On the second day we woke up at 5:30 so that we could drive the two hours to Crater of the Moon National Park. That morning when I woke up I checked what the weather would be like both at Crater of the Moon National Park and at Yellowstone since we would be ending our day there. The weather was chilly in both places, but concerning in Yellowstone as we had a campsite reserved and it was looking like it was going to be 24 degrees and snowing by evening. With this information on our way to Crater of the Moon I called the reservation desk and cancelled my tent reservation. While I was on the phone I thought that I would check to see which hotel reservations were available for that evening. Being that it was Memorial Day weekend there was only one hotel left with rooms and that was Mammoth Lodge. I took it. It actually worked very well with my plans as my original plans had me setting up the tent and heading up to the Mammoth Terraces.
At Crater of the Moon National Park we started our visit of in the visitors center where we learned about the different types of lava. We got to see an animation on when and where each lava flow occurred. We read accounts of Oregon Trail travelers that had traveled through the land on their way west. The time that we were in there the kids were filling out a questionnaire about the park to become a junior ranger. They also had to take a hike, complete a workbook, and treat the trail with respect. Treating the trail with respect meant not taking anything out, not stepping off the directed trail, and picking up trash if they passed any.
From the visitors center we headed out on the 7 mile loop and stopped first at North Crater Loop. North Crater Loop is a short trail where some of the youngest lava is. We then headed to the Spatter Cones. Spatter Cones are mini volcanoes that you can hike up to look down into. They have taken away trails to two of these due to the cones caving in, but you can still hike up one. There is also a smaller one that requires no hiking and it had snow in it. The last stop before we headed on to Yellowstone was the lava caves. These are lava tubes that were created as lava flowed over hardened lava. Joe and the kids climbed down into on of the caves. This was the highlight of the trip so far for the boys. I laughed when they said this because we had only just begun.
We stopped in the ranger station before we left so that they kids could be sworn in as junior rangers and complete their oath. They were really excited about this and wanted to accomplish this in Yellowstone. However, the Yellowstone Junior Ranger program can take a full day or two lazy days to complete so we didn’t have time.
The drive to Yellowstone is where we hit our second bump of the trip. After a fairly lengthy drive of five hours we hit West Yellowstone, MT. The closer we got to Yellowstone the more bipolar the weather got. One minute it was sunny and the next it was hailing and then the next it would be lightly snowing. I took this as I sign that I had made the right decision by not camping. West Yellowstone is adjacent to the west entrance gate to Yellowstone and we were excited to be just minutes from Yellowstone. However, our GPS had other ideas and we missed the turn off. We headed in the Gallatin National Forrest for approximately thirty some miles only to realize that our GPS wanted to take us into Bozeman, MT and then down into the north entrance of Yellowstone instead. This mistake cost us about an hour of extra driving, but we finally made it into the park.
About five miles into the park Bison were standing of to the side of the road eating the grass. It was amazing to have just started exploring and to be feet from these amazing creatures. On our drive up to Mammoth Lodge we got to see elk, bison, bison, and more bison. We stopped to see the paint pots which are a geothermal area and the “pots” represent different colors. We drove past countless geysers and roaring mountain. This area really has to be seen first hand to be appreciated properly. The jutting cliffs and lakes with steam rising off of them we a sight to behold. We had originally planned on heading back out once we checked into our hotel room but honestly we were all very tired and chose showers and a book instead. So tomorrow morning we will head to the Terraces.
