Exploring WyomingMar 27, 2010
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| We spent some time exploring this wonderful state. We visited several hot springs, and many of the parks. Rae had been looking forward to swimming in the hot springs, so we wen the state bath house and took a dip there. The hot mineral water is supposed to be great for your body and skin. It felt great, but afterward, we smelled like rotten eggs for the rest of the day. We could not have seen more wildlife if we tried. Our list includes: Bison Elk Mule Deer Pronghorn Bighorn Sheep Hawks & Falcons Rabbits Prairie Dogs Coyotes Wolves Most of Yellowstone is closed, but we decided to drive up into the north entrance. This required us to travel through Montana, but since we had a day to spare, we decided it was worth the trip. We entered the park through the Roosevelt Arch. I didn't know that the park was created in 1872. We visited a spring called Boiling River, and were amazed to see people swimming there. It was 14 degrees. We nearly froze to death just walking from the car to the spring. We then stopped in Mammoth Springs and took some photos of the calcium formations there. Rae was amazed at the type of snow. It was dry and flaky, instead of wet and sticky, like it is in the south. She kept picking up handfuls of snow and blowing it around like powder. We then drove to Cooke City, and turned around. On the way back, we stopped at an intersection and parked. One of the rangers at the welcome center recommended this road for wildlife viewing, however, since the road was closed, we had to walk. We packed some sandwiches, drinks and snacks, put on our snowboots, and took off down the road. We walked about 4 miles up this road toward tower falls and had lunch. We were able to view bison right next to the road. I will admit that I felt much safer observing them from the car, but we kept a safe distance. We discovered that they have a very long tongue. I guess they use it for eating, but it was a shock when we saw one lick his face and the tongue was almost a foot long! We found out later that there had been 2 grizzly sightings on that road this week. I'm glad that we didn't see any on foot. We did see some big cat tracks in the snow where we were walking. I can only assume that it as a big cougar, and that made me a little tense to say that least. We then returned to Thermopolis, and spent the night. |
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