Tues. 8/12 - Day 7

We were late risers on Tuesday morning. Travis made pancakes and I cleaned...a challenge in bear country. Having to haul all the dishes to an approved washing station, then back to the camp - I guess I can deal, considering there was a moose carcus in the camp next to us (scary). Off for a 3 mile morning hike up to Natural Bridge. The trail starts at the marina (Yellowstone lake is the largest lake above 7000 feet - it's really very big) then out along a meadow and woods to a steep switchback leading up to the natural rock formation (pictures to follow). My new Keen's held up great - no blisters! Trav wants a pair now, his hiking boots were too heavy for such a hot day. After our return trip from the bridge we rested a bit at the marina then back in the truck for a ride out to Old Faithful and the Fountain Paint Pots. Before our ride out to the geyser, we stopped at West Thumb basin for some GEOTHERMAL activity! This is a series of (large & small) springs/pools of (warm & boiling) water. All are naturally fed from deep below the earth and make their way back to Yellowstone lake. As the steam rises above the pools the wind blows and you get a steam shower (much needed for us, as we're now 4 days without a shower). The drive out to Old Faithful took a while - we crossed the Great Divide 4 times along the trip to and from (pictures to follow). Old Faithful was pretty great. You wouldn't think a bunch of water shooting in the air could be so cool - but it is. We walked a 3 mile loop to see additional geysers, boiling pools of water and mud. Also stopped to see the Old Faithful Inn, which is the oldest log structure in the park. Back on the road, we headed out to the Painted Pots. This park is like another planet - large crusted areas of land with boiling mud pools and brightly colored water pools. Everything was steaming or boiling in this park, including Jelly Geyser (pictures to follow). After a long day of sight seeing we decided to head to the showers. Along the way I made the claim that there were no wild animals in the park. At this point, our wildlife sightings included Yellowbelly Marmots, an impression of a bear paw in one of the mud geysers and a squished gummy bear. So, as we made our way up to a campground with showers, it was a great surprise to see a heard of wild BISON along the side of the road...and in the road...and even a baby bison nursing on a mommy bison! (Pictures to follow). It was amazing to be driving down the road and hit a line of stopped cars, only to discover these giant animals grazing - WOW, what a sight! The bison sighting made our showers even more rewarding - and we both claimed they were the best showers we've ever taken (Trav's longest stretch w/out a shower is 8 days, mine is 5 - needless to say, we enjoyed this shower). Back to camp for a late dinner and early to bed...saw a huge deer (5 points) in our campground (fuzzy picture to follow). Tomorrow's plan: out to the east side of the park.