A Yellowstone Tradition

Our favorite Yellowstone treat is huckleberry ice cream made locally in Montana.  They sell it inside the park, at the campground, in grocery stores, and in ice cream shops in West Yellowstone.  Ruth remembered that we had ice cream at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel on our last visit and asked that we make it a family tradition.  We all got huckleberry ice cream except for Henry, who opted for vanilla.

We didn't see any elk in the area while we were there, but it looks like they do come through, because there were numerous "Don't approach elk" signs and near our car and on a sidewalk near the Terrace Grill, there were elk droppings.  Must be a sight to see, walking through the village and having elk pass you by. 

The Mammoth Hot Springs are in the northwest corner of the park.  There is a geothermal feature there unlike any other one in Yellowstone.  As water and steam bubble up from below the earth's surface, it springs up calcium with it, and as the water flows from the upper features down, the calcium creates white terraces stacked on top of each other.  In some places, there's some red mixed in with the white, and at the top, you can see some colorful pools of water bubbling.

As we drove south of Mammoth Hot Springs, we drove through a short patch of boulders strewn about in a random pattern.  The boulders were white with gray in them - not matching other rocks in this area of the park.  

We were on the lookout for bears but didn't see any.  It goes to show how lucky we were the last time we were in Yellowstone and saw them.  You have to appreciate what you have when you have it, I guess.