Because I Can: Yellowstone National Park, Mammoth Campground, 1st Two Days

Day 76 Monday August 29, 2019 Yellowstone National Park, Mammoth Campground, day 1

68 miles towing

We actually set the alarm on Marsha’s smart phone to get us up at 06:00. That used to be the time I left for work and didn’t need alarm clock to get up in time. That’s what retirement does to you. We made coffee and was out the door at 07:00. The sun was coming over the trees at Baker’s Hole.

Sunrise at Baker's Hole before we left.

We entered Yellowstone at the West Entrance. We were headed for Mammoth Hot Springs which is 5 miles south of the North Entrance, which is in the little town of Gardiner, MT.

I love seeing this sign when I'm driving down the road.

We continued on the West Entrance road where we could see some of the source of the smoke and a pretty morning picture against a rock wall.

The water in the foreground is the Madison River.

There are no hookups or dump station in Mammoth so we planned on stopping at the Madison Campground to dump our tanks and take on water. The dump station was closed! It appeared the whole campground had been repaved, including the dump station, but the sign said it was closed due to freezing conditions, which made no sense. Now that I couldn‘t go through the dump station, I had to turn around. We drove into the campground and started seeing that the loops were also closed. When we got to F loop, it was open and we drove through it so we could get back out. What a set back.

We HAD to dump our tanks and take on water. We would be in Mammoth for over a week with no hookups.

Continuing on, Marsha took some photos of some hot springs and rock formations as we came into Mammoth Hot Springs. Marsha loves taking pictures of cliffs and rocks.

Some hot springs we went by on the way. Not uncommon in Yellowstone.

These white boulders are about a mile before coming into Mammoth Hot Springs.

More white rocks.

Coming into smoky Mammoth Hot Springs.

We proceeded into Mammoth and found out our favorite spots were not available and she assigned us a less favorable one. We had a chance at 47 if 39 vacates because the guy in 47 wants to move there, opening it up for us. After registering we went into the town of Gardiner to the Yellowstone River RV Resort and paid $8 to use their dump station. By the time we returned to Mammoth, the 47 to 39 swap was complete and we were able to set up in site 47. It is a good site, but 46 and 48 are our favorites, each time we come here.

After setting up, Marsