Day 9 (Yellowstone)

Today we drove into Yellowstone. It is over 60 miles from our campsite to Old Faithfull. I overheard a ranger say this is the most precipitation for the month since 1948. As a result the mosquitoes are out of control.  We were completely swarmed when we took this picture.

 

Take a look at the next picture, because so far this is the only animal we have seen.

 

 

 

 

There was some awesome views along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

When we were in the Rocky Mountains we saw a lot of brown pine trees. It turns out the forests are infected with the pine beetle. Eventually all of the trees are going to die, because they are all the same age. Past practice has been to put out forest fires when they start so all of the trees are the same age. Yellowstone is further along  here is something we saw a lot of.

 

We got to Old Faithfull just as it erupted, and we caught a glimpse of it from the car.

Here are the kids waiting for the next eruption (every 94 minutes).

 

 

Here is Old Faithfull erupting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked all around the area and saw some cool geysers and hot springs. There was a ranger that told us that bison some times fall into the pools. Some one asked what do you do, and she said nothing. The pools are so acidic that a bison calf will completely disintegrate in 12 hours (only 10 hours for a human).