Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.
After a slow morning – sun rises at 7 and quickly starts taking the chill out of the air, but doesn’t get warm till mid-morning – we head in to Yellowstone park.
We start by heading north on the upper loop, aiming for Mammoth Hot Springs. Stop at a spring that is bubbling – a couple in front of us says it’s hot enough to make tea. Around the trail we find another pool and are able to look right in and feel the water. Hot and straight walled sides – like a natural hot tub!
We stop and admire Gibbon Falls before heading to the Norris Geyser Basin. Fascinating place – like a sci-fi set. The ground has random openings that issue steam or pools of bubbling water in fascinating colors, or water that randomly spews up. Smells of sulfur catch us depending on the wind.
Mammoth Hot Springs was absolutely beautiful. Natural white stair steps with water flowing over it – a series of mini waterfalls. Beautiful colors highlighting the whites and grays.
We stop in Mammoth for gas, drinks, and snacks. Debating on whether to backtrack or head on to complete the upper loop, we decide to continue on. We rush a bit – stopping only at a waterfall overlook and to stretch. The road goes up over a pass – windy road with some pretty good views.
Well, the tourists are horribly frustrating! There are crowds verywhere – mostly foreigners, it seems – wielding selfie sticks and cameras, eager to photograph everything they can. Pathways are crowded and sometimes hard to navigate. We waited 45 minutes to cover about a mile – people photographing elk and clogging up the road! A couple of other bikes passed the standing traffic and eventually we did the same.
Fumed on the way home. We strive to be travelers – appreciating our surroundings while being polite and respecting those around us. Tourists, by our definition, do the opposite.
After arriving home we decide to go pick up a Mr. Heater – a portable propane heater to supplement our house heater – more fuel efficient and perserve the house batteries. So we head back into town to see what the hardware store is charging. Not as cheap as WalMart but a few dollars cheaper than Red Lodge hardware. Ashley carries it home on her lap. We don’t need any 1 lb propane bottles as we have our 20 lb tank and an adapter hose already.
Very warm in the house – sun hit it all day, plus cooking added to it. I pull in the propane tank and after supper read the instruction manual. Can’t have a propane tank inside. Drats! Back out it goes – but it’s cold and dark so we’ll use the house heater tonight and rig up Mr. Heater with external fuel tomorrow.