God, it was cold last night! I ended up with my sleeping bag drawn up tight around my neck and the bag bit around my head. This just about worked. Tonight I plan to wear socks in bed. It’s easy to forget that we are 6,800 feet above sea level here. That’s why last night’s potatoes took so long to cook. This campsite is vast. I set out to get orientated at 7am as nobody else was conscious and it took ten minutes to make it up to the front gate. Found a single bison within 300 yards of the tent!
We set out in thick fog which gave an ethereal quality to most of our early stops. First up was Gibbon Falls. No photo here – I’m waterfalled out! Next up was the Artist Paint Pots, another set of hot water springs with interesting colour variation.
Next was a simple view shot from the roadside before heading up to Tower Falls. This was disappointing as well given that the bottom of the track was washed out and impassable so we couldn’t see the falls from the bottom. We descended most of the way down before finding this out.
I’m surprised at the high number of elderly Americans who see to be visiting these places but I suppose the holiday season is over and the young are back at school where they belong. I’d expected more Japanese but when they occur they are in family groups or entire coach loads. There don’t seem to be many Europeans except Germans – they get everywhere!
From here we headed into the Lamar Valley as this was supposedly the best place for wildlife. Given that we’d already seen an example of most of it in the wrong place it was little surprise that we saw little here. However, we did manage an early stop to view a herd of bison when a coyote strolled casually across the shot.
I, of course, had the wrong lens on but an image of sorts was captured. To compensate, the landscape was stunning, a river valley on a truly grand scale and we did stop to view the Soda Butte but I wasn’t allowed to climb on it. In fact, we saw lots of evidence of environmental management today with access along paths stopped to allow regeneration. The one thing that amused me was a little sign stating ‘Plant Growing’ in front of a bare patch of ground. Whilst here I enjoyed the surreal sight of a red vehicle with a massive Alastian hanging out of the window. The dog was wearing GOGGLES!!!
Next stop was the Boiling River where most of us leapt in to take the waters. At this point the hot waters from the Mammoth Springs area mix with the main river.
As you sit in the water the temperature changes from way too hot to very chilly. Invigorating stuff. At this point we clocked up another state as the car park was actually in Montana. Eventually, we headed back to Mammoth to stock up on essentials and returned to the campsite comparatively early so we should manage another sunset tonight. Another Intrepid group was there led by “My best friend in the whole world” according to Rick. A noisy and fairly violent reunion took place. They clearly have a lot of catching up to do. The place could become a little rowdy!
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