Pictures from this part of the trip can be found in the Yellowstone gallery. There is also a set of videos taken at Yellowstone.
The first item of business for the morning was to get hooked up and then dump. We would have preferred to hook up the night before, but that wasn't possible with the side-by-side arrangement in the campsite. Hooking up went fine until we realized that the Andersen weight-distributing hitch (WDH) wasn't lined up properly — probably because we originally had to disconnect with the truck turned at about 45 degrees to the trailer. Ugh. So, we left the WDH off and headed to the dump station for our scheduled appointment. (Gros Ventre has limited dump capacity and so we had to reserve a slot.)
When we got there, we had our next excitement, which was that the greywater tank did not really want to drain. It turned out that there was slush in the pipe, and once that cleared, it was ok. There was no water available at the dump station because the valve had frozen overnight and broken, but we didn't want any.
After dumping, we headed to the big parking lot by the campground amphitheater and spent the next half hour in the cold drizzle figuring out how to adjust the WDH so it was aligned properly. Between the dump and the WDH, we left the camground about an hour later than expected, around 9:00am, and headed directly north to Yellowstone.
We again saw lots of snow on the high-altitude pass, and it was colder than expected — both Lewis Lake and Yellowstone Lake were still mostly frozen. After going over the pass, we stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin and ate lunch in the trailer before wandering around. We got to see bison plus an elk mama and calf. On the way north from West Thumb, we got stuck for over half an hour as the park rangers and a tow company cleared a rollover accident on the highway. We had seen these people off and on throughout the morning at various rest areas. They seemed to be ok, but their brand new Jeep definitely was not.
We got to Madison Campground around 2:00pm. Since it was sunny and fairly warm (mid-50s) we decided to take the opportunity to winterize the trailer and prepare for the forecast overnight temparatures in the low 20s. After getting slush in the greywater tank in Grand Teton, we didn't want to take chances with damaging the water systems with even lower temperatures. We drained the freshwater tank, blew out all of the lines, and prepared to dry camp for at least the next few days.
After that was all done, we looked at the arrangement of the trailer and decided to fix things so that we were stepping out the door onto pavement instead of onto grass that might get muddy. So we hooked it all back up again and moved it. (That turned out to be a really good decision, given that the snow started about 10 minutes later and we got rain or snow at least once a day for the rest of our time at Madison.)
On our walk around the campground in the evening, we discovered that there were two other Casitas in the same loop as us. We chatted with one of the owners (from Idaho) and it turned out that the other one was his brother from the Carolinas, who was on his way to Alaska later in the summer. He advised that he had had no issues using the water in to the 10s at night by leaving the cabinets open and heater on, but then we realized that he would use the freshwater and not the drains or toilet.
For the rest of our time in Yellowstone, the weather drove most of our decisions about what to do. Snow was forecast for Sunday afternoon, so we decided to head down to the Old Faithful area and get in as much hiking as possible before it started. Before leaving, we heated up some water and put some of our home-made backpacking food into thermoses for lunch. We had made that backpacking food for our planned 2020 trip, then vacuum-packed it and put it in the freezer.
It was cold but still sunny by the time we made it to the Upper Geyser Basin around 8:30am, and we spent the next 4 hours or so walking around the area. We walked all of the way through Biscuit Basin, and then back toward Punch Bowl Spring and Black Sand Pool. We saw several minor geyser eruptions during the walk. When we made it to Black Sand Basin, there was a sign on the other side saying that the trail (that is, the trail we had already hiked) was closed due to bear activity. Much of Yellowstone (especially the wilderness areas) is in a Bear Management Area, and the backcountry areas tend to be closed in the early season to reduce bear-people interactions. Since we had no idea how else to get back to our truck at Old Faithful, we quickly retraced our steps back to the more-traveled Upper Geyser area. By this time it was snowing lightly.
Back at the Old Faithful visitor center area, we had hard time figuring out where we had left the truck, but we eventually found it and sat down to eat our hot lunch inside and out of the wind and snow. Then, we wandered over to Old Faithful itself, and heard people saying that the geyser was expected to erupt at around 1:20pm. We realized then that we had about 30 minutes to make it up to Observation Point to see the eruption, and we decided to chance it. The other option was to wait 30 minutes, in the cold, with the hundreds of other people who wanted to see it. In the end, we hustled fast enough and got up there with plenty of time to spare, even though the geyser erupted about 10 minutes early, and we shared the observation point with only a few other people. After the eruption, we headed back down and looked around the Old Faithful Inn and the visitor center.
As we were leaving the visitor center, snow (actually graupel) started to come down heavily and then it started thundering. By the time we got to the truck a few minutes later, we had almost 1/2" piled up on the tonneau cover. Leery of the tourists who likely did not know how to drive in snow, we decided to leave Old Faithful and head south to the Kepler Cascades. The road was slick. A Honda Ridgeline towing a trailer got stuck on a hill, and then a minivan full of tourists (apparently from somewhere without snow) got stuck behind them, and the passengers in the minivan were pushing it up the hill. By the time we left the cascades and turned back north, the trailer was gone.
