Lionshead RV Resort in West Yellowstone, MT

Sunday, July 22 - We left Fairmont RV Park, Anaconda, Montana around 8:00 am after first filling up with diesel at the Flying J. Took I-90 and crossed a huge mountain range, the famous Rocky Mountains. We climbed up to 7,500 ft. elevation. The diversity of the scenery was amazing. Where we passed through valleys there were huge horse ranches spread out and mobile homes or shanties were the norm; a few nice ranch-style homes sprinkled here and there. We see a haze in the distance and can’t figure out what it is. Ray turned onto SR 191 south (a scenic drive). We saw cliffs that looked like granite and have large veins of coral color running through them. Every bend we take is another beautiful scene. We arrived at Lionshead RV Resort in West Yellowstone, MT around noon. We like the park with mountains all around us and lots of room at our site. There is a mountain stream at the back of the park where we take Mitzy to run around.

We saw several families of these critters running around the park and looks like they love to set up camp under the permanent RVs. Really cute.

Tuesday, July 24 - We used Buffalo Tours to see the lower (south) loop of Yellowstone National Park. They somehow canceled our reservation and when we called they picked us up within twenty minutes. The driver, Jay, was good at bringing up the finer details of the park and we sighted many wildlife, either up close and personal, or very far away (the grizzly bear). The stops were sometimes too long, but with twenty people to satisfy, it was necessary. We were gone from the park for eleven hours and Mitzy had to stay home. She did great, but we were so concerned since we have never left her alone over five hours.
Yellowstone National Park is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Over 10,000 geysers. One-third of the park was burned in 1988. Borders Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Bald Eagle sighted on the trip. Very far away.

Nineteen years after being scorched by fires, Yellowstone National Park continues to experience lush, new growth. The fires covered about one-third of the park and extended eastward onto thousands of acres in Cody County. Remnants can still be seen of the fires, but what is evident now is the new growth of trees and other plants. 1988 was the driest summer in the park’s written record of weather statistics covering 112 years. Some plants rely on the fires to continue the reproduction, such as the Lodge-pole pine; requires high heat to open its cones and release seeds.
On our tour of the south loop, we were able to see and learn a lot. The first
Mud Volcano area filled with turbulent and explosive mudpots, including Mud Volcano and Dragon’s Mouth.
Norris Geyser Basin has the hottest, most dynamic geyser basin in the park, which includes Steamboat, the world’s tallest geyser, and Echinus, the world’s largest acidic geyser.

We came upon a traffic jam and took his picture from the bus, a massive Bison (aka Buffalo, or Tatonka).

Of course Old Faithful is the world’s largest concentration of geysers. We did not walk the many trails that pass hundreds of geysers and hot springs. We had our lunch in the main dining room at the Old Faithful Inn which is undergoing a major three-year renovation. It has the same look of 100 years ago. The Inn sits in one of the country’s most active seismic zones.
Old Faithful’s eruption length and height, and the time between eruptions varies daily and yearly. An eruption lasts 1.5 to 5 minutes; the average interval between eruptions is 92 minutes. The height ranges from 106 feet to more than 180 feet, averaging 130 feet. 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of water are expelled per eruption, depending on t he length of eruption. Just prior to eruption, water temperature at the vent is 204°F. It’s one of more than 300 geysers in Yellowstone. Geysers are hot springs with narrow spaces in their plumbing, usually near the surface. Old Faithful Village and Dining Room --

Three hotels serve the Old Faithful area: The Old Faithful Inn, a historic landmark hotel completed in 1904, the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, the park's newest hotel, built in 1998 and Snow Lodge Cabins.
West Thumb Geyser Basin has boiling springs including the famous Fishing Cone, discharge their waters into chilly Yellowstone Lake.
Canyon area you view the colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and the Upper and Lower Falls from overlooks.
Yellowstone Lake - Lake Yellowstone Hotel is one of the park's classic hotels, built in 1891 and restored to its 1920s splendor. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lake views from the lobby Sun Room are excellent.

Wednesday, July 25 - Day Two: We saw Elk again, bald eagles, and bison. Also, Gibbon Falls with its 84 ft. drop at 7,700 elevation.
Tower Falls
We were amazed by the Yellowstone River and the white rock made by sulphur.
Mammoth Hot Springs was too much for us to walk, but took picture from the scenic drive above and through the Upper Terraces.

Yellowstone River plunges 308 ft. over the Lower Falls. Hot Springs have weakened the rocks downstream and you can see several geysers spouting into the river. The park's riverbeds drop abruptly in more than 100 locations. Upper Falls formed at a junction of lava flow and glacial lake sediments - one dense and hard, the other brittle and easily eroded. The Continental Divide runs through Wyoming from the northwestern corner to south central border. Some rivers in Wyoming drain into the Pacific Ocean, while others flow into the Atlantic Ocean. Wyoming also has the Great Divide Basin, in the Red Desert, from which no streams flow to either ocean. Wyoming has a cool climate which varies due to the diverse topography. It snows and rains in Wyoming, producing annual precipitation ranging from 5 inches to 45 inches. The hot temperatures we are experiencing are highly unusual for this time of year. Wyoming is second only to Colorado in mean elevation, and offers many scenic attractions, notably Yellowstone National Park and Devil's Tower.

Picture at the Upper Falls of a Bald Eagle with her fledgling eaglet.

Wyoming's diverse terrain, produces diverse minerals, crops, and stock. Wyoming is able to mine oil, natural gas, gold, trona, soda ash, uranium, and coal. Primary crops in Wyoming are wheat, oats, sugar beets, corn, potatoes, barley and alfalfa. Wyoming is ranked second in the United States in wool production. Exceeded only by California and Texas in sheep numbers. We didn't see too many sheep from the roads we traveled.b:if cond='data:blog.pageType !="item"> >