Missoula, MT -- a surprisingly cool little college town

Missoula was a very pleasant surprise. I actually thought to myself that if this town was a few times bigger but with the same character it'd really be a place I could live! We really enjoyed it and everyone we met there. We stayed in Missoula after leaving Yellowstone and then again a few nights later after going to Glacier National. (Finally, we headed out on September 8th for Spokane, WA with a slight detour to The Grand Coulee Dam. But that's the next post.)

If you ever go, do yourself a favor and book the Goldsmith's B&B for your stay. The people that run it are great and the breakfasts are solid, plus it's right in the middle of town.



It's a university town - University of Montana has a beautiful campus there.







Gorgeous landscape, truly this is Big Sky Country.





Oh, and they have a killer hand-carved carousel, ha!







My recommendation -- if you're going to do a Yellowstone and Glacier National Park trip, stay in Missoula on the night in between driving from one to the other, you won't regret it one bit.

Animals of Yellowstone National Park

Amazing. It's like being on a safari. Check it out.

Coyote:



Bison:





This was the first Bison we saw and he just happened to be on the other side of a gushing geyser!



This guy was sleeping by the side of the road.



We had to pull over for all kinds of animals that were in the road. I entered the park in the pitch dark and almost cruised into an entire herd of Elk, no crap. Here's an assertive little goat --



I love this one of him, one of my favorite YNP shots.



And another bison. There were LOTS of bison.



Can you spot the Mule Deer? At least, that's what I think they are. These pics were taken with my lens at 200mm and then cropped way in, they were pretty far away. It's blurry, but if you look closely, you'll see a baby trying to get a little milkin' teet action in the second shot below.







Little chipmunks and squirrels were everywhere.



A herd of people watching a herd of bison.






I was gored moments after photographing this sign. Just kidding.



No, seriously...we did pet them...ok, not really.





FYI we weren't quite as close as we look in these pics. What...you think I'm stupid? ;)

Some Elk with their young, resting by Mammoth Hot Springs.







Of course, there were some interesting bugs, even though the weather was freezing.





We caught a few Mountain Goats right as we were leaving the park.





Please go to YNP if you have the chance. It's truly spectacular for so many reasons, the animals being just one.

We really wanted to see a moose and we never did...oh well, I guess we'll just have to go back as soon as can be arranged!

Day 3 at Yellowstone National Park

On day 3 at YNP we headed north from the Grand Canyon area, stopped by Tower Falls and hoofed all about Mammoth Hot Springs before finally exiting the park from the North Entrance and heading to Missoula to sleep the night.

Here's that map again so you have an idea of where we were:




When we got up in the morning, it was freezing. I believe that the Canyon area is at a much higher elevation than the area of the park we were in previously. Regardless, there was frost on the trees and a little snow on the ground. Keep in mind that a few weeks earlier we had been snorkeling in Key West...



Carson..."Nature Girl." Haven't seen that shirt again since, ha.



Here's a little random geothermal activity a few miles off.



Here is some of the amazing landscape around the Tower Falls area.







The Tower Falls itself was apparently not impressive enough to get a pic uploaded to Flickr by me, hmmm. I'll have to look into that. Anyway, we moved on to the Mammoth Hot Springs area, which is another amazing spot complete with boardwalks for easy hiking about. Mammoth is different from the other geothermal areas in Yellowstone in that there are no geysers, however, the water that is coming out of the springs contains massive amounts of calcium, which cover everything around springs in white calcium rock and build up and up creating a massive white hill.

Here's the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel with one of the typical National Park tour vehicles you see everywhere up here (and at Glacier).





Seriously, that IS a Mammoth Hot Spring...



Minerva Terrace, a famous feature -





Complete with colorful pools of super hot water, colorful bacteria & algae, and tons of calcium at the top of the Mammoth Hot Springs.







Every day in Yellowstone was amazing. I could have stayed for a week and never ceased being awed by what I experienced. I WILL go back to check out the rest of the popular spots there, and then I'll hike into a bit of the easier back country, too. But for this trip, three days in Yellowstone was all we had. We made the best of it and brought out memories that we'll keep forever. Carson was totally blown away, not that I wasn't, but I had seen pictures and had big expectations whereas she had none. It was just amazing.

To everyone who hasn't been: Go there go there go there!!

Day 2 at Yellowstone National Park

On our second day at Yellowstone we traveled from the Old Faithful area (the Upper Geyser Basin and Norris Geyser Basin) around the southern region of the park, past the enormous Yellowstone Lake and up to the Canyon area. We didn't just shot up there of course, because there is ton's to see along the way! We stopped for a couple mile hike to and from the Natural Bridge rock and we also checked out Yellowstone Lake and the old Yellowstone Lake Hotel as well as the Mud Volcano Cauldron area. We arrived in the Canyon region in the afternoon and did some hikes there -- Uncle Tom's Trail down a steep set of stairs along the side of a cliff to the bottom of a huge waterfall, and to Artist Point where you can get a gorgeous view of the waterfall from a bit of a distance. I've never been to the Grand Canyon in New Mexico, but the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is MASSIVE. We stayed in a little cabin in the Canyon area that second night in Yellowstone.

First a map of Yellowstone so you can get a feel for where we were, then pics from Yellowstone Day Two.



On our drives through Yellowstone NP we crossed the Continental Divide several times. Oh, and that elevation is pretty typical for YNP, the average is about 8000 although some areas get higher.



Carson's action pic at Shoshone Lake!





Then we stopped off for a brief hike to Natural Bridge. As we were leaving on the hike we hooked up with impromptu hiking buddies Brian & Christine, who were very cool companions!





There's the Natural Bridge above and behind us.



And of course, here I am looking deceptively calm whilst dangerously close to falling off the side of the cliff after hiking right up behind the Natural Bridge, which is behind us. Seriously, see how Carson is holding me tightly. I smiled for the pic, but I was thinking "oh sh1t, get me up quick!"



We stopped by Yellowstone Lake, the largest high altitude lake in the US. We also stopped in to warm up with some tea at the Lake Hotel, one of YNP's famous old lodges.





The Lake Hotel on Yellowstone Lake. Oddly, the clientèle here seemed very much older, just as our guidebook said it would.



LeHardy Rapids --



We stopped by the Mud Volcano area. There were bubbling mud pits and fumaroles



Grizzly Fumarole. Yes, I know this is a boring picture, but those little holes in the ground were whistling as they blew up super heated gases. It was awesome. This is actually very similar to the bubbling pools except that it's in a very dry spot so any water just comes out as a bit of steam.



Amazing grasses at Mud Volcano --



OK, the ridiculous thing is that this post is very long and yet I haven't even gotten to the day's main event -- The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, complete with massive waterfall and trail of stairs (part of Uncle Tom's Trail) along the side of a cliff leading down to near the bottom of the falls.





Still wondering why it's called "Yellowstone"? Hadn't even occurred to you to wonder? Ok, well wonder no more anyway --



Here are some shots from Artist Point.







Crazy colors in the volcanic rock of the canyon, it's really breathtaking. I didn't think it could get any better than all the geysers we saw on day one, but the hits just keep on coming at Yellowstone NP.



At the end of an incredible day we headed to our little cabin near the Canyon Lodge.



Which had a half-decent fireplace...



...where I partook of much Yellowstone Rogue Ale. Excellent.



WHAT A DAY!!!!