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<\/a><\/p>\nI’m driving today. \u00a0JA drove all day yesterday, so today is my turn. \u00a0I’m definitely not feeling at my best. \u00a0I’m good enough to go see things but feeling so worn out. \u00a0I really just want to sleep…but then that means missing out on seeing this park. \u00a0And I can’t stand that thought. \u00a0I don’t even want to trade with JA because if I’m in the passenger seat, I’ll pass out.<\/p>\n
Nearly Mammoth. \u00a0There’s a river down there where you can apparently go swimming and soak in warm water. \u00a0We went to check it out with the intention of taking a dip, but there were so many people we didn’t even bother.<\/p>\n The Visitor Center near Mammoth Hot Springs . \u00a0Every major area in the park has a visitor center with complete facilities. \u00a0The park is that big.<\/p>\n Mammoth Hot Springs is a big area. \u00a0This’ll take up most of our time today, other than driving. \u00a0Another set of boardwalks, another set of hot acid pools.<\/p>\n Dead landscape. \u00a0Obviously it supported life at some point.<\/p>\n So there’s a point in time where my grandparents would have seen the Jupiter\u00a0Terrace at it’s full glory. \u00a0Most of it is dormant\/dead at this point – at least on the south side. \u00a0In 2009, the north side came ‘alive’ again and has since formed new terraces, which is pretty neat. \u00a0However, we’re looking at the dead side.<\/p>\n Which is still really cool.<\/p>\n Old terraces.<\/p>\n The Cleopatra Terrace.<\/p>\n It’s really cool how these form. \u00a0This spring isn’t as active as it used to be from what a guide was saying nearby. \u00a0It used to bubble up enough to be seen, but has been waning for a few years now.<\/p>\n The Minerva Terrace.<\/p>\n The top of Pallete Spring. \u00a0Not impressive up here…but it’s usually the terraces that are worth the view.<\/p>\n Another dead spring. \u00a0I bet this was unbelievable when it was going fully. \u00a0This is a pretty expansive set of terraces.<\/p>\n This is almost 50 feet tall. \u00a0It’s a dormant spring that didn’t build terraces…it just formed itself upwards.<\/p>\n The lower side of Pallete Spring. \u00a0Pallete Spring is the major\/active spring at Mammoth these days.<\/p>\n The rock is known as the ‘Devils Thumb’. \u00a0These pictures are a little dark due to the lighting (sun is behind the terraces) and my terrible photography skills.<\/p>\n The sharp contrast in colors is gorgeous.<\/p>\n This set of terraces is very wide. \u00a0You walk quite a bit around this to see all of it.<\/p>\n The hanging spikes…calcicles? are pretty cool. \u00a0And so is that little formation below them that looks like it’s slanting.<\/p>\n I had to fight off a busload of Asian tourists to get this shot. \u00a0Just kidding…I had to wait maybe five minutes for the newly-arrived tour to rush over, take their pictures, do their poses, and rush off again. \u00a0I guess they’ve got more ground to cover than I do today.<\/p>\n There wasn’t much to do after Mammoth Hot Springs, at least not on our list. \u00a0We’re at the north end of the park and have to drive all the way back to Bridge Bay to get to our campground. \u00a0And I’m sick and need some sleep. \u00a0Also, the thought of being stuck behind buffalo-tourist-traffic is not an enticing one…so we decided to just drive back.<\/p>\n We did, however, pause on the drive in the valley to take some buffalo pictures. Because we could, with no tourist traffic due to it still being afternoon and not evening. \u00a0Once back at the campground, we stopped at the dock shop to look around, buy some beer, and get ice cream. \u00a0Not exactly ice cream weather, but it was a nice treat.<\/p>\n I ended up taking a long nap, or at least attempted to, back at the campsite. \u00a0There was a very loud family behind us. \u00a0And that’s fine; it was during the day and I was tired enough it didn’t matter for the first hour of napping. \u00a0They didn’t let me get a second though. \u00a0Oh well. \u00a0We walked around for a bit while it got dark, ate dinner, and called it a night.<\/p>\n Back to Yellowstone Day 2 Part 1<\/a>\u00a0::: On to Grand Teton<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" August 11, 2016 I’m driving today. \u00a0JA drove all day yesterday, so today is my turn. \u00a0I’m definitely not feeling at my best. \u00a0I’m good enough to go see things but feeling so worn out. \u00a0I really just want to sleep…but then that means missing out on seeing this park. \u00a0And I can’t stand that thought. \u00a0I don’t even want to trade with JA because if I’m in the passenger seat, I’ll pass out. Nearly Mammoth. \u00a0There’s a river down…<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n