Yellowstone- Day 3

On the third day in Yellowstone we headed to the Mammoth Hot Springs area. I had seen one of the features in this area on a postcard and I couldn't wait to get there. We drove from Canyon Lodge and the drive was awesome. It left some of the more populated areas in favor of some of the more isolating areas. This led to plenty of wildlife sightings, including a couple of bears. Look closely, and you'll see the bear.




We weren't able to take the detour to Lamar Valley, which has been described as the Serengeti of the U.S. If we ever go back I definitely want to go there. I forget where this was, and the name of it, but this is the largest hot spring in the park.




Along the way we stopped to get this guy's picture. He was huge, and a bit too close.



Mammoth is the headquarters of the park and kind of feels like Disney World. It's very modern and there's real grass. There are also tons of marmots, that are perfectly willing to pose for pictures. After grabbing lunch we headed over to the hot spring area. Part of the trail is driveable but we decided to walk it since the traffic was a bit of a hassle.




The features in this part of the park were breathtaking. Not only were there hot springs and mud pots, but there were coral looking things that had been formed from the acidic erosion in the area.



It's weird that something so devoid of life can be so mesmerizing.


After several hours of touring, we headed out of the park for the night. We stayed in West Yellowstone which is literally ten minutes outside of the park boundaries. It's a really fun tourist town and we really had fun. We did a little shopping, sampled some local brews, and watched and IMAX movie about Yellowstone.



Our motel was super cute, and really comfy after "roughing" it at the Canyon Lodge for a few days.