January 25, 2016

We arrived in Yellowstone mid-morning.  The drive was great – very good weather . 
We spent the last 2 nights on the road – first night in Lethbridge and second night in Bozeman, Montana.

Yellowstone won me over in a matter of minutes – we pulled into the campground and there were only 2 people camping here.   We got stuck briefly pulling our trailer into the site we had chosen – but we were able to get out quite quickly by chaining up.

We hiked the boardwalk and checked out the Mammoth Hot Spring terraces with their amazing colors, formations and intensity.  

  

We decided to go for a drive to get our bearings and to find some of the ski trail heads – it was only a matter of minutes from leaving the little town site that we were chased down by a herd of buffalo – which was very cool – this happened twice within about 10 miles.  It was an incredible sight to watch these giant buffalo take off and kick snow into the air.

Next – we asked about being able to get into one of the nearby hot springs at the Visitor Centre and the friendly guy working at the front desk gave us a slip of paper with specific instructions.  He warned us it was not easy to get into the hot springs and we should probably wear something on our feet.  We thanked him and quickly went on our way in search of these hot springs – we had visited many hot springs before – but nothing had prepared us for this adventure –we found the parking lot easy enough – there was a bit of a hike into the hot springs area – so away we went with our bathing suits and towels and  as you can imagine it was tricky to get out of all your winter clothes while standing outside by trying  to wrap your towel around you gracefully as you changed into your suit – the ground was very cold and it didn’t take long for your toes to cramp up, but that was nothing compared to the cold we encountered as we had to wade into the freezing river and try to make our way to the stream of hot water that bubbles up and spills into the river – the rocks were very slippery (hence the advice for something to wear on your feet-which we ignored)  and the water was so cold that you actually felt like it was burning your legs.  When we got to where the hot met up with the cold – your mind couldn’t decide if you wanted to stand in the freezing cold water or the scolding hot water and we kind of did a little dance from one foot to the other until we made our way down the river to find the magical spot where the mixture of hot and cold was just right.  I have to say it was worth all the effort and it was little easier to crab walk out of there.

As we were making our way back to the parking lot we passed several deer – some even pausing for a moment to drink from the river.  I wasn’t ready for the ginormous buffalo that we had to get passed to get back to our van – for some strange reason the only thing I could think about was don’t look it in the eye – how ridiculous is that – I feel as though I am in a strange world –   I feel as though I am in their home and they have just invited us in briefly to share space with them.. it is absolutely incredible.

There are several elk, buffalo and deer just hanging out in our campground – just laying down or grazing.  It gives a girl something to think about while finding her way to the outhouse at night.

I decided at the end of the day that I would really enjoy a hot shower, so we headed up to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and asked at the front desk if I could pay for a shower and the staff was very accommodating and showed us to 2 private showers and only charged us $3.50 each.

If Yellowstone in Winter is not on your bucket list it should be – wow!

*Thank you to Erica & Alex for their thoughtful gift - the National Park Pass – we will put it to good use.