View of Old Faithful from the Observation Overlook

*sniff* *sniff* mmm…sulfur

It’s 7/7/07 and our lucky streak of seeing wildlife continues. Just a minute ago on the way to our campsite we saw two elk with nice sets of racks. Ok, that little bit of excitement out I can now focus on catching you up to where we are. First of all, let me just acknowledge that this probably won’t be posted until we get to Great Falls, MT for our night in the hotel (7/10). The trip is going great but to be honest to you, we’re both looking forward to getting to the hotel and taking it easy for a day. As a bonus, I think the All-Star game is the 10th so we’re gonna order pizza and hang out in front of the TV for an evening.

We weren’t sure about our schedule but we decided this morning to leave for Yellowstone today. So far we’ve only been with the other 98% of the people along the road but tomorrow we are going to do a couple of hikes, including Mystic Falls for sure. Despite the fact that we haven’t left the road, the Park has certainly given us plenty to look at as we strolled along the West Thumb Geyser Basin (saw a doe elk there…still not sure if elk are like deer or cattle in their naming…doe/buck or cow/bull…you could tell me if you know, it’s quicker for me to read a comment than do a Wikipedia search); looking at the water bubbling out of the ground is a peculiar sight.

The appearance isn’t the only thing that is peculiar in Yellowstone; the nose gets to be an active participant in the vacation as the odor that eminates from the geysers and standing pools is very pungent sulfur. At Old Faithful we got a very up close experience as the wind shifted just before the main eruption – a blast of water that proceeded to rain down upon us. We actually watched Old Faithful erupt twice – once up close and once from up at the top of Observation Trail. That walk was nice as it took us past smaller geysers on the way; plus we saw an osprey swoop over head while we crossed the river. On a side note, the forest has made a marvelous recovery since I was last here in 1999 (the forest fire was 1988).