Day 3 in Yellowstone NP

On June 4 we moved our camp from Madison to Bridge Bay Campground. On our way there, we stopped at the Artist Paint Pots area to walk the boardwalk. From a viewpoint above:

Once we got to Bridge Bay we discovered that our site was under a couple feet of snow, so we had to find one they could give us with a dry spot for our tent. Fortunately we found one:

By this time it was well past lunch time and we chose to drive out toward Yellowstone lake to eat something. Another set of PB&Js... But the lake, also covered in snow, was quite a place to view. The waves of snow were particularly curious, as were the melted spots (from thermal features under the lake).

Sadly, because of all the snow and runoff, the only hiking we realized we'd get to do would be on the boardwalks. So, to more thermal features we went.

At the mud volcano boardwalk we managed to meet up with a ranger talk just after it had started. It was a really engaging ranger talk about change and how this park is constantly changing. The features change, and even a feature that seemed to never change at some point went from a lake that trappers used as a bathtub to a highly acidic "sour" lake. We were also fascinated to learn about the buffalo; and he impressed upon us all that we should not take them to be stupid and slow. They are quite the contrary, able to run at speeds up to 35 mph, to clear a fence in a bound from standing, and people have been killed by them.

After the guided walk, we headed off to see the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River. Starting at the Upper Falls viewpoint, we'd hoped to take the trail to the Lower falls, but it was covered totally in snow along the cliff, and it was getting dark. So we took pictures, then drove to another lookout of the Lower Falls.

(this is my first attempt at creating a high dynamic range - HDR - puzzle image)

We had thought maybe we'd be able to return during the day and hike if we decided to stay two more days in the park, but we changed our plans and headed to Grand Teton a day early. Next up...our final day at Yellowstone with the most famous geyser.

All images copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Up next: Day 4 in Yellowstone NP

This is a series of posts following our vacation. Easy access to previous posts:

• Day 2 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 1 in Yellowstone NP
• Devils Tower and Little Planets
• Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park

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