Norris Geyser Basin, Lewis Lake

Wednesday September 9, 2015    Day 43    Yellowstone N.P.   Madison Campground, site B44, day 2

Had our coffee and breakfast inside.  Another cold morning in the 30’s.  Oatmeal to warm us up.

I was discouraged at my fishing experiences of recent.  I felt like I don't know how to fish anymore.   So I’m going to take the day off.  We all need a break from the day to day grind of trying to catch fish.  But wait!  A bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work.

One place we haven’t seen in the park is the Norris Geyser Basin, even though we pass by it on the way to Mammoth when we come in from West Yellowstone.  We went to check it out last year and the parking lot was completely full and all jammed up.  We decided to do it another time.  Today was that other time.  We got there at mid-morning and it was already full.  But someone was leaving and we got their spot. 

There are two trails you can take, Porcelain Basin (0.6 mile) and Back Basin (1.6 miles).  We took them both.  Took lots of pictures of pools, mud pots, fumaroles, geysers, thermophiles, and lots of steam and hot water gurgling out of the ground.  Just look at these pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A mile away is Norris Campground and along the entrance road to the campground is an old log cabin that houses the Park Ranger Museum.  We went inside and looked at the exhibits and saw a 30-minute movie of the establishment of the national parks and the National Park Service.

Back at the campground we ate lunch we both took showers. 

Then on to more exploring.  I’ve always wanted to see the campground at Lewis Lake near the south entrance to the park, so we went to check it out.  It’s about 30 miles from Madison, maybe a little more.  But that’s 30 miles riding through Yellowstone National Park.  We followed the road to Old Faithful area and kept on going.  We stopped at the Grant Village area to check that out.  It’s near the junction of the Loop Road and the South Entrance Road.  Grant Village has a lodge, campground, store, gas station, dump station, laundry, info center . . . It’s the largest campground in the park with over 300 sites.  We saw a few loops that were nice, but we see no reason to stay in this part of the park. 

On the way we went over the continental divide three times.

The Lewis Lake campground is much smaller and the sites are small and uneven.  It is a tent campground for the most part.  Only small trailers, like the Casita, would work here.  It was a pretty campground but none of the sites are on the Lake.  Lewis Lake is a very large and beautiful lake.  Well, now I’ve seen it.

We have seen every campground in Yellowstone now.  Mammoth is our favorite.  Madison is OK and has sites big enough for our trailer and larger.  The only other one that can accommodate us is Fishing Bridge, which is basically like a private RV resort and is $50 per night.  But it has full hookups, laundry, showers, store, etc.  Closest town to Madison is West Yellowstone, 14 miles away.  At Mammoth, Gardiner is only 5 miles and is a smaller, less crowded town. 

Part of our plan on the way back was to stop at Old Faithful Lodge and have some food and beverages in the lounge.  The main dining room requires reservations unless you want to wait for an hour or two.  We were looking so forward to a nice leisurely meal (bison burger or something like that, with a Moose Drool).  The sign at the entrance said “No Food Served After 5:00”.  It was 6:00.  We were so disappointed.  We checked in with the restaurant and they said there was a 90 minute wait.  So we left and went back to the campsite.

Old Faithful Lodge.

We are getting low on food and we had cheese and crackers, and hot dogs for dinner.  But we had a nice campfire while we were eating this delicious dinner.  We sat out until about 8:30.  It was getting chilly.