August 27, 2012

Mammoth Springs Campground, Yellowstone National Park

We were packed up and ready to go by 7am.  It took less than a half hour to arrive at the campground.  There was no one manning the check in station but we noticed a board that read, “self check in” and it was almost full.  Uh oh.  Monte stayed with the rig and I took a ride around the campground.  On the phone he read off the few numbers of sites that were available and I drove by to see if they would be suitable for our rig. He did notice a couple of sites that indicated the people would be leaving that day.  Checkout time is 11Am.   I went back to where he was and he got in the car with me and we drove to the sites to check them out.  On was perfect and it just happened to be next to Howard and Linda Payne. 

The people on the site were sitting at the picnic table having breakfast.  Monte approached them and asked if they were leaving or staying and they said they were leaving within the hour.  We raced back to the entrance.  When we got there, the camp host, Richard, was pulling tags from the board.  It seems a lot of people were going to be leaving that morning.  We told Richard we would like site 20 and he said it was available.  I told him we knew the people were going to be vacating the site and he asked me how I knew that.  When I told him we had asked them he said, “THAT IS A BIG NO NO.  IT IS CALLED HARRASSMENT.”  OOOPPPSSS!  I told him we were new to this thing and he said just don’t do it again.  He actually turned out to be a really nice guy.  He and his wife have been camp hosting here for the past three months.  They have to work two thirteen hour days a week in exchange for a full hook-up.  It is a wonderful way to really explore the park and surrounding areas.  

We chatted with Richard and his wife until site 20 was available.  We quickly set up, made some lunch to take with us, and set off for Old Faithful.  It was 52 miles away.  The speed limit is 45MPH unless otherwise posted.  Some areas, around sharp curves, the speed limit was only 25MPH so we knew it could take from two to three hours to go the 52 miles to Old Faithful.  There were so many beautiful overlooks and picnic parking areas along the route that if one stopped at each one it could take hours to go 52 miles.  Shortly after leaving the campground we came across a little town.  It was adorable.  There was a post office, restaurant, visitor center, gas station, etc.  We didn’t stop because we were anxious to get to Old Faithful and since the town was so close to our campground we knew we could go there another day.  Around the half way point we came across a lake with a picnic area.  We stopped and had lunch and of course took pictures. 

 

We finally arrived at Old Faithful and had to drive around the parking lot a few times before finding an empty spot to park.  We started walking towards the visitor center when Monte noticed a big crowd sitting on benches. 

 He said he thought that maybe they were waiting for Old Faithful to erupt so we decided to check it out.  Sure enough within 5 minutes it blew.  It only lasted a couple of minutes but it was quite impressive.  We walked around the path looking at all the different hot springs.  The colors were amazing.

 

After checking out the visitor center and stamping my passport we started the drive back to the campground. 

 We stopped at a couple of places along the way to look at the view.  We were quite exhausted by the time we got back.

 Monte did some chores and I called Mom.  After I got off the phone with Mom Linda came over for a visit.  We chatted for a while.  We also chatted with a couple who were passing by our site.  They were full-timers also.  I can’t believe the amount of people we are meeting who are living this lifestyle.  Quite a few of them have been doing it for years so we are benefiting from their experience by learning different things.  People living this lifestyle tend to be very friendly, happy and helpful people.

After Linda left, I made dinner.  I had one piece of left over pork, noodles and some green beans. It would not have been enough for the both of us so I cut up the pork chop, diced the green beans, added some carrots in a pot with a can of vegetable stock and we had a delicious soup with crackers for dinner. 

I had read there was a ranger presentation at the amphitheater at 9pm.  We followed the sign marked amphitheater and we kept expecting to see it at every bend in the road.  But it was all the way at the top of the hill.  When we got there the ranger said hello and asked us how our evening was going.  I said great and asked if she had an oxygen tank.  I really hope that as we do more hiking I will build up my lung capacity.

The program was quite entertaining.  The ranger gave a slideshow and explained what the early visitors to Yellowstone would have experienced.  It was a very dark and cold walk back to our site.  I kept expecting an elk or bear to come out of the woods.  But we didn’t encounter any wild animals.  It was only 10:30 but we were both so tired that we went right to bed.