Big Cashew Adventure - Day 6

It’s hard to believe that we are into our 6^th day on this world tour of Canada and Alaska, but that is what the math tells me.  Today was like no other.  Sounds like we have a recurring theme, but the theme is not the same.  The difference this day is that it got very cold overnight and we were freezing.  The temp here dropped to 24 degrees.  The hose hooked up to the outside water supply and feeding the tank of the RV, froze and there was frost on the pumpkin.  Now I see why half the park is still closed or still working on getting ready to open.There are 5 main points or areas in the park.  These are The Fishing Bridge, the Canyon, Mammoth Springs, Grant Village and Madison.  Grant Village opens this weekend.  You cannot drive the road there as it is closed and blocked.  The Fishing Bridge area just opened last Friday.  Only the road from the North entrance (Mammoth Springs and the Northeast entrance are open year round.  That is due to the excessing snow fall this park receives.  As I noted yesterday, this park is covered in snow and some of it is pretty deep.  That being said, on with the day’s activities.

We rose early due to the cold making sleep difficult.  I turned up the heater to 75 but it does not spread the hot air very evenly.  I woke up numerous times and had difficulty getting back to sleep.  Chiara had the same issues.  But we got up and out by 8:30.  Our destination was Old Faithful.  Due to the road to Grant Village being closed, we were forced to go the long way which took about 90 minutes.  We arrived around 10:15.  The parking lot was rather empty.  Not what you see in the summer.  We walked up toward the Old Faithful viewing area then turned right to the visitor center.  There we found out that the geyser had erupted just about the time we arrived and the next on was projected for 11:51.  Since we had some time to kill, we were trying to figure out what to do.  There are 5 geysers in the general area you can hike to that have times projected for them to go off.  Some are every day and others are days or weeks between but they meet the schedule fairly well.  We thought about a hike to one but with the high altitude and other points, I directed us to the Old Faithful Logue.  The Lodge was built in 1903-1904.  It was constructed entirely of materials from Yellowstone and within 5 miles of the site.  The carpenters and other skilled employees worked through the entire year and finished the Lodge in time for the targeted June opening.  The Lodge reception area rises 4 stories of so.  The building is all wood, like a log cabin.  Most of it is original materials, but some items like the floors have been replaced.  There were also two add-ons over the years.  The Lodge has 376 rooms.  Pricing ranges from $119 to $277 per night and they are open from the first or second Friday in May to the first Sunday in October.  Every fall the facility is shut down.  All pipes are blown clear, all windows are boarded up and there is no heating system left on.  They board the windows as the snow will reach the second floor and could damage the first floor glass.  This was from a tour and it was very interesting.  Still, we came to see Old Faithful do her thing.  

We walked away from the tour at 11:35.  We walked for about 6 minutes to one of the viewing areas and sat down.  About 4 minutes later, the ‘ole gal’ let it go and we were treated to the show.  It was less noisy than I expected but it was a good viewing and we have pictures to prove it.

Next we road back toward where we came from, since the other was as closed.  We stopped at a couple of hot springs and geysers.  These had walk ways that kept you above the soil and water.  The coloring of the springs were a light to darker blue.  Very pretty and you don’t want to sample it.  The water can be over 212 degrees due to pressure but it is usually around 140 to 160 degrees.  As I noted, we walked and paths and took pictures.  Driving further on, we saw more buffalo and got some real good close ups.  Actually, on the way to Old Faithful, there were 4 buffalo in the middle of the road.  The walked between the cars.  I got a picture of on about 3 fee from my driver side window.  But the highlight of the day was still to come.  As we drove back from the geysers, we stumbled upon a traffic jam.  Cars parked on both sides of the road and stopped in the middle.  It could only be one thing.  A bear sighting.  And that is what it was.  I never saw it, but Chiara did and got out of the car to take pictures.  The bear was headed up the hill and the pictures to not show much.  But she did see it so the day is a success. 

We got back a bit early and had a nice spaghetti meal.  Now we are setting ourselves for a trip to Mammoth Springs and then out of the park, heading to Great Falls, Montana.  This is the last stop over before Canada.  This is when the Adventure really begins.  Hold onto you seats.  It could be quite a ride.