Hot Stuff at Yellowstone

So, everybody knows that most of Yellowstone National Park is actually a huge caldera of an active volcano, right? Not active, you say? 

Check out all the thermal stuff going on there, including, of course, Old Faithful.

How big is the volcano, you say? The caldera is approximately 35 MILES in diameter! 

It's last major eruption ejected 240 cubic miles of dust, rock, and lava. That was 640 thousand years ago, so no worries, right? Don't bet on it! Less than 6 years ago a huge bulge in the park rose 8 inches in less than a year. That's how Mt St Helens started. Only this volcano, in a previous eruption, spat out 2500 times what Mt St Helens did! Yeouch! The main observable feature of the volcanic nature is hydrothermal. Hot, dangerous, and beautiful!

This is the Steamboat Geyser, which is irregular, but has sprayed boiling water and steam over 300 feet high.

This is a mud pot, sulphur gas and steam bubbling up through fine clay.

Looks like lava flowing into the river, but actually it is steam and hot water. Don't try to swim there, though.

A huge vertical shaft of cooled magma, the surrounding soil has been eroded away.

These beautiful but deadly hot and acidic pools are called the paint pots.

OK, so I "tweaked" this one a little, but doesn't it look like a tortured face screaming from the stone cliff?

Yellowstone Flora and Fauna

There is so much wildlife in Yellowstone, that I'm doing a special post just on the pictures we took of animals and such in our 3 days here. So, here goes:

 Elk does,

Elk bucks,

 These two seem to be OK sharing the same meadow, but you WON'T see that in a few weeks when the does are in season!

Bison, anyone? 

 This guy was on the road as we were driving. He was patient, let us take his picture, but when he started to turn toward us, I took off. He was about as heavy as our Honda Fit!

Antelope

Black bear and Cinnamon bear,

Grizzly bear (sorry, couldn't get his face!)

Coyote

Garter snake (hey, it counts!)

homo sapiens dudes,

Bighorn Sheep

Pelican (????) meets ducks

and, lastly, Pronghorns.

Not too bad, eh?

Driving the Beartooth Highway, US 212.

OK, so you think you have a powerful RV that can pull the hills, right? Then here is your test! To read about this drive, check out this article in Wikipedia.

The road is a two lane blacktop that runs from Laurel, MT to Gardiner, MT. Altitudes range from about 6000 feet to 10970 feet. Grades run 7% or so. The last part is dipping into Yellowstone National Park. Animals abound. We shared the road with this Bison...

Snow on the peaks, and even along the roadside in places. Our trusty Montaj made it up to the top, pulling the Honda Fit, no problems. Guess that's a preview of our trip to Alaska!

We pulled over to take a snapshot of the snow, and Nancy compared her height to the snow poles marking the highway. They were an easy 10' high...

We stopped at the lookout at Beartooth Pass for the view, and a few snapshots. Chipmunks and ground squirrels were looking for a handout.

By the time we rolled into Yellowstone RV Park just outside the North Entrance, we were ready for a break. Tomorrow, Yellowstone!

FMCA Convention in Gillette, Wyoming

You'd think we'd have more pictures from the convention, but alas, we were WORKING! Had a few chances to visit with our local St Louis RV club, 

the Gateway Getaways, but mostly we were working in the seminars or the booth for Fantasy RV Tours.

The highlight of the convention? The weather! We had a hail storm... Nancy and I were inside working, but our friend Vicki took this picture outside their rig...

After the hail, we had a big rainstorm, and since our coach (and the other vendors) were parked in a field, we got stuck. Paul Mitchell helped us get out by pulling on our hitch with his Jeep, connected by safety cables and a tow rope!

This will give you an idea of the problem... That's our spot after the Montaj was towed out!

Had a successful convention, and added more RVers to our tours! Now, on to Yellowstone via US212, the Beartooth Highway!

Westward Ho, on to Little Bighorn

Visiting the site of Custer's last stand was fascinating. Took a bus tour with a young lady of the Crow tribe who really knew her history, and she pointed out landmarks of the epic battle. the Cheyenne, Sioux, and three other tribes had amassed 8000 into an area two miles long. Custer and his fellow officers totaled a few hundred. Nuff said. The locals were doing a reenactment, and had a junior member in regalia...

We stayed at an RV park called 7th Ranch, just off the highway. They lined the fence posts with bird houses.

Here is one of the visitors

Of course, no trip to South Dakota is complete without a visit to Wall Drug...

And, a ride on a Jackalope. Nancy made a new friend also, up close and personal...

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

If this isn't listed as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, it surely should be! 

Stretching over 800 feet in height, it looks like a huge petrified tree trunk from the Jurassic Period

It's hard to get a perspective on this monster unless you are physically there... there's a walking path around the tower. It's 1.3 miles long! We saw some adventurous folks climbing the tower... look closely

OK, this looks a little scary, right? Check out the view from a wider perspective! Below is the SAME picture, can you find the climber? Scroll back up to locate him, then come back down and you will see him.

If you've seen the movie, you KNOW that this is a special place... but I didn't want the aliens to suck out  my thoughts, so of course I wore my aluminum foil hat...