Day 2: Just the same old wildlife right?
What a fitful night's sleep. Both my wife and I tossed and turned all night. I'm really not sure what it was. The room was clean and decent, the bed wasn't what we were used to, but not really that bad. I was up at 6:30 am, but my wife slept in for a while longer. What's with biscuits and gravy for breakfast? I really don't know how people can eat that stuff. I tried a piece and it's just far too heavy for me in the morning. So I had a waffle drowned in syrup instead
Before we head out to Yellowstone, we wanted to some shopping. My wife picked up a few things and I got a new pair of Tevas. Very comfy compared to by Vasque boots. We also hit Costco and picked up a few bottles of wine, some batteries and there was a killer deal on pit-stick compared to back home so I'm stocked for months. After a few more stores, we headed towards Yellowstone just after noon.
Before we arrived, we were discussing if we wanted to buy the yearly park pass or not. Fortunately the park staff made the choice really easy for us. The nice lady mentioned that if we keep our receipt, the $25 we spent to gain access to Yellowstone/Teton is good toward the $80 annual pass if we decide to upgrade in the next two weeks. That was perfect for us because we like traveling "as the wind blows us' and we weren't totally sure how many parks we would hit, or even which one of those parks even accepted the pass. So into Yellowstone we go.
The surroundings of Yellowstone at first felt very familiar. Rocky mountains, tight windy roads and a bus of Japanese tourists... hmm, are we in Banff? But we decided to have fun with it an act like total tourists and get really camera happy. Our first stop was an area just outside of Mammoth. I should mention this: Mammoth was smaller then I expected. I thought there would be lots of stores, etc, but it was just a nice tight area - although we didn't stop in town.
Right outside Mammoth was our first "Yellowstone-ish" experience. Beautiful geological formations easily accessible via tourist filled walking paths. It was nice though, really nice. It's the first time I've seen that much water bubbling from the rocks. The smell instantly reminded me of Sulfur mountain in Banff though. It's very distinctive .
As we left the Mammoth area and headed towards Madison Campground (our destination for the night), I noticed a strange noise coming from the front of the truck. As of today, I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it's from the rebuilt Donahoe's. I think it might be the new derlin rollers in the fairlead bouncing a bit. I'll keep my eye, or ear, on it.
As we were traveling down the windy corridor, we encountered a typical sight on these roads. A driver coming towards us waving their arms warning you of something. Now I must say that I was a bit cawky. I've come across wildlife on the road almost as many times as I've eaten chicken so while I slowed down a little I didn't really have my true "guard" up. Then we turned the corner... Right in the middle of my lane is a massive buffalo doing what I would call the "Yellowstone Shuffle". I'm sorry but I'm not willing to test my ARB bumper on a buffalo! I stopped and he walked within 6 feet of our passenger window. It came up so fast that I couldn't grab my camera but my wife caught a pic with hers. After that fun experience, I gained a sudden new respect for buffalo and took a pictures of a few along the way.
As mentioned our destination for the night was Madison campground. We didn't know anything about it other then it was about as far as we wanted to travel tonight. Madison is a typical national park campground where 30 foot RV's outnumber tents almost 10 to 1. Since I wasn't able to get our new Eezi-Awn T-top tent in time for this trip, our old tent will have to do. There are flush toilets here which is a nice bonus - but I would expect that for the approximately $20 per night fee. One disappointment was the registration style. Signs state that you should go to the office first and not go into the campground to pick a site. That meant they picked a site for us. It's not a terrible site by any means, but all vehicles must stay on the paved areas so our truck is up on the road and our tent is in the site. Barely enough room to park.
Dinner was great quesadillas on the BBQ, southwestern egg rolls and a bottle of white wine. Fire is nice. Should sleep well tonight.
