Tuesday June 6th 2017

I was back in Yellowstone National Park by nine this morning. My touring plan for today was the eastern section of the park. I traveled from the West Yellowstone to the Madison Intersection, on to Norris then on to the Canyon area down to Fishing Bridge. Fishing Bridge is where the east access road intersects with the loop road. I went out the east access road about half way to the entrance. The area had a fire in the last few years so is not very interesting.

I took around fifty pictures today. They can be found in my Google Photos Album called Yellowstone June 6 2017.  Click the link to see all of today’s pictures.

Yesterday I didn’t see any Bison on my way into the park. Today, they were all over the place. You can tell the first day visitors to the park from the reactions to the bison. A lone bison back in the woods gets the attention of the new visitor. Those that have been here before know that there will be more around the next bend. This morning the bison were on the West access road and on the road south of the Canyon area. In both cases I took pictures with one hand while driving with the other. Since you can only roll along at 2 or 3 mph in these Bison traffic jams, the pictures aren’t too bad.

Who are you looking at?

Hold on, I’ll be out of your way when I’m out of your way.

Another bison jam along the Yellowstone River south of the Canyon junction.

The little ones follow quickly.

This morning I stopped at the Mud Volcano area south of Canyon. I passed by the area last Friday. Parking was difficult today, but a lot better than Friday. The geysers and springs in this area are mud filled rather than clear water. They are also hotter. There is a paved path, boardwalk and a few stairs to the top of the volcanic hill with several geothermal features along the way.

Dragon’s Mouth Spring. The steam and bubbling mud come out of the cave like it was a dragon’s mouth.

Mud Volcano

Churning Caldron is scolding hot but not boiling. The bubbling is caused from gas escaping from deeper in the earth.

View from the top of the Muc Volcano hill of the parking lot and hill side beyond.

From the Mud Volcano I went on to the Fishing Bridge visitors center. There are visitor centers at most of the named intersections in the park. This one featured the birds in the park with stuffed versions of all the bigger birds. While parked at the visitors center I walked over to the Fishing Bridge Campground. This is the only campground that takes reservations and has facilities for RVs. I wasn’t impressed. The sites for RVs were side by side and back to back very densely packed. I’m happy staying outside the park and driving in.

Yellowstone river as it flows away from the Fishing Bridge. These waters are prime Cutthroat Trout spawning grounds.

The Bridge has a naming problem.

Yellowstone lake as seen from Fishing Bridge on the Yellowstone River.

Yellowstone Lake.

Tomorrow is my last day in the Yellowstone area. I need to spend some of the day getting ready to travel on Thursday. It is a toss up if I return to the park tomorrow. I have seen all of the big areas and attractions. If I knew of an area with a high probability of seeing different animals I might venture in. There is a ranger presentation at the West Yellowstone Visitors Center at 9:30 tomorrow on the animals of Yellowstone. Attending that presentation is the extent of my plans for tomorrow.