It was time to move the RV to our next adventure campsite, way North in the park - Mammoth Hot Springs. Since Kyle had been planning all the stays and stops, the Sottung girls had done no research and had no idea what to expect. It was fun that way. Lots of surprises.
On the road, we played yet another round of "Name That Jam!" There were about 30 people neatly lined up on the side of the road, super-lenses poised on tripods, waiting patiently for something. We looked up the hill, over the field, into the woods, but didn't see anything. "What are they looking at?" As we slowly navigated through the jam, Kyle shouted, "Oh! It's the Wisconsin Mascot!". He was so excited, he had to pull off, contribute to the jam, and get a photo of the badger. The girls waited in the car.
We stopped to let a mini-herd of bison ramble down the highway. Stopped to see Roaring Mountain, a full, rocky hillside spewing sulfur steam out of every crevice. Saw our first elk with big, fuzzy antlers. Then a giant rock dildo. Sorry, but, that's what it looked like. It's actually Liberty Cap, a dormant hot spring. But it looks like, well. . . you know.
We parked the RV at Mammoth Springs Campground and learned that campfires were allowed! Yay! We could have our first cookout that night. The campground host said we could find some great cuts of meat in Gardiner, Montana, just a few miles North, out of the North Entrance.
But first, we went to see Mammoth Hot Springs. "Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flows into Mammoth each day in a solution). Although these springs lie outside the caldera boundary, their energy has been attributed to the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas."
It was pretty. Orange and yellow steaming rivers bubbling over layered, pod-like pools. It looked like rusty marshmallow land. We had fun, but then decided to go pick up our campfire meat.
We drove to Gardiner and bought hotdogs and brats and fresh vegetables for kebabs. When we stopped to buy ice cream, the lady told us if we just waited for ten minutes, we would catch the parade. Everyone rode horses, dressed in their Western best, the Yellowstone fire truck came by, and there were lots of pack mules. And they threw candy.
As we were piling back in the car after a pizza lunch, Kyle said, "We could go rafting." Everyone was silent for a few seconds. "Yeeeeeeaaaaah!" was the unified response. We got back out of the car and walked over to the rafting shop right across the plaza. They were ready for us, and we were ready to go.
We squeezed ourselves into damp wetsuits, picked out close-enough-size, already wet, water shoes and headed down to the river. None of us had been rafting before, so we were all really excited! Mary Lou was worried that the Yellowstone River was too high and too fast, but "pappa-bear" our guide, assured us, it was safe. We got a quick lesson of proper sitting, paddling, and command taking and we pushed off.
Wheeee! The first set of rapids blasted us with icey cold water, but amazingly, it wasn't that numbing. It was totally worth it. We paddled through the rapids, each getting blasted by different whitecaps coming from all directions. We stared up at the passing mountains and caught sight of osprey nests in the trees above us. It was invigorating. And now, we could officially count Montana in our list of states visited.
It started to rain just as we got the campfire up to cooking potential. Laura made the kebabs and held the umbrella, while Kyle turned the brats, and Nicole ran back and forth to keep the wine glasses filled. Nothing like smoking your dinner! It was delicious and we followed it up with a rubber match of Pitch and some smores. Kyle would run out in the rain, toast the marshmallows, and bring them back inside where Laura had neatly laid out the chocolate on the graham crackers. We stayed up as late as we could, because the next day, Kyle and Laura had to head back to Jackson Hole and then catch the flight home the next day. Their vacation was coming to an end.
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