Interesting day- Yellowstone by car

Last night I went to bed with Elk in my camp but this morning, not only were the ladies still around but big daddy had joined them and was quite close to the tent. Yellowstone is famous for the way drivers will block the the road in both directions anytime a mammal is visible from the road. Traffic backs up for miles sometimes. All but the closest cars are left wondering why the cars are stopped. Where I'm camped the large mammals are sharing the campground. One of my neighbors told me that last year, he was there when a large elk was killed and almost completely devoured by wolves in site of his tent while he slept.

 The coolest camper ever left this morning. This is what it looked like stowed. The deployed picture is in a previous post.

 Here are a few of the thermal features that I blasted past yesterday on my bike while dodging thunderstorms.

 These signs are everywhere yet 100s have been severely burned and more than a dozen have died by wandering off the paths to get that shot. I watched a guy from a distance walk out into a large geothermal area and actually touch the boiling water. I watched a ranger respond to another report of a woman doing the same thing in the Norris geyser basin. There is no limit to stupid.

 A stop the car moment.

 When I got to where I was going to park for today's ride, it was cold windy and rainy and I decided to drive a bit instead so I went into west Yellowstone and picked up this cool jersey. Perhaps the sighting of the buffalo will create some "stop the car!" moments back home.

 The day cleared off but the wind was blowing 20+ mph and worse than that was that the traffic had gotten Yellowstone insane. I was glad I opted for the car rather than face the nonstop lines of cars in each direction with no shoulders. This is what I had expected it to be like before coming and I'm glad I found a nice day for a ride earlier in the visit.

 Geothermal next to rivers.

 Geothermal next to lakes. Yellowstone has it all. When someone talks to you about geothermal heating and air conditioning, they really mean ground source heat pumps. This is geothermal folks and it's a rare phenomenon except here in Yellowstone.

 Then things got interesting. There is no limit to stupid. I heard so many stories about people being hurt by these animals and no amount of warnings will change their behavior. I did get some good shots just sitting in the car.

 Grand canyon of the Yellowstone.

 The upper falls of the grand canyon of the Yellowstone.

 It was a very interesting if lazy day but I got back in time to catch up on the blog and I hope to not let it get so far behind again. Thanks for your patience.