Jeffcoat Art Blog: hot springs

After our trip to Lamar Valley, we stopped off at the Artist Paint Pots (located between Norris and Madison campground). It was one of those stops we had been meaning to make because we had absolutely no idea what a "paint pot" was. A short hike into the area showed us a small collection of hot springs, mudpots and geysers. The hike itself is about 1 mile along a boardwalk (with no incline!). It was a really enjoyable walk all in all. Here are some photos:

Trailhead at Artist Paint Pots

About 10 minutes later

Small Geyser at Artist Paint Pots

The mudpots were pretty cool because it looked like a giant puddle of milk. The smell wasn't quite as bad as Old Faithful Geyser, but there was still some stink. Despite that, I was glad that we had decided to stop at the last minute and see this area.

End of hike at Artist Paint Pots

Driving back to Madison Campground

Later that evening, my friend Patience and I walked down to the Madison River and watched our first full moon in Yellowstone. I set up my tripod and took a good number of photos before I hit the right shutter speed and got this one.

Full Moon at Madison River

Wednesday was definitely a beautiful day and evening! Although we didn't get to see any wolves in Lamar Valley, we saw plenty of buffalo to make up for it. The coyote was icing on the cake and we finally got to see the Artist Paint Pots and settled the much-argued bet that it wasn't just a bunch of artists painting pots...although that would have been fun too :)

Thursday is Grand Canyon day so don't go too far!

So, Yellowstone! Finally! On our last day of driving, we woke up early, drove through Bighorn (previous blog) and made it into Yellowstone at last.

The entrance fee was only $25 for a little over a week. Not a bad deal. Once we were inside the park it was even harder not to drive off the road because the scenery takes your breath away. I, unfortunately, didn't take many photos leading into the park because we were just ready to get to the campsite.

We came in through the eastern entrance and drove around Yellowstone Lake (huge!) up to Canyon Village to Norris then to our campground, Madison. All in all, it was about 69 miles from the east entrance to our campground. Driving at 45 miles per hour, and that's only when you're not having to stop behind a line of cars that saw a buffalo and forgot what a pullout was for, it took a solid 1 1/2 hours to get to the campground. At that point we were definitely ready for some R&R topped with an ice cold beer.

Joining us for that ice cold beer was George, our very own Yellowstone prairie dog. Later his friends, John, Ringo and Paul would join the party.

These guys were social butterflies especially when the food came out. There were tiny holes in the ground all over the campsite that they ran through and, if you sat really still, they would walk right up to your feet. I wasn't expecting them to be quite so friendly. One of them came up right by my feet and when I lifted my legs up he acted like he was about to jump onto my leg! Cute, but a little too close for comfort. Every now and then, we would catch one that was brave enough to jump onto our picnic table and make it to our lunch. We definitely received a warm welcome to Yellowstone :)

The second day in Yellowstone, we set out for the Old Faithful Geyser Basin about 16 miles south of our campground. Can I say, "WOW," again? We walked from Old Faithful Geyser and made about a 5 mile loop around the geyser basin. The colors were just amazing, the smell not so much.

Here's a map of the trail we took. Starting at the bottom right with Old Faithful and then veering towards the right and walking #6 to #17 Morning Glory Pool then back down to #4 that led to beginning of trail. I got sprayed a couple of times, but I guess you can't really say you've been to Yellowstone without getting sprayed by a geyser. The walk itself was beautiful and very sunny. We looked like tomatoes over the next couple of days. If you're planning on walking this trail just make sure you bring more water then you think you'll need because you will need it. It's not a difficult trek but you will be guzzling H2O.

I'll stop talking now and show some photos :)