Better late than never

After driving through this tiny one-dirt-road town that looked like it could have been transplanted from Alaska (see Pri's previous post), we finally got to use our shiny new National Parks Interagency Pass to enter Yellowstone through the North-East entrance.


We immediately abandoned our goal of camping at Mammoth Hot Springs after seeing the ranger putting "full" signs on all of the first-come-first-served campgrounds. The entrance road meanders alongside the Lamar River Basin on its way to the Grand Loop. With an hour and a half of daylight left we pulled over in order to explore the Lamar River.


The hillside was covered in gnarly sagebrush. We explored the shallow riverbed and after a little bit of coaxing, Pri tried to cross to a small island but was thwarted by the icy temperature. We got back on the road to catch Tower Falls. We reached just as the sun was setting, and although it was beautiful, we set off toward the riverbed at the base of the falls. Despite the many switchbacks, the trail was still steep as we plunged closer to the canyon floor in the ebbing light.





The last 50 feet of the trail are nearly vertical and are composed of a chalky sand. I half-climbed half-slid down to the rocky, sulphurous bank of what I assume to be the Lamar River. After unsuccessfully trying to find the source of the sulfur smell, we climbed back up and started the drive to Canyon Village. As we snaked upon precipitous mountain roads, we got to experience the beautiful consequence of a Yellowstone sunset for the first time.


We reached our campsite after 9pm. We cooked our first campsite meal (mac and cheese) next to a campfire that was somehow not warm, and then crawled into the tent in the hopes of escaping ambient temperatures comparable to that of the cooler in our backseat. It was somehow colder when we woke up, and it was hilarious watching Pri emerge from her cocoon of warmth.



While the morning mist lingered in the valley, we copped out and ate breakfast in the nearby Canyon Village Lodge cafeteria while we planned our day.

[adam]