Yellowstone has been on her Bucket List for 30 years and she was so excited to be there. Ruth and I had a great time talking with her and getting to know her. And of course, we are all wishing her a very long and healthy future.

So that's it for Day 2. Still lots more to come . . .