Day 13- Northern Yellowstone-Mammoth Hot Springs

“Life is not about the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away!” We have had several such moments today. Woke up early (as usual) to a chilly 34 degrees. When we left camp 2 ½ hours later at 8:45, it had warmed up to a whopping 36 degrees! Warm clothes today!
We drove the north circle of Yellowstone today hoping to see some game. I got excited to spot some Elk high on a hill, too far away for pictures but fun to watch through the binoculars. Made a side trip to see a petrified tree. It stands on a hill side. It was covered in ash 50 million years ago by volcanic action. When the trees were discovered in 1917, there were 3 trees, but only 1 remains today from tourists taking home “souvenirs” of the other two. Now the tree is fenced in. Further up the road we took another side trip called the Blacktail Plateau Rd. You are supposed to see lots of game on this 6 mile dirt road…none.
On down the road a bit more with no game sightings we came to Mammoth Hot Springs. Nice hotel here. There are several “villages” throughout the park some with lodges, grocery stores, gas stations, souvenir shops, and/or restrooms which makes it very convenient. Mammoth is larger than most villages, and we think that the dorms for the employees are here. Teens and even older folks (my age!) come work here for the “season”. We met people working here from Florida, Missouri, China, Taiwan, New York, Alabama, and more…sounds like a fun thing to do if you are “footloose and fancy free!” The hot springs here at Mammoth are beautiful, different than the ones around Old Faithful. These hot pools are active in limestone and build up sometimes 1 foot a year! They are mostly a brilliant white, with terraced ledges and puffy marshmallow looking rocks. The micro organisms live here too, and make ridges along the rock that make beautiful patterns like sand blowing on a desert.
We drove through a pass that is called Golden Bridge. At one time the bridge along the cliff circling the mountain was a wooden trestle bridge built in 1875 “ish” to allow people to get from Mammoth to the Yellowstone Plateau – where all the game is supposed to be. Thank goodness now it is a strong sturdy steel bridge!
Finally we saw a buck Elk, close enough for photos. Beautiful, huge, rack—Phil is still drooling. Made a restroom stop down the road and as I walked out there was a female in the woods, 25 feet away! Then our animal highlight comes along! The traffic was backing up, tail lights flashing and a huge crowd gathering. We asked a bystander what was happening, and she told us (in a strong British accent!) that a buffalo was in the road (AGAIN!) and they were also watching a grey wolf. WOLF? We pulled over quick, spotted the wolf and watched him until he disappeared over the bluff going down to the river. We left and pulled over up the road where we could see the other side of the river. Sure enough, here he came, swimming across! We watched him for a long time stalking prey—sometimes catching it and sometimes not. Then…here came another wolf, swimming across the river, following the same path as the first and then…yes! A third followed! We probably watched wolves for 1 hour. Very exciting. Have any of you ever seen a wolf in the wild?
Tomorrow we are driving down to the south entrance of Yellowstone and into the Tetons. Hope the old truck transmission holds out!
That is the news for today from the McCamper….where the women are going stir crazy with no phone or wifi, the men are watching “Planet Earth” (thanks Mom!), and the way above average children and grandchildren are being missed by their momma!