We spent last night in a Cabela’s in Billings, MT. It would have been fine if two truckers hadn’t started a f-word festival at 11:00 at night! There was some altercation about parking, but it finally resolved itself.
Today we arrived in Gardiner, MT. We had intended to stay at a riverside free campground, but it was crowded. We decided to stay at Rocky Mountain campground in town. Beautiful site overlooking the town and then into the park, but it was expensive. Oh well, it is Yellowstone in the summer, and we were actually lucky to get this site.
After we arrived we drove into the park of course. It is the birthday of the National Park Service, so entry was free and it was crowded! Mammoth Hot Springs was tremendous as usual.
However we did see quite a few animals. Bison by the hundreds were roaming around. This guy decided to go for a silhouette.
Elk were found in the Mammoth Springs area as usual.
This elk was found crossing the road just outside Gardiner. She was in no rush to cross the road to the rest of her band.
I also saw pronghorn but too far for a picture.
A serious incident took place as we were driving back to Gardiner from the Lamar Valley. As we came around a corner, we saw a big motorcycle down and people just pulling off the road to help. Turns out a bison had run across the road right in front of the rider, and he had to lay the cycle down to keep from hitting it! The rider said he was fine, spoke quite calmly, and was with friends, so we left after asking if there was anything we could do. Luckily someone was thinking clearly and went to the Roosevelt Ranger station and told them; there was no cell service. We saw two Ranger vehicles heading that way with lights and sirens, and I knew the guy would be in good hands. Pretty scary though.
We did eat in the Mammoth Dining Room. I love NPS dining facilities. They are almost always filled with locally sourced, innovative ingredients, and this was no exception. Not inexpensive, but worth it.
We have found a camping site for the next 3 or 4 nights. It is on the Yellowstone about 10 miles north of Gardiner. It is a private dry camping facility for $25 a night, but it will be quiet and fairly roomy so worth it, especially compared to the $71 we are spending tonight! I have my own water, good solar, and tanks quite capable of dealing with dry camping for a few days.