Scott went for a twenty-one mile bike ride in some pretty cold weather.  He said it was definitely the coldest ride he has been on during this trip.

Paint Pots

The kids requested a super easy breakfast of cereal while Scott, our chef, was off riding.  Brooke found a campground neighbor named Olivia to ride bikes with.  Olivia kept wanting to use her shoes as brakes.  We remember when Cody wore out his shoes doing this.  Brooke helped Olivia try to use her brakes.

Print of Brooke’s bike on the dirt after the rain came through

We were just about cleaned up at the campground and a strong but quick storm came blowing through.  The picture above on the left is of the print of Brooke’s bike on the dirt after the rain came through.  While the storm was busy Cody was busy helping Brooke get the knots out of her hair.  We found a great deal of hail along the roadside on our way to Midway Geyser Basin.  It looked like it had snowed.

Firehole River and Midway Geyser Basin

Firehole River

  The scenery is picturesque, but we were once again very lucky to get a parking space after two times around the loop.  Although we expected a large amount of traffic just based on how long it took us to get onto the main road from our campground.  Oddly enough Yellowstone unlike the Grand Canyon and other popular parks does not have a bus system incorporated into the park fee.  You can pay $25 extra to have bus service, but it is limited in its locations.

Above - Excelsior Geyser – It is hard to see due to all the steam, but this geyser has now become a caldera.  In the 1880s the geyser regularly burst from fifty to three hundred feet high.  However, after 1890 they believe the geyser ruptured its underground system and ceased to erupt.  Then on September 14th, 1985, the geyser roared back to life with forty-seven hours of major eruptions.  After which it became dormant.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Above in the center and right picture is the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest of Yellowstone’s hot springs at 200 feet across and 160 degrees.  The Spring pours 500 gallons of hot water each minute into the Firehole River.  The colors around the spring are caused by thermophiles, heat-loving microorganisms.  They stated that some of the microorganisms coexist in “mats.”  They are layered much like a forest with a canopy and an understory where the understory of this mat depends on the processes of the canopy.

Opal Pool

Above - Opal Pool

Old Faithful Pictures to come in Part 2 of Yellowstone