We woke up to the sound of loons on Lake Hegben. This portion of Montana is clearly one of the most beautiful places on planet Earth. Coffee was sipped by a beautiful sunrise.

We headed out early to see the northern part of Yellowstone. Today was about taking in magnificent vistas. From the snow-capped mountains to the hot-spring basins, this wilderness defines Earthly beauty. After we hit a 45 minute bison-jam (sort-of like a traffic jam, complete with gawkers), we managed to work our way up to Gibbon Falls where we parked and cooked a pancake breakfast overlooking the falls (we’re getting good). Suddenly Bill saw something out of the window scurry along the rock wall. We looked it up based on his description and concluded it was a marmot. I never saw it, but he gave me my wolf, so I’ll give him his marmot.

We walked the trail through the Artist’s Paint Pots, an area of thermal pools named for their brilliant array of coloration. In any of these public areas, there are signs saying “Dangerous Ground” with an illustration of a kid boiling himself in one of these pools. It seems to get the message across- you’re not supposed to go off the trail.

We went on to Roaring Mountain where Angie made friends with some Danish visitors. She stood up and hopped on her hind legs, perfectly balanced between the people (like a poodle). I never saw her do that before but she was in rare form. Roaring Mountain gets its name from the sound of gas escaping. There is a microorganism that turns the sulfur into sulfuric acid, that wears down the clay and sculpts the mountain, so we definitely stayed where we were supposed to be there.

We came back to camp early afternoon and prepared for more travel tomorrow and enjoyed this beautiful place. Absolutely beautiful weather in the 60’s and the snow is melting for spring.

Tomorrow (early, if Bill has his way) we head for Vegas with a one-night stopover in Springville, UT, just below Salt Lake City and should be in Vegas on Sunday. Interstate 15 in the southern part of Utah is supposed to be one of the most beautiful interstates in this country. Sad to leave this spot, but looking forward to the southwest. Just looked at the weather down there, high 90’s and 101 degrees. We’ll be wearing shorts for a while starting tomorrow.