Today we explored the northern loop through Yellowstone. Mountains, waterfalls, all kinds of geothermal activity and wildlife makes it easy to see why this is such a special place. It also lived up to my expectations of being pretty crowded due to the long weekend. Of course, after pre-season Glacier anything would be crowded.
We took our first hike around Mammoth Hot Springs, which had some intricately layered shelf-like deposits. 
There were signs up near all the geothermal areas warning to stay on the marked trails because you could step through a thin layer of crust into scalding hot water or steam. I found the illustration hilarious. 
We saw lots of wildlife: geese, bison, elk, pronghorn, and two bears. Of course, at Glacier our bear sighting was very intimate, only us and eventually another 2 cars. Here, it was a zoo. You knew there was a bear because the road was clogged, people were all lined up, rangers were yelling through the PA for people to move their cars out of the road, etc.
One of the campers in the next cabin had come out for the long weekend because it was her birthday, and had not been there in 15 years. She said it was very noticeable how many fewer animals there were.
We saw the trunk of a petrified redwood tree from back when this was a more tropical climate. There apparently used to be 3 of them but souvenir hunters chiseled little pieces off the other 2 until they were all gone. 
We finished our day off with a mile-long hike around Norris Geyser Basin. This area had LOTS of geothermal activity. There was a storm coming in from the South but I accurately judged that it would pass us by, which greatly reduced the number of people in the basin. Here Max got to check out some of the geothermal vents, hot springs, and geysers up close. As we were leaving, one of the rangers informed me that dogs were not allowed in the geothermal areas. We were already on the way back to the Jeep so it didn't really matter. Of course, I did not see any signs to that effect, nor did it state that on the map, so technically we do not get credit for barging this one. 
Minute Geyser is another example of how the multitude of visitors destroyed an amazing natural phenomenon. This geyser used to go off almost every 60 seconds until visitors threw rocks, coins, etc into it and clogged the opening.
We were in the park only about 6 hours but saw quite a large bit of it (the northern half, at least). We were both wiped out, I think from the altitude as much as the two longish hikes. We came back to camp, cooked some red beans and rice for dinner, then hung out with some of our neighbors. The ones in the cabin right next door have a tan and white Beagle named Tucker, and further down the row there is a year-old Beagle as well. I guess the other dogs around woke Max up because then he wanted to go on a long walk around the campground. He did not go to bed until almost 9pm Mountain Time, which was the first day he seemed to have adjusted to the time change. Of course, he slept quite a bit of the day on the ride as well.
Sunday: Through the southern half of Yellowstone to Jackson, WY for a couple of nights. 
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