Days 6, 7 and 8 Yellowstone

We were at Yellowstone for two nights and it was amazing! At the beginning of our first day, we climbed down 350 steps to the bottom of a waterfall on Uncle Tom's trail. We were tired going down...we couldn't even imagine going back up! The falls were beautiful. We stayed there for a little bit and then we climbed back up. That was hard! When we got to the top, my grandpa said there was a great view of the falls down another trail, so we decided to take that and have a look. We were supposed to be able to see both the upper and lower falls. It was about 2.5 miles out to Artist's Point. When we got there, it turns out we had a great view of the same falls we had just seen and the canyon created by the river. It was a long a trail to see the same thing. Mom and I hiked back to get the car so we would get to the hotel before dark. Pa and Patti stayed back and took pictures of the one fall and canyon.

When we were driving to the hotel, buffalo started to cross the road and there were millions of them. It was a buffalo traffic jam! When we finally got past the buffalo, we decided to stop and check out the mud pots and sulfer springs. Those smelled so nasty I can't even describe it. If you smelled too much sulfer, you could die because it is toxic. The springs were hot and steaming because the crust of the earth was thin there and they are heated from the magma in the mantle.

When we got closer to the hotel, it was dark, so we had our headlights on. Suddenly, the car stopped and everybody jumped forward. There was a huge elk in the road...right in front of the car. Pa says it was the same elk he ran into on that same road 18 years ago. I'm not so sure.

The next day, we saw Old Faithful. It's blast was huge. We got to see it go off twice. We walked on a giant boardwalk around Old Faithful and its fellow geysers. We were surprised to see three buffalo laying near the boardwalk, right by the signs that warned us about the thin crust in the area. I guess they knew where to lay. Near the boardwalk there were a few very, very deep hot springs that are super hot since they are heated by the earth. They were also very clear.

Mom and I decided to call it a day and hang out at the hotel while Pa and Patti climbed in the car for yet another LONG, scenic drive.