The Best Deal in America
After visiting Spearfish Canyon and Devils Tower, as recounted here, Crystal Dancer and I headed farther west, passed through the Bighorn National Forest and spent the night in Cody, Wyoming. We had dinner at the Irma Hotel, originally owned by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody himself. Lots of cool old pics of Cody, Annie Oakley and others adorn the walls, along with a bunch of stuffed animals. In the morning we headed west again, passing through the stunning Shoshone National Forest.
The best deal in America is the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Lifetime Senior Pass. This $10.00 lifetime pass provides access to more than 2,000 recreation sites managed by five Federal agencies. The Forest Service, the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, USACE, and Bureau of Reclamation all honor the Senior Pass. All citizens age 62 and over are eligible for this pass. Ten bucks. Lifetime. Get one.
One of the places this pass gets you in is Yellowstone National Park, which was our destination for the next four days. It was my first-ever trip to Yellowstone, and I was not disappointed. We scheduled our trip for early May as a means to avoid the crowds. That worked, as we had many of the major sites all to ourselves; even the campground was less than full. Some park venues were not yet accessible, and cold, snowy weather was a threat, but all-in-all I would absolutely visit at that time of year again.
After entering the park and having a brief walk down memory lane with the Ranger at the gate (Cheeseheads are everywhere!) we vowed to get to the campground and set up our campsite before stopping. We kept this vow for all of a quarter mile when this little gem appeared.
Crystal Dancer’s cries of “stop, stop, stop” delayed us time and again as one picture-worthy scene after another popped up before us. Finally we got to the Madison Campground and set up our site.
Camp Scuba, Elevation 6,800 feet, all buttoned up for foul weather …
My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter shared the near tent, Crystal Dancer and I the far one.
All food must be secured. There’s Grizzlies around!
The backyard at the Madison Campground, where the Firehole River and Gibbons River come together to create the Madison River …
Then it was on to four days of spectacular scenes. The vastness, beauty, diversity, colors and uniqueness of this national treasure cannot be overstated. It’s home to incredible rivers, steep canyons, pristine lakes and the largest collection of geothermal geysers in the world. A truly amazing place.
How the Firehole River got its name …
Some geysers are bubbling mudholes …
While others appear to be entrances to the center of the earth …
The number of geysers is astonishing …
No Yellowstone trip report would be complete without a pic of Old Faithful …
When Crystal Dancer sent a pic of the two of us in front of Old Faithful, her daughter replied with an apt title: “Two Old Geezers and an Old Geyser.” She cracks me up.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, where we watched a pair of bald eagles riding the thermals far below us …
Home of Lower Yellowstone Falls …
And amazing colors …
Some of the roads are a bit narrow …
A terrace of mineral deposits below a geothermal geyser …
My pic of two elk fighting on a mineral terrace deposted by a geothermal geyser, or as I call it, just another day at Yellowstone …
Stay tuned for Part 3: The Grand Tetons.
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I have a little piece of land with a trailer on it in Island Park, Idaho about 15 miles from the West entrance of the park. I've fished most of the rivers in the park as well as the Henry's fork of the Snake in Island park. It's coming up on morel season in Island Park, I hoping to get up there on Wednesday to see if they've come up yet. I hope you enjoy your stay, Jackson's Hole is interesting to visit after the Teton's and if you come by Idaho Falls and want to say Hi just PM me. 
Response to Scuba (Original post)
