Day 1 at Yellowstone (September 3, 2025)

We stayed at a VRBO in Gardiner, at the North Gate to the park. Our first stop was the travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs. Interactions of hot bubbling water and limestone create the travertine.
 

We saw our first bison on the road to the Petrified Tree. I think Tom blew this up at least 10 times. We weren't any where near this close. The safety rule is to stay at least 100 yards from bison, known to toss selfie seekers in the air. 

When you see humans with phones out, you can guess there's a black bear in the woods. We modern people are so removed from Nature that seeing a bear napping behind brush at the base of tree is mesmerizing.

Above the 132-foot Tower Fall on Tower Creek are rock columns that formed when lava flow cooled and cracked. You've heard about the Yellowstone super volcano yet to come, right?  Cue disaster movies 2012 and Super Eruption. The creek merges with the Yellowstone River 1,000 yards away.

Hey, the sign only said you can't go over the wall. It said nothing about STANDING on the wall. The park ranger still honked his horn to make Tom get down. I usually ask for the car keys before he does these things. You know. So I don't have to scramble down 1000 feet of rocks to retrieve them from his pocket.

An elk grazes on the lawn at the Mammoth Springs Ranger station.