Yellowstone Smells Like Hard-boiled Eggs

Thankfully its a short drive from the Tetons to Yellowstone. It was only about an hour drive. As soon as we got into Yellowstone we could tell that this park was a much more popular tourist attraction than the others yet it is the only one that has no WiFi. Thats why are posts are a few days behind. The first stop we made in Yellowstone was our campsite, at Grant Village. Yellowstone started closing campgrounds for the winter last weekend so our choices were limited. Grant Village was at the south end of the park so a drive to any attraction in the park was at least 20 miles. The park is 1/4th the size of Ohio so getting anywhere takes time. Naturally, the first sight to see was Old Faithful. As we waited to watch the geyser, a crowd of a few thousand people gathered to watch. It goes off about every 90 minutes but there was still a huge crowd every time. The point of our trip was to see some of the most secluded places in the country but you cant go to Yellowstone and not see Old Faithful.

After Old Faithful we took a walk around a wood plank trail to check out the rest of the geyser basin. Some of the other thermal features on this walk were Morning Glory, Chromatic Pool, Giant geyser and many, many others.

Morning Glory was looking a little drab when we saw it. They say people throw coins and stuff in it which clogs the spring, and cools the temperature which allows the bacteria to grow and changes the color from a brilliant blue to the brownish color in the picture.

We saw most of the thermal features of the park on the first day and we could feel the weather changing as the day went on. The wind grew stronger and colder and by 6PM it was snowing! We were prepared for chilly weather but not quite snow. We contemplated sleeping in the car

instead of the tent since the whole back of the tent is mesh. With the rain-fly on it (kind of)

blocked the wind and we were able to blow up the air mattress so we opted for the tent. When we woke up the tent was covered in snow and stiff from frost. We slept in sweatpants and jackets, Sarah had 2 sleeping bags and a blanket. We survived but anything not covered by the sleeping bags was awfully cold. We also ran out of batteries so we couldn't take pictures of the

frost.

Here is a picture of Grand Prismatic Pool. It was so windy and cold that the steam covered everything. If you google it you will probably recognize the aerial view of it. Its one of the most colorful pools in the park.

These two pools are sunset lake and sapphire pool, also very colorful. The water is absolutely crystal clear. There are so many of these around the park that they all started to look the same and the pictures don't do justice to the color.

I'll post more from Yellowstone later, We're sitting in a Starbucks in Milwaukee and looking for a hotel in Chicago. We'll be home a few days earlier than expected but we're definitely looking forward to a bed.