We woke up the next morning and quickly got ready for our second day in Yellowstone. Our first goal was to see the natural bridge. This little buddy hung with us along our walk.
We arrived at the Natural Bridge (shown above) and were surprisingly unimpressed. We expected it to be much larger.
Even the plaque for the natural bridge noted that this natural bridge is noticeably smaller than ones located at other national parks.
Jeff, as usual, climbed up the hill until he was directly under the bridge.
We then walked briskly back to the car, in expectation of having another day like the previous one. This buffalo was the first thing that we came upon. It looked dead.
Sadly, this day would not hold nearly the same level of adventure as the previous. However, the sights were no less beautiful.
We took our time, stopping at various pull-offs along the way.
Probably the most memorable location for me was this unusual hilly/mountainy/rocky location.
I chatted with a Scottish woman who told me that this place reminded her of home. We then discussed the beauty of the landscape and tranquility of the moderate breeze.
This picture is intended to highlight the fact that half of the trees in the forest seem to have fallen over. The odd thing is that this is normal with lodgepole pine forests.
Me. In Scotland.
Jeff's view as he lay comfortably amongst the rocks and lichen.
I had a thing for this tree.
So I thought I'd include two pictures of it...
Lichen could be considered another theme of the trip. We saw so many different colors and varieties...one would never think that lichenology would be so ubiquitous...
Another type of wildflower. Of the purple variety.
This is an uneditted infrared shot because I didn't get time to edit it.
The same, unedited IR-ness. Notice how bright the lichen is. This shows how it is a living thing.
The upper side of Tower Falls. Unfortunately the falls themselves were cloaked in shade due to the time of day.
This is not a beaver dam. Rather, it is the effects of falling trees, landslides and flowing water.
If I were to return to this location, i'd hike the other side of the river. A nice trail goes all the way along that ridge you see in the distance.
Petrified tree. There used to be three of them, but two were cut down by low, dirty crooks!
So this mass of rock-plant is now protected by lock and key.
Jeff and I saw this cool trail with no one on it. We couldn't figure out why.
Until we realized that it was incredibly boring.
There were no animals...just plants and signs telling you what types of plants you were seeing.
However, there was Jeff's butt.
And the trees weren't all that bad.
So despite its boringness, the trail went along with the rest of our day - relaxing.
Mammoth Hot Springs - given how much yellowstone literature plays up this area of the park, Jeff and I were dissapointed to find that it really wasn't that impressive compared to other sights in the park. This incredibly white rock is created by microorganisms.
The hot springs were so boring that we decided to make a side trip to Montana and then return to the springs.
Climbing/hiking to my perch.
This is the view into Montana. Wooowee! Boy did I have a fun time climbing to this place.
This is the view into Wyoming. Can you see Jeff? He is in this picture. Follow the trail in the bottom right of the picture and you'll see him.
Jeff's path...the straight and narrow. But there are no pets and no bikes.
These bugs make a loud buzzing noise when they fly.
We then returned to the hot springs. Our previous trip had been to the lower terraces. These pictures were taken at the upper terrace.
The views were certainly unique.
How does a tree exist here?
More hot springs.
We then flew our way back down the upper loop towards our campsite.
This here is a popular swimming hole. People would climb down below and jump in the river. It didn't flow very quickly in the wider sections.
Surveyor medallion...history! These things were in a number of locations.
Jeff took pictures of himself, although he seemed to have focusing difficulties.
No lady this time.
