Yellowstone Winter – In May

       

 I woke this morning to a dreary and rainy day with temps in the low-mid 30s. The forecast for the park was rain/snow showers with highs in the upper 30s. Brrrrrrrrr! I dressed and went down and had breakfast. I left the hotel around 8 am with plans to drive to the south end of the park and then work my way back north on the eastern half of the Grand Loop up to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. As I was driving toward the junction that would take me passed the Old Faithful complex, the rain began to turn to snow and the temps were falling into the lower 30s. I stopped at the Old Faithful Visitor Center a little after 9 am to check on conditions and found the road south of Old Faithful, which I planned to travel on, was closed due to icy conditions.

On the road to Old Faithful

So, I had to back track back north and approach my destination in reverse order, the canyon now first, and hope the road would be open this afternoon as I made my way south. I waited around another 15 minutes and saw Old Faithful erupt again. When I got back to the car the snow had stopped and it was raining. As I drove back from where I came there was a mix of rain and snow on the drive. I made the turn at Madison Junction heading east toward Canyon Village.

Old Faithful Strikes Again!

I stopped at the Gibbon Falls on the Gibbon River and then proceeded on past Norris Junction and arrived at Canyon Village around 11 am and checked in at the Visitor Center, where I got a cancellation stamp on my passport. All the roads and vantage points on both sides of the canyon were open, but all the trails were closed. All the other sites I planned to see on the way south from the canyon were supposedly open. I got back to the car and drove to the north Rim Drive of the canyon and stopped at the various lookout points for the lower and upper falls. After that I drove to the South Rim Drive and its various vantage points. By now the temps had risen into the high-mid 30s and the sky was getting brighter, but a light rain continued to fall.

 Gibbon Falls

 On The Road to Canyon Village

 Grand Canyon Lower Falls

 Yellowstone River in the Canyon

Grand Canyon Upper Falls

  

After visiting the canyon I drove toward my next site to visit, which was the Mud Volcano.  On the way I stopped at the Sulfur Caldron, a foul smelling cloud of steam rising from several pools along the side of the highway. Unfortunately, when I got to Mud Volcano all of the walkways were closed and you could see very little from the parking area due the steam rising from the site creating a cloud on the ground around it all. So, back in the car and on to the next and final site planned for the day, the West Thumb Geyser Basin. The drive on the road from Canyon Village to West Thumb runs along the Yellowstone River and is a nice scenic drive. This time it was a winter wonderland! I always wanted to see Yellowstone in the winter, but didn’t know I would get to do it in May!

 Sulfur Cauldron

 Yellowstone River along the road to West Thumb

Yellowstone Lake – Frozen Still

When I arrived at West Thumb, I had some cell phone service and checked on the park road conditions. The road from West Thumb to Old Faithful was now back open, so I could make my return trip on it instead of having to back track on the road that came from Canyon Village. The walkways at the geyser basin were open, but there was a freezing rain falling with the temps in the mid 30s and a good “breeze” as the basin is on the shore line of Yellowstone Lake, which is still frozen by the way. I walked around the outer loop walkway and returned on the inner loop walkway.

Some of the geysers and springs at West Thumb Basin

  

When I returned to the car it was around 2:30 pm, so I decided that given that it has been rainy/snowy and cold all day, that I would head back to the hotel and call it a day, figuring it would take about 90 minutes to drive back. On the way back I missed the sign for my turn to West Yellowstone and realized it about 2 miles down the road and had to turn around and go back. On the road back to West Yellowstone, traffic had to stop twice for Bison walking on the highway. The first was two bison on the side of the road and the second was several cows and their offspring walking on both sides and on the road. This time they were being escorted by a park ranger in a patrol car, running interference for them with the traffic. Eventually they all moved off the road and the ranger directed traffic around them and we were on our way again, about 2 miles from the west entrance to the park.

Bison on the Byway

I returned to the hotel a few minutes after 4 pm and went to my room. On the way to the hotel, the KOA campground had no tents today. Go figure! To my delight, the internet was now working again and I could post my blog from yesterday. A few minutes after I got to the room I had a phone call from Kristen wondering if I had been stranded in Yellowstone since there had been no posts from yesterday or any Facebook entries. She was concerned since she had seen news reports of the weather problems in and around the park. I was not stranded but it was a dreary, cold day in Yellowstone. Maybe tomorrow will be better as I plan to drive out to Mammoth Springs, Norris Junction and Tower Falls to finish up my Yellowstone adventure. Today with the back tracking at the beginning from Old Faithful, I logged over 200 miles driving in Yellowstone today. The Grand Loop is 100 miles round trip by itself!

I drove back into town and ate dinner at the Outpost Restaurant where I dined on baked chicken, stuffing, mash potatoes and gravy, roll and ice tea. I returned to the hotel around 6:30 pm to go over my plans for tomorrow. On a sad note I must report that Samantha has expired. She was unresponsive when I got in the car to drive to dinner. She seemed fine when I got to the hotel on my return from the park. I brought her inside and hooked her up to life support on my laptop, but to no avail at this point. Perhaps she was too stressed from trying to navigate the Yellowstone entrances or some other reason. I will miss her, even if she was somewhat annoying at times. I guess for the rest of the trip I am on my own with my maps, etc that I prepared for the trip. RIP Samantha!

See you down the road!