Day 7

Dec 8
2002


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We got an early start this morning so that we could spend the day in North Yellowstone. Once we got off the interstate at Livingston, the landscape was spectacular. Snow dappled rocky mountains with homesteads laced throughout. There was a very grand entrance to Yellowstone and we drove by all of the employee housing. How greath would it be to work and get to live there! At this time, the only part of the park that is open is the road betweeen the North entrance and Cooke City. Mammoth Hot Springs was the first and primary stop. They weren’t really running that well (we were later informed that this was due to a very dry summer) but the calcite formations and flow rock that they make were still worth seeing. Very impressive. We walked the loop of the upper terrace (all uphill in the snow — hey folks, how about some consideration for the florida girl here!). We then drove up the road to Undine Falls. It was so beautiful. Had icicles all around the top and it disappeared into the snow down at the bottom. We didn’t drive all the way to Cooke City, turned around after the Lamar valley which is where most of the wildlife was supposed to be. We saw all kinds of elk, buffalo, coyotes. We hiked the 1/4 mile trail to the petrified tree (uphill in the snow). The tree wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be but the spot was so beautiful and we sat for a while on a rock in the cold solitude. I had four or five handfuls of plain, natural snowcone (no, not the lemon or chocolate). I haven’t eaten snow since grandma’s funeral. When we got back to Mammoth Springs town, there were cow elk all over the place, blocking main street and front doors and everything. On the way out of Yellowstone, we noticed the river next to the road smoking so we went to inspect it. It’s called Boiling River because some of Mammoth’s hot springs dump into it. And in this 20 degree weather, there were people swimming! We really wanted to jump in but that Randal was still sick and I never thought to pack bathing suits for a snowmobiling trip. Silly me. So we made our way back to the highway and found a place to stay in Bozeman.