WE ARE SITTING ON TOP OF A POWDER KEG!!!!!!!

Let's face it, Yellowstone is just one, big, giant caldera!  The entire place is about to blow up any minute now, give or take a few 100 thousand years ..... But you can really feel that our entire planet has an unstable crust, sitting on top of molten lava, every time you turn a corner on a pretty mountain road, or a meadow, and the ground starts smoking and smelling like sulfur.....
Which is too bad, because the place is very pretty, and there is a lot of wild life in it.  But as I say, we may have a few hundred of thousands of years...... or not....
We are staying at the Canyon lodge (which, as I mentioned before, has really bad internet connectivity....  I am right now sitting in the business center, the only place even remotely connected), but has the advantage of being at the very center of Yellowstone National Park:  The park roads form an "8", and we are right in between the top and the bottom circle. 

 Today, we decided to explore the top.
We started the day looking at the "pretty" side of things, and not the "sulfur smelling" side of things.  We headed for Lamar Valley, hoping to see some grey wolves, knowing it was a long shot.  And indeed, we did not find them.  But the valley is very beautiful and we at last managed to get a good picture of a prong horn antelope.

We also saw another big herd of buffaloe.

After that, we headed toward Mammoth Hot Springs.  It is an old army base (in the late 1800 hundreds, an army camp was set up there to deal with the general lawlessness, and with the illegal killing of buffaloe- they are probably to thank for the herds we have today!).

 The old army barracks are now a fancy hotel (seen from above in that picture), and elk roam all around the place (this being rut season, the park rangers are very careful to keep people far enough away)....  while we had a picnic on the lawn, a magpie came and begged for food....

 Mammoth Hot Springs is known for the hot springs and beautiful calcite terraces.  Really an amazing landscape. 

That's where you really realize how fragile our world is, and how amazing and beautiful too.

In this almost lunar landscape, there are patches of green, and elk sit around.......











You can see the crystals growing in the very clear water, and they look almost like corals.....

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We spent a couple of hours there, and then headed to another "hot" area, "geyser basin", at Norris point.  What and other worldly place that is. 

Then, we came back toward the canyon.  Although we are staying at the canyon lodge, we did not see it yet.  Indeed, you just would not know it's there unless you drove to it, and it's 2 amazing water falls.  What an amazing site!  We went up both the south and north rims, and it was just amazing.  I took the walk down to the rim of one fall (an easy 3/4 miles walk down, but tough on the way back up!).  People who went down that river without knowing what was there must have been pretty surprised....  I can only think that their last words were "oh shit!"......

 

 

On the way back, as an extra treat, a coyote walked along the road with us for a while.......

Moose, and buffalo, and bear, Oh my!

Today's plan was to start early again and try to see moose.  Then, spend the day exploring Grand Teton National Park, before heading north again toward Yellowstone National Park.  We really had a busy day! As we left Teton village, a hot air balloon was just taking off, it looked very cool, but maybe next time.

 But we already had a very busy day planned, and our plan worked: we had a very close encounter with a big mama moose and her baby.  We used the proven strategy of not looking for wildlife, but instead, looking for people with big camera lenses all pointing in the same direction.

 We hung out with these two wonderful creatures for a while, noting that it looked like the calf had been hurt:  a chunk had been bitten off his neck - maybe a wolf?  But he seemed to be doing well and healing.

Coincidentally, this is where the historical "Mormon row" is (where Mormons settled in the late 1800'th), which is also where my friend Anne's father was born!!!!  In this very cabin!  how cool is that?? They had no running water nor electricity, but what a view! 

All around the old cabin, pretty little mountain blue birds where enjoying the views too.

From there, we continued north to Jenny Lake and took the ferry across, both to enjoy the view, and to get to the many trail heads on the other side. 

Joe hung out on the lake side trails, while I went up first to the "Hidden Falls"  (they must not be that hidden, because there were a few people around..... and then up to "inspiration point"  (Many people were finding inspiration there with me). 

It's a steep trail carved into the mountain, but short and wide enough that quite a few children made it all the way up.

 I continued up to canyon trail and then back through the forest, where many berries were - I did not recognized any of them and - uncharacteristically - did not try to eat any of them.

 The mountain is starting to put on fall colors and the trails were just lovely.

 Joe and I had agreed to meet at the trail head for String lake.  But there were actually two distinct areas and we spent a bit of time looking for each other.  I was a bit worried about what to do next if I did not find him....  no cell phone sevice anywhere, and we were planning on spending the night in Yellowstone, almost 80 miles away..... not sure what we would have done.  Anyway, we eventually found each other - lesson learned.... plan better next time.

In the afternoon, we drove to the top of Signal Mountain, which has great views of the entire valley and of the lake, and then continued north, stopping here and there to ooohhh and aaahhh till we reached Yellowstone National Park.

We had planned on going directly to the lodge and start exploring tomorrow, but it is just impossible not to stop for the wild life here.  For one thing, everyone else stops:  this little bear was causing quite a traffic jam, just posing by the side of the road.....






And then we got to Hayden valley and a large herd of buffaloes - right there, right next to us.  It was just awesome.  Some were close enough to touch (but we did not!).

So we arrive a bit later than planned, but it was worth it!  Once we got there, we realized that there is no WIFI access anywhere.....  So no pictures until we get home!  (Typing this from the business center in the lodge, but I can't upload pictures).  - Update- figured out a hack to upload pictures after all....  so here they are.....