Jardine, Old Faithful Inn & a bear!

By Sunday the storms were gone and the day was beautiful.  On Sunday morning, we decided to take a drive up the mountain behind us which led to a National Forest campground and the town of Jardine.

As we traveled up the mountain, we could barely see Gardiner below,

 

but we could now also see Mammoth Hot Springs in the park.  Can you see it?

 

We drove by this little shack that was sitting over a pond with a dock going to it.  We couldn't figure out why this little bitty shack would have been built over a pond.  I suggested maybe for ice-fishing in the winter but the shack had a lot of holes in it.

 

Like everywhere else we had been, the scenery was beautiful.

 

You would think the wind was blowing very hard the way this tree looks but there was just a slight breeze.

 

Here is another very distant view of Mammoth Hot Springs.

 

I saw this old shack built into the hillside below.

 

The closer we got to Jardine, we could hear a creek nearby.

 

We also saw this little deer on the hillside.

Jardine was a small mining town at one time.

The mine is no longer in operation but there is a water treatment facility there that removes the arsenic from the water which had been caused by the mining operations.

 

As we headed back down the mountain, we took a side road toward some cliffs that had that same columnar-looking rock like we had seen in Yellowstone and like Devil's Tower.

 

 

This was a piece on the ground that had broken off.

 

There was this old animal skull at the base of the cliff. 

 

As we headed back down, we could see the Roosevelt Arch entrance to Yellowstone...

 

...and our camper.  Can you see it?

 

How about now?

 

By the way did you find Mammoth Hot Springs in the picture above?  If not, I have it circled in the picture below.

 

After we got back to the motorhome, I sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather for a while.  I may have even napped once or twice.  :)

 

Later that afternoon, we drove to Old Faithful Inn to meet our new friends Tony and Barb Pritchard at the Old Faithful Inn.  On the way, we saw our first "herd" of buffalo...

 

...and some baby buffalo with the herd.

 

We arrived at Old Faithful Inn around 5:00 pm and had a very nice dinner with Tony and Barb.  After dinner, we walked around the Inn.  Old Faithful Inn was built in 1903-04 and is a National Historic Landmark.  The inn was built with lodgepole pines which you can see in this huge multi-level lobby.

 

The big fireplace stretched all the way up to the top of the lobby.

 

We sat outside on the deck and visited for another couple of hours and got to see Old Faithful erupt two more times.

It's always fun meeting new friends and getting to hear their stories and sharing some of ours.  Tony and Barb, thanks for a wonderful dinner and we look forward to camping with you again sometime!

 

We said our good-byes to Tony and Barb and headed back home.  We had just past the turnoff to the West Entrance of Yellowstone and noticed a few cars stopped on the other side of the road.  We slowed the car down to see what they were looking at...

 

...and it was a bear!

 

We had a perfect viewing spot because there was no one in front of us and the bear was only about 15 or 20 yards from the car...almost a little too close.
 

We think it was a grizzly but are not sure because some black bears can be brown or cinnamon in color.  If anyone can tell for sure from the pictures or movie, please let us know.

You can see how powerful he (or she) is by how he rips apart the log in the movie we're guessing to get at some ants or termites to eat.  It was amazing to watch him but I sure am glad we were in the car.

Within just a few minutes, cars were stopping and parking everywhere along the road and people were getting out of their cars to watch him.  CRAZY PEOPLE!  At this point, the bear was still close at about 25 - 30 yards from our car and they were walking down the side of the road next to our car to try to see him. 

We headed on down the road watching out for anymore wildlife on the sides of the road or on the road.  We didn't see any more bears but we did see some more elk.

 

Another good day at Yellowstone!