6-22 (Mon)


Jenny and I left Mammoth in her car headed for the geyser basin. We took side roads and saw a mother elk that had crossed the river from her two calves. We kept watching until they started calling to her and she crossed back over the river which was very swift. We wondered how she would get across.


She went to the least swift part and then turned her body sideways as she edged herself to the side where the calves were. Once she got over they came across the hill to her side and they were all reunited.


It was freezing cold. If it hadn’t been for the wind (I’m guessing 30-40 mph) it probably would have been okay. The sun was shining most of the time. I had on my thermal underwear, both the top and bottom. I had on my fingerless gloves that I bought in Argentina, my wool cap from Peru and my Arctic down lined coat with the hood pulled up and the part that goes across the mouth firmly velcroed in place.


The first picture of a geyser erupting is white dome at the Fire Lake area. We were just getting ready to leave when it blew. It was also in this area that we saw buffalo lying down with their young. You can distinguish the young because they are very red in color. The Yellowstone workers call them “Red Dogs.”


We ended up at Old Faithful. We wanted to check out the three lodging facilities there so we would know what we were talking about when we tried to sell it. There must have been many tours arriving at the same time at the Inn because when we went in we couldn’t even see what the place looked like for all the people. It soon cleared out.


We got a sandwich in the bar and enjoyed sitting, talking and observing the guests. We dropped a little money at the gift shop before going outside to see Old Faithful erupt. We toured the Lodge and the Snow Lodge before leaving for home. We got back to Mammoth by 9 p.m. We stopped and took a picture of the mountains as we approached.