Mega road trip - Day 27

Falling behind on my posts.  Days are long as we try to maximize everything and I'm exhausted by the time we get to our hotel for the night.

On Sunday, we drove from Helena, MT (I could live in Montana - it's a beautiful place) down into the north entrance (Mammoth Hot Springs) of Yellowstone, through Yellowstone, out the east entrace (Sylvan Pass), and then past Cody to Powell, WY around 11:00 pm.

It was our third time to Yellowstone but still hard to leave since it's such an incredible area.  This time we visited Mammoth Hot Springs (not much water flowing there), walked around the Norris Geyser Basin a bit, did a ranger program at Canyon Village (and viewed Yellowstone Falls), and then drove down through the Hayden Valley (wildlife galore).

Here's a map.

Wildlife included bison (of course), an large bull elk, and a grizzly walking away up a hill.  Below are some pics and the things we saw...

Boiling water coming off Mammoth Hot Springs terraces of travertine

A beautiful turquoise hot spring which would boil you alive if you fell in

A sulfurous boiling mud pot

Norris Geyser Basin and the distant Gallatin Mountains

Yellowstone Falls (the canyon walls are yellowish giving the park its name)

Yellowstone Lake and the snow-covered Absarokas (in late June)

Hard to believe this is the site of one of the largest volcanoes in the world!