Our next stop was Black Sand Basin (where we had turned around due to the bear warning), but by this point the snow was coming down sideways and we couldn't see anything. So, we gave up and headed back toward the campground in full-on blizzard conditions. It took a solid hour to get back, and then it snowed for a good two hours after that, so it wasn't just a brief storm. However, by later in the evening, the storm had rolled through and most of the snow had melted (although we got more overnight).
Our plan for Monday was to visit the Lamar Valley. Due to road closures, the only way there was through Mammoth Hot Springs, so we headed north. In Mammoth, we got gas and used the bathroom at the Sinclair station, and then continued north. (At the gas station, the driver of a huge construction truck pulled in and cheerfully announced "Hey, anyone wanna trade fuel bills?") Unfortunately, we missed the right turn for the Lamar Valley and headed out toward the North Entrance instead. At least we realized this while stopped in construction traffic and managed to turn around without going too far out of the way.
Once we found the correct turn, a traffic jam started almost immediately. As we crept across the bridge, one root cause became apparent — there was a herd of bison that wanted to use the bridge. They crossed the road right in front of us and trotted down the opposing lane. After that, we stopped moving completely. About 10 minutes later, two park ranger squad cars came screaming by with sirens. We thought it was an accident, but apparently it was just idiots sitting in the middle of the road taking pictures of a different bison herd. The rangers cleared the block and we started moving again.
Our first stop was the Wraith Falls pull-off, where we took a short hike. These falls are odd — more like a really wide river flowing downhill than an actual waterfall. Then we drove on and ate our lunch at the Yellowstone River Picnic area, which is a cute little pull-off that looks straight out of the 1950s. When we got to the Lamar Valley, we totally understood why it's sometimes called the American Serengeti — it's big and open and there are anmials everywhere. On our drive to and from Tower Fall and the Northeast Entrance, we saw grizzly and black bears, bison, elk, antelope, moose, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and even a fox.
On the drive back, we stopped at Hellroaring Creek and hiked for a few hours. Along the way, other hikers pointed out a mama black bear and two cubs (one cinnamon colored) far away amongst the trees. Among the people we met on the trail, all but 2 were excited to see bears and/or disappointed not to see bears, and none of those people were bothering to carry bear spray. Sigh.
Back at Madison Campground, we really needed to recharge the Casita battery, so Ken broke out the generator while Julie cooked dinner. Then, after dinner, we decided to de-winterize the trailer. The forecast was for 30 degrees that night (warm enough that the pipes wouldn't freeze), and the ranger had told Julie that the forecast was actually for West Yellowstone 14 miles to the west, and that Madison Campground was consistently warmer than the forecast. Our main motivation was a shower. We had talked with the rangers, and there is no good place to shower in the park in May. So, we decided it was now likely to be warm enough, and we refilled the freshwater tank 4 gallons at a time with our jug. Then, we both showered and got clean for the first time in too long.
Tuesday was another iffy weather day, so we headed north to Mammoth Hot Springs with hot lunches in our thermos (this time, tuna corn chowder) and a plan to either hike in the morning and do indoor stuff in the afternoon, or vice-versa. We stopped at Rustic Falls and Golden Gate on the way north, and arrived at Mammoth around 9:00am.
Since the weather was decent, we used the bathroom and then put on our hiking boots and packs and headed up the Beaver Ponds Trail for about 4 hours of hiking. Again, we got very lucky with the weather, and it was mostly a beautiful morning for a hike, with only a little intermittent drizzle. We saw some great views and a big herd of elk.
Back at the truck, we used the bathroom, then switched shoes and ate our lunch. Then we left the truck parked where it was (across from the Sinclair) and just walked to everything else in the Mammoth area. We visited the hot springs first. The active hot springs were quite pretty with all of the different colors and travertine rock layers, but the dormant ones were less exciting. We went to the visitor center, where Julie was able to use the park's only Wi-Fi signal and update the forecast on her phone, then wandered around the old buildings constructed by the army in Yellowstone's early days. On the way back to the truck, we grabbed some good ice cream at one of the shops. Then, on our drive back south, we did the Mammoth Terrace Drive (pretty) and stopped at Obsidian Cliff and Beryl Spring.
After dinner, we got a surprise. It was finally warm and dry enough in the evening to do something other than just a quick walk around our loop of the campground. So, we headed down to the Madison river, and found an entire herd of bison! We watched for a while, and then went back to the trailer so Julie could get the camera. By the time she returned, some of the bison had started wandering into the campground. That certainly would have been a surprise if it had been our tent they were wandering around.
The weather looked better on Wednesday, so we decided to head to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and visit some of the other things in the area. We parked at the Uncle Tom's parking lot near the falls, and hiked toward Point Sublime. It was not far above freezing when we started, and the snowy trails that had partially melted the previous day were a sheet of ice. Hills would have been near-impossible without the hiking poles and their sharp tips. Toward the beginning, we met some really confused people who were totally unprepared for the snow and regretted not bringing their own hiking poles. We realized later that they had started at a different parking area, where the trail was both paved and dry.
The trail and the views were beautiful, but the further we got toward Point Sublime, the wetter and/or snowier the trail got. Toward the end, it wasn't even clear that we were on the trail — and it didn't help that the signage for the distances was off by about 30%. It was another tough hike, but the view was worth it. We almost gave up near the end, until we ran into two women resting on a snowbank under a tree. It turned out that they had balked at the increasingly deep snow and their menfolk had just left them under the tree with some bear spray and continued on. We found the men (a dad and two sons) at Point Sublime, where they were definitely in no rush to get back to the women. It was kind of odd. As we walked back out from the point, the topic of conversation with everyone we met was about the inaccurate sign and how much further it might be. We told them all to look for the women under the tree, and it was 10 minutes beyond that.
After finishing up the hike, we ate lunch in the truck and then intended to hike the other direction on the trail. We somehow missed a turn (or an entrance) and eventually just gave up on it. We got back in the truck and drove toward Fishing Bridge, stopping at the Mud Volcano area along the way. This was one of Ken's favorite sites in the entire park. He was totally fascinated by the process that produced the mud — the geothermal features emit hydrogen sulfide gas which thermophilic bacteria convert to sulfuric acid which breaks down rock into clay.
We went over the Fishing Bridge and would have liked to see the RV park, but it wasn't open yet for the season. We briefly stopped at Pelican Creek then turned around. We drove past the Lake Village entrance where Julie's family stayed at a cabin in 1986, but that wasn't open yet either. We had intended to hike the Natural Bridge trail next to the Bridge Bay campground, but that was closed due to bear activity. Bridge Bay campground is really convenient for anglers, but overall we were happy to be at Madison instead. The marina wasn't open yet due to ice. We went retraced our steps, visiting LeHardy Rapids, Sulfur Caldron, and Canyons Village on the way back to Madison. LeHardy Rapids (of the Yellowstone River) was a haven for birdwatching — there were at least 10 people there with large telephotos looking at the birds in the water. We also saw birdwatchers in the Hayden Valley, although we didn't stop after spending an earlier day in the Lamar Valley. Back at the campsite, we had to run the generator again, so like the last time, Ken got that started while Julie worked on dinner.
Thursday was our last full day in the park, so we wanted to make sure to hit both the Midway Geyser Basin and Norris Geyser Basin. Our original plan was to visit Midway Geyser Basin the first day after Old Faithful, but we were thwarted by the thundersnow-caused blizzard. Our guidebook had warned us that parking could be crowded at Midway Geyser Basin, so we headed there first. We visited the Midway Geyser Basin (including the gorgeous Prismatic Spring) in the morning, and also did Firehole Canyon Drive. However, it was clear that Memorial Day traffic had made its way into the park, and the roads and pull-offs were starting to feel crowded. So, instead of staying in the park, we did a reverse commute and left through the West Entrance.
In West Yellowstone, we drove around a little and then got lunch at a place called Firehole BBQ, which was great. Then we headed out of town to do a driving tour of a National Forest Service area called Earthquake Lake Geologic Area. In 1959, there was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake centered under Hebgen Lake about 20 miles outside of Yellowstone. The quake caused massive disruptions to the thermal features in Yellowstone, but it also caused a huge landslide similar to the Gros Ventre Slide that we saw near Grand Teton. The entire side of a mountain slid into the valley below. It happened on a Friday night around 11:30pm, valley was full of campers in National Forest campgrounds. Close to 30 people were killed, and hundreds were stranded in the area for days. They had learned the lesson of the Gros Ventre slide, and the Army Corps of Engineers quickly cut a channel through the slide area to prevent the a catastrophic flood. The interpretive exhibits were really well done, including first-person stories of people who had lived through the slide, and we enjoyed the vistor center. The visitor center wasn't officially open until the next day, but when we pulled on the door, it was open, so we went in and chatted with the rangers.
After finishing up at the visitor center, we made a loop and took MT/ID-87 and US-20 back to West Yellowstone, tanked up the truck, and headed back in the West Entrance. The scariest moment of the drive was an idiot in a black Jeep Wrangler who crossed the center line close in front of the truck, for no good reason. Fortunately, he went back into his lane just in time. In contrast to what the entrance looked like on our way out, we didn't wait in line at all. Once back in the park, we stopped at the campsite for a snack, and then spent a few hours in the Norris Geyser Basin, Gibbon Falls, and the Artists' Paintpots areas before heading back to Madison for dinner. After dinner, we took one final walk down to the river to visit with the bison.