Yellowstone National Park, MT and WY

Double marshmallow Reese's smore. Mmmmmmm.

Ari and I caravaned from Missoula to Yellowstone in just under four and a half hours. We met at the Northern gate, which she explained was the same gate that the yellowstone wolves passed through after their historic reintroduction to the park in the 1990s. The cold and wet weather I had escaped by driving South from Glacier had caught up to us, so Ari and I stopped at the nearest campsite to set up our tent before the downpour began. By the time we had aquired our camping permits from the rangers, a small drizzle had already began to fall. We swiftly set up camp and started a fire determined to not let a little water ruin our fun. We ate a dinner of ravioli with pesto huddled next to the fire in our rain gear. Luckily the rain subsided by dessert time and we roasted marshmallows for smores. Girlscout Ari brought all kinds of chocolate so we were able to concoct many smores iterations. My favorite was the double marshmallow and Reese's smore.

Steaming hot springs

To our relief, the next morning brought sunshine to chase the clouds away.With the classic camper's breakfast of oatmeal in our bellies Ari and I set out to observe Yellowstone's natural splendor. We went to several sites, including painted pots, where we observed the four hydrothermal features: hot springs, mudpots, geysers and fumaroles. Because the ground underneath these areas can be very thin, boardwalks have been strategically constructed to allow tourists to venture closer to all these features without risking breaking the outer layer of crust and falling into boiling water. As I walked along the boardwalks, the unmistakable odor of sulfur, wafted in and out of my nostrils. This and other dissolved compounds in the hot springs water cause the colorful coatings that can be observed around the hot springs.

Old faithful

From painted pots we drove to old faithful and arrived just in time to run over to the boardwalk and watch him do his thing. After the performance, the entire site was mobbed with a flood of tourists so we continued elsewhere.

Our last stop took us to a site called prismatic hot springs which contained a special hot springs that displayed a literal rainbow of colors. You can see a picture of what it's supposed to look like here: http://somethink.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/grand-prismatic-spring-3.jpg

I was unable to see it's rainbow colors because the hot steam evaporating from its pool was being blown directly into my face, obscuring my view. The dense steamy fog did, however, create a enjoyably haunting atmosphere.

As we drove from Yellowstone to Jackson, WY (Ari's hometown), we were privy to several wildlife spottings including a distant grizzly and some nomadic elk.