Mammoth Hot Springs

After doing the loop around Grand Tetons, we went back north into Yellowstone, to see Mammoth Hot Springs in the north end of the park. On the way there, we saw another "animal jam" where traffic in both directions was stopped completely.  Since we were not moving, Tyler and I hopped out with our cameras and started walking to see what it was. It wasn't long before we saw a beautiful stag, with a full rack of horns, grazing right by the side of the road!  There was a ranger directing traffic, yelling at any driver who stopped in the middle of the road for a photo, and that was all of them!  "Keep moving, keep moving!" he would yell as each car stopped, and while he was busy talking to the driver of that car... a car going the other direction would stop!  It was almost comical, because he had to stop and yell at each and every driver, and ALL of them stopped and got yelled at!  The Elk could not care less, and just kept grazing, while this guy yelled his head off! He left us alone because we were on foot and across the street, and we respect a healthy distance from wild animals.

  We got quite a few pictures by the time Dawn caught up to us with the truck.  We hopped in, and told her to keep driving without stopping!   We saw another stag in a field not to far up the road ( I'm pretty sure they were Elk )   The fact that hunting is not allowed in Yellowstone makes them not too fearful of people, since they see them every day. 

We continued on to Mammoth Hot Springs, and started the boardwalk loop trail.   The first thing we saw was Liberty Cap, an extinct cinder cone near the beginning of the trail. High water pressure and mineral deposits formed it over hundreds of years, but is dormant now. Dawn only went halfway down the boardwalk and turned back, because her knees were bothering her, but Tyler and I went to the end.

It is there I feel you get the best views of this area.  The water evaporating and leaving behind mineral deposits has created some stunning formations over the years!  It looks like a waterfall made of stone. In parts, the spreading silicates have engulfed and killed trees, by surrounding the trunks. I can see how much it has spread since the last time I visited.  Don't miss this part of the park when visiting Yellowstone!

By the time we got back to the truck, it was getting dark. We headed off to our next campground, a KOA in Livingston, Montana.  We stopped at a grocery store for chicken to grill, but Dawn was tired and impatient, so she just heated up a can of ravioli and went to bed!  Ty and I ate the chicken, and he hit the hay as well.

 

 I stayed up for awhile until the fire went out.  I woke up to noises outside the tent around 1:30 am...I looked out to see a large deer eating the bushes right next to the tent!  I shined the flashlight on him and he ran away, leaping over a fence and vanishing in the darkness.