Neighbors at the campground, fellow GAH Spring Adventurers, had warned us against hooking up 'city water' (an RV term) at Fishing Bridge since the park folks said pressure was very high. Not wanting to blow out the plumbing, we used stored water over night, then filled the tank in the morning. I suspect the rig does have a pressure regulator, but we erred on the side of caution not wanting to read through all the manuals at this time of night.
We awoke to cool temperatures. The furnace works well, and we're grateful it responds quickly to a boost in the thermostat setting when we crawl out from the covers in the morning.
We don't have a handy thermometer to check outside temperatures. Just log it as sweatshirt for Ginnie, long sleeve tee for me (sweatshirt would have been a better choice). We are at altitude ~7700 feet, and there is snow all around us, so cool temps shouldn't be a surprise.
Today is planned to be low mileage, only ~200 miles, with time to enjoy some of Yellowstone, although not doing it justice. Many of the roads in the park are closed because of the early season, and we were told it would take days to see it all from the highways.
Warning - lots of pictures. Click on any to see larger mages. Great touring.
Our campsite. Neighbors are close, but at least there are trees between sites which are arranged in loops in the midst of forest.
We saw lots of burned forest from recent fires.
It all regenerates. The lodgepole pine seeds are only released from the cones after being in high heat, so we learned.
Yellowstone Lake.
Next stop - West Thumb Geyser Basin.
Elk - perhaps pregnant moms. A sign we saw later in the day said they would likely calve in June.
We were warned about cranky calving Elks in Whistler Campground at Jasper, AB two days later. While that is farther north, it is lower in elevation so the birthing season may be earlier. We gave them lots of room in all locations.
Elk graze where humans dare not tred, at least not if they read the signs.
We lost count of how many times we crossed continental divides. This was the first one.
Inside the Old Faithful visitors' center. There were so many buildings and parking lots around the geyser that I had to ask an employee which way to head. Old Faithful is percolating outside the big window.
The signboard in the foreground gave the predicted time for next eruption, +/- 10 minutes. I think they nailed this one.
Many of us lined up on benches to wait.
We had seen geysers in Iceland, including the original Geysir (geyser being derived from the Icelandic word), now dormant.
We were expecting a short, quick, blast based on that experience (having forgotten that Strokkur, the main geyser we watched in Iceland, was erupting every 4-5 minutes vs the more laid back Old Faithful), but O.F. erupted for many minutes. You won't miss it if you blink.
Down the road a bit. We stopped here for lunch.
We had just passed a sign warning of bison on road when we encountered this wildlife traffic jam. Dozens of bison were meandering across and down the road. We just shut off the engine, and watched the herd meander, shooting pictures and videos.
The road to Mammoth Hot Springs was interesting. Some parts narrow with rocks on the edges, other parts narrow with a steep drop-off rather than shoulder. It led to a lot of clenched hands on the wheel and certainly kept me awake. To drop a wheel off the road would have been disaster.
Notice the lack of shoulder to the right of the white fog line below.
We found our way to a Montana State Campground at the Headwaters of the Missouri. There were no other campers when we arrived. The host said we could have any site except one that was reserved. As the evening progressed, we ended up with ~10 sites occupied out of 20. It was quiet, to say the least.
The weather had been questionable, but we managed to grill meat and veggies outside while Ginnie works magic with the oven.
The stove had 3 burners and an oven. The refrigerator and freezer were excellent, having more room than we needed for a party of two.
Today's miles 207, total 1300.
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