Yellowstone South Loop - 8 August 2012

Between the Park entrance and the loop road we saw two Golden Eagles down by the river, Even at that distance we could appreciate what huge birds these are. As we left the Park late in the afternoon,they were still there, still creating a traffic jam.

Heading south from Madison we took the Firehole Canyon Drive up beside the Firehole River, presumably along what used to be the main road. There were some attractive falls along the way to catch our attention and then it was on to the Lower Geyser Basin where the Clepsydra Geyser obliged with a display, not surprising as it is a fairly constant performer.

The Firehole Lake Drive is next, where the White Dome geyser played just as we arrived. Back on the main route our next stop was Midway Geyser Basin where one of the Yellowstone .jewels is to be found; the Grand Prismatic Spring. The colours here are quite stunning, just as well digital cameras have been invented otherwise the film cost would be ruinous!

The Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin provided a few more geothermal delights before we headed East to re-visit West Thumb in the sunshine rather than the rain we had on our last visit.

Passing Lake Village we entered the only section of the park roads that we had not covered and stopped at Mud Volcano where the star of the show was a lone buffalo right beside the road, less than two metres from the car, and it was possibly the same bison that came wandering up through the geothermal field that we were looking at later, nonchalantly crossing the boardwalk as it meandered off into the pines.

All the excitement at seeing a lone bison close-up pailed rather a few bends further on when there was an enormous traffic jam caused by bison crossing the road. There were hundreds in the valley as well providing a terrific spectacle for the hundreds of snapping cameras, smartphones, iPads and so forth. Eventually a Park Ranger had to arrive, lights flashing, to get the traffic moving again.

148 miles today, total trip 4250. States: Wyoming; Montana