We breezed through customs this time as we crossed into Montana. We returned to Shelby and stayed once more at the Trails West RV Park behind the Best Western. I did a few loads of laundry in their nice laundry area. It is warmer now that we have moved a bit south.
We left the next morning to keep moving south through Montana. Stopping in Helena to pick up the prescriptions for Doug that his electrophysiologist, Dr Magnano from Jacksonville called in: an antiarrythymic, Propafenone and blood thinner, Eliquis. These meds are to be used only if Doug has another episode of A-Fib that doesn't readily & quickly convert. We stayed the night @ Three Forks KOA. This campground is a small one with trees & clean, older bathrooms. The weather continues to warm up & got into the lower 80's.
The next day, we stopped at the REI store in Bozeman, MT, always a fun event. Yellowstone Edge is one of the campgrounds we stayed in 2 years ago and we started our tour of Yellowstone here again this year. It is a very nice campground & our site sat along the shoreline of the Yellowstone River. We regrouped here for 2 nights.
Yellowstone NP is located in Wyoming and Doug had been able to get us reservations to stay right in the National Park Campgrounds. Our first stop once entering the NP was the Main Visitors Center adjacent to the Mineral Springs. We had spent time here 2 years ago, so this was just a quick stop for some brochures & getting questions answered.
Our first new stop in the park was Norris Geyser Basin. Norris is one of the hottest & most acidic of Yellowstone's hydrothermal areas. It is a very active earthquake area. Many hot springs & fumaroles here have temperatures above the boiling points of 200 degrees F. We walked both the boardwalks and watched Arsenic & Vixen erupt and Steamboat had a minor eruption. Steamboat is the tallest active geyser in the world. Each year new hot springs & geysers appear. Some of the springs are a pretty blue. Many of the colors are evidence of thermophiles (heat loving organisms). The milky blue color is silica, the primary component of glass. Yellowstone has more than 10,000 hydrothermal features.
We picnicked in Gibbons Meadow along the Gibbons River. Then we walked along the river to Gibbons Falls.
Madison Campground, Loop B, is where we camped for our first two nights in the NP. This campground has no services except flush toilets, which were close to us. Our first night there, we walked to the amphitheater to sit by & tend a campfire & learn about Beavers.
We packed up from Madison Campground and stopped at one of the few bike trails in the park: Fountain Flat Drive. The 8 mile trail crossed over the Firehole River where we stopped & checked out a hot boiling spring that was draining into the river. Next, while I was focusing on the pretty Goose lake, I failed to notice the big Bison that was running toward me along the bike trail. He definitely saw me before I saw him. He swerved away from me quickly.
The large Grand Prismatic Spring was beautiful with many colors & many tourists. The overlook for the spring was a hike up onto a higher elevation. Grand Prismatic is larger than a football field at 370 feet across & deeper than a 10 story building at 125 feet.
We locked our bikes @ the head of the Fairy Falls Trail then hiked 2.5 miles to the stunning Fairy Falls. This area, the Midway Geyser Basin was very busy with tourists. It was impossible to get pics @ the Falls without people. The weather was great, it even got quite warm.
