On to Yellowstone we travelled

Yellowstone park is all it's cracked up to be and more

After paying the fee at the east gate we headed for the Norris campground. We were told several of the campgrounds were not yet full. The road rose steeply up to 8,500 feet and the temperature dropped to 9 degrees Celsius. It increased again on the way down. Tired from driving we arrived at Norris campground to see the "full" sign. Another 12 miles to Madison. After waiting in line we found there were no sites available for our unit. The attendant did call to Bakers Hole campground at West Yellowstone, just outside the park. There was room, so on we went and got a beautiful campsite beside the Madison River. We woke the next morning to a temperature of -2 degrees Celsius, and frost everywhere.

The road from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful Geyser is only 30 miles and it took us four and a half hours. There is so much to see along the way that we had to stop at almost every paint pot, every geyser, every lake overlook and finally we got to Old Faithful. The drive was nothing less than spectacular. Not only did we see hot geysers and boiling paint pots, but we got to drive the Firehole Canyon drive. This narrow one-way road took us along the Firehole River through canyons and woodlands till we got to the Firehole Falls.

Here the river rages through a narrow passage into a relatively calm area, through another narrow canyon and into another pool. Most times many tourists walk or swim upriver to the upper pool and tube or swim through the gorge to the second pool. This year the area was closed due to high water. Once at Old Faithful we had an hour to wait. We explored the old lodges and took a guided tour of the original Yellowstone Lodge. Built in 1903-04 the building is maintained in its original state and is really something to behold. Very late in the day we left Old Faithful and returned to our campground.