I woke up to this:

car-feet.jpg

Then I began my drive through Yellowstone. I passed some really pretty views:

morning-view-1.jpg

morning-view-2.jpg

Mountains speared the sky as I neared the park. The Tetons.

far-teton

In the park, encountered some unexpected traffic. A bunch of cars were pulled over, the people crowding around something I couldn't see from the car. Many of them were carrying cameras with these huge, two foot long lenses. I figured there was something to see so I pulled over too.

crowd

Apparently, a grizzly bear and her cubs had been there just 5 or so minutes ago. But she had fled into the forest. She was "399", a 28 year old grizzly whose story is apparently pretty famous. Gah! I wish I'd seen her. A couple of the retired-looking folks with huge cameras were joking about how "the bear-jam" was clearing up. Bear-induced traffic jams seem to be a common occurence here.

Then I passed Jackson Lake by the Tetons.

jackson-lake

Finally, I made it to Yellowstone.

yellowstone-river

bison

yellowstone-view

The only place I stopped for more than a few minutes was Mammoth Hot Springs. I will pass through Yellowstone again on my way back from Glacier to Dubois, and I plan on seeing most of the highlights then. Grand Prismatic is first on my list of priorities.

mammoth-springs-1

There was less water flowing than I remember last time I was in Yellowstone, but it was still nice.

mammoth-springs-2

Making it through Yellowstone took much longer than I thought, so I didn't make as much milage towards Glacier as I would have liked.

I stopped at an Exxon with attached convenience store "Town Pump." So far it seems to be a Montana-exclusive chain. They had a whole aisle of jerky and a very American hat for sale:

jerky-aisle

american-hat


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