Yellowstone National Park, West Entrance

Feeling a bit adventurous, and having a day to play with, we headed north on US 20 toward the West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park on Thursday, July 9th. It's a little under a hundred miles to the West Entrance, but the terrain gradually changes from rolling farmland to Lodgepole Pine covered mountains. It's a nice leisurely drive and the traffic wasn't too bad. but it's not the weekend.

We had planned to cruise around the small town of West Yellowstone, and perhaps take a walk on the main street, but after seeing yet another hundred or so T-Shirt shops, restaurants that didn't seem to be able to manage social distancing, and a thousand or so tourists crowding the sidewalk, we decided against it and drove on east into the park.

In Yellowstone's heart beats a supervolcano that last erupted 631,000 years ago. When the excitement subsided, the collapsed caldera measured 30 by 45 miles. That is roughly the area of Yellowstone Park today. The heat that powered that ancient eruption still fuels the parks geysers, fumaroles, hot springs and mud pots. At the West Entrance, we immediately left Idaho and crossed into Montana where we stopped  along the Madison River to admire the view (and try to find some bears).

After a picnic lunch and a stroll with the dogs, we continued east. We soon found ourselves following the Gibbon River (don't know what happened to the Madison!), and pulled into the parking lot near the Artists Paintpots. Unfortunately, large crowds, minimal parking, and a hot day prevented us from taking the trail to the mud pots. There was absolutely no way to social distance, and face masks wee few and far between. Our mistake to think that the crowds would be smaller this year.

Realizing that dinner was in the crock pot and the shadows were getting a bit long, we u-turned and headed toward home. On the way, we stopped at Beryl Spring because there was no one there. Of course, as soon as we stopped, eight more carloads of people stopped! Nonetheless, the spring was impressive, and gave us a sense of the fire that is chuckling to itself under our feet.

Beryl Springs is so named because in the right light the 190 degree water resembles the blue-green gemstone. It is one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone.

Somewhere in here we had gone into Wyoming, so it became a three-state day! Another nice, relaxing day that ended with Mississippi Pot Roast, mashed potatoes, and salad!