October 7, 2010 4:36 p.m.
Day 13 was Sept. 16
We woke up in West Yellowstone, Montana.
The temperature was 31 degrees F.
On this day we decided to head toward Mammoth Hot Springs, tour the springs and facilities in that area, and leave the park after lunch to return to West Yellowstone and visit the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, which had been recommended to us by other campers.
Mammoth Hot Springs provided quite a workout for us. There were many variations of the terraces, both dry and active.
At one point, we saw a female elk lounging in the shade adjacent to the hotel. She stayed there as long as we were in that area. We also had to be careful not to step in any elk residue. Funny - people are having to be careful about cleaning up after their dogs while the elk are pooping all over the place, all over the streets, the sidewalks, the hotel property. We also had to be careful, while hiking in Yellowstone, to avoid stepping in what we had come to call "Buffalo Burgers". And they are huge! (can't believe the restaurants charged $9 for buffalo burgers, and here they were, free for the taking - LOL).
After leaving the park, we visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, which was within walking distance of our campground. This was very reasonable, and it provided a fantastic opportunity to view these creatures up close. We all enjoyed this place very much. The bears had all had to be removed from the wild for various reasons. Sometimes they had lost their mother while still quite small. Other times, they had grown too comfortable with human inhabitants of some Montanan, Alaskan, or Canadian neighborhood. The exhibit was great! They would have two bears at a time in view in the bear habitat, searching for the food which had been carefully and creatively placed earlier by the workers -- under logs, sticks, etc. The bears were very busy and active, eating, searching for the hidden food, and splashing in the water. One of them was over 1000 pounds! Hard to believe creatures that cute can be so dangerous. There were also two wolf packs on the property, with a few wolves from a single pack in the habitat at a time. These were wolves that had never lived in the wild. About 13 years ago, Yellowstone re-introduced wolves into the park, and they continue to track many of them.
We had dinner at a 50s style diner in West Yellowstone, and then enjoyed another cool evening of walking and looking in shops. It seemed that every evening we were serenaded by singers and dancers of the Pinecone Playhouse, who were advertising their latest musical in town. Right now they are running The Taffetas: A Musical Journey through the Fabulous Fifties but we didn't go see it. The singers all had poodle skirts and cat's eye glasses, very cute.
On this day, like yesterday, we had a much more relaxing time than that first frenetic day in Yellowstone (that had left us feeling like we had done a long day at W*lt Disny Wrld).
Day 13 was Sept. 16
We woke up in West Yellowstone, Montana.
The temperature was 31 degrees F.
On this day we decided to head toward Mammoth Hot Springs, tour the springs and facilities in that area, and leave the park after lunch to return to West Yellowstone and visit the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, which had been recommended to us by other campers.
Mammoth Hot Springs provided quite a workout for us. There were many variations of the terraces, both dry and active.
At one point, we saw a female elk lounging in the shade adjacent to the hotel. She stayed there as long as we were in that area. We also had to be careful not to step in any elk residue. Funny - people are having to be careful about cleaning up after their dogs while the elk are pooping all over the place, all over the streets, the sidewalks, the hotel property. We also had to be careful, while hiking in Yellowstone, to avoid stepping in what we had come to call "Buffalo Burgers". And they are huge! (can't believe the restaurants charged $9 for buffalo burgers, and here they were, free for the taking - LOL).
After leaving the park, we visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, which was within walking distance of our campground. This was very reasonable, and it provided a fantastic opportunity to view these creatures up close. We all enjoyed this place very much. The bears had all had to be removed from the wild for various reasons. Sometimes they had lost their mother while still quite small. Other times, they had grown too comfortable with human inhabitants of some Montanan, Alaskan, or Canadian neighborhood. The exhibit was great! They would have two bears at a time in view in the bear habitat, searching for the food which had been carefully and creatively placed earlier by the workers -- under logs, sticks, etc. The bears were very busy and active, eating, searching for the hidden food, and splashing in the water. One of them was over 1000 pounds! Hard to believe creatures that cute can be so dangerous. There were also two wolf packs on the property, with a few wolves from a single pack in the habitat at a time. These were wolves that had never lived in the wild. About 13 years ago, Yellowstone re-introduced wolves into the park, and they continue to track many of them.
We had dinner at a 50s style diner in West Yellowstone, and then enjoyed another cool evening of walking and looking in shops. It seemed that every evening we were serenaded by singers and dancers of the Pinecone Playhouse, who were advertising their latest musical in town. Right now they are running The Taffetas: A Musical Journey through the Fabulous Fifties but we didn't go see it. The singers all had poodle skirts and cat's eye glasses, very cute.
On this day, like yesterday, we had a much more relaxing time than that first frenetic day in Yellowstone (that had left us feeling like we had done a long day at W*lt Disny Wrld).
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| Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces |
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| What's she searching for? That perfect Facebook profile photo :D |
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| Another hot steaming lake, Mommy. |
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| Lady elk hanging out in shade near hotel. |
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| This coyote we saw by the roadside. |
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| BIG grizzly bear. |
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| He knows there's food in there somewhere. |
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| Yup. We were that close to this wolf. No zooming needed. |
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