Day 13

After another chilly night, we left our amazing campsite of Jackson Lake and headed towards Yellowstone National Park. Our departure went smoothly and soon on our way to Yellowstone.  We new the Madison campsite would be as “rustic” as we have experienced – no water and no electricity.  We were ready and excited for our next stop. 

Again, the journey was only 70+ miles but we found many exciting stops along the way to make it a full days drive.  Our first stop was at Old Faithful.  We arrived just as she had erupted and spend some time exploring the surrounding area’s other natural hot spring and geysers before seeing Old Faithful erupt.  Having heard many fascinating stories about the natural geyser, we were all still amazing by it’s spectacular explosion of water and steam.

We then toured the Old Faithful Inn, which is an architectural feat in itself, and hit the road towards Madison.  There are hundreds of natural hot springs along the way and we tried to hit them all.  We took the Fire Hole Lake Road passing by Great Fountain Geyser and Fountain Pain Pot on out way towards our next destination.

Our next stop, which almost did us in, was at the Fire Hole Canyon Drive.  Some VERY tricky driving and a near fender bender gave us the last possible parking spot. No worries Terry not even a scratch on Rolling Tepee! After lunch, Amy, the kids and I got to experience some warm water swimming just as a storm blew through.  When we tried to swim upstream, it was as though we were in a lap pool – no matter how hard we swam, we did not make any progress.

Leaving our swimming hole, we headed to our campground in Madison.  The campground is approximately 14 miles from the western boarder of the park. Which is a good thing because when we arrived at camp we discovered that the Madison River and the Gibbon River are “FLY FISHING ONLY” – so a quick trip in R.T. and we were at the fly shop in West Yellowstone.  After getting camp set up, Dawson, Emma and I headed out to try our luck at fishing.  We had an amazing time playing in the streams, but were unable to land any trout.

Getting back to camp, we made a fire, got the grill going and settle into some buffalo/beef burgers – they have become a staple of our diet here in the West.  They are outstanding!  After dinner we had some roasted marshmallows for desert

The young ones in bed, Grammy’s luck in cards held up.  She beat us all again in pitch and then in golf!  As much as she says she does not understand the games – she continues to take our money. L  Something is wrong here!!!!!