Day 6: Yellowstone part two

From: Yellowstone National Park

To: Missoula, MT

Waking up to 27 degrees got us up quickly. Heather made for the bathroom while Nathan dozed for a few minutes, or so he thought. Until, Dakota found a small gap in the tent zipper. She forced her snout through and before Nathan could put on his glasses, both dogs were roaming free the campsite area. Good morning!

Our first stop was at Artists’ Paintpots. It was another hotspot area with more hot springs and bigger mud pots. After this we reached the Virginia Cascades where, actually, we didn’t stop. You just drive along this small back road on the side of a cliff with no railing and view a waterfall.

Next was the highlight of the day, Yellowstone Grand Canyon. We spent several hours viewing the canyon and humongous waterfalls from different lookouts. And it was here that we finally saw just why this place is named “Yellowstone.” The canyon walls were in fact yellow with other shades of red volcanic rocks.

Need we say anymore.

We hiked like 17 miles (not really) down to get a great view of the lower falls. 17 miles back up and we were gasping for thin mountain air. At the next lookout Heather hiked an additional 3 miles when she took the wrong turn at a fork in the road after Nathan didn’t wait on her to go back to get her fleece leaving her to flip a coin as to which direction he had gone. Heather was mad (no worries Cynthia, Violent Destroyer did not blow up the mountain). Heather was mad. Arguing ensued and any romantic mood was chased away like wild turkeys from our first campsite. But how could anyone stay angry for very long in such a majestic place? 

Our final stop before leaving the park was Mammoth Hot Springs. This entire mountain is one big hotspot. The mountainside was composed of numerous hot springs that terraced beautifully all the way down the face. A lot of the surface was stark white due to the chemical composition of the water making our pictures look like it had snowed.

We waived goodbye to Yellowstone and a few cow elk on the side of the road at the North Entrance and headed north. During this stretch we caught a glimpse of some horned mountain sheep (we think) way up on a cliff side.

The North Entrance sits at the border of Montana. From there we drove through Livingston to Butte and finally to Missoula to find a hotel for the night. Butte (Nathan likes to pronounce it butt), MT was not that great. It was kind of like the ass-end of Montana, though it wasn’t as crappy as you’d think given its name. As soon as we entered, he all of the sudden had to go #2. That’s eerie. But, alas, he didn't. Some might call him anal, but he didn't want to use a public restroom.

Overall, Montana was beautiful, much like Wyoming. We drove between mountains almost the entire time, but the road always sat in a valley. Apparently, in MT it’s not news for a whole heard of elk or buffalo to set up shop in someone’s front yard. We’ve had perfect weather, but while driving through MT we saw a storm happening over a mountain and on the other side, but it never crossed over to us. It was neat watching the mountains contain the clouds. Afterwards it did cast a rainbow over on our side, which was beautiful.

Coming soon, Seattle, boarder check cavity searches and Vancouver. And yes, Cynthia, we are prepared with our Kraft dinner and hatchet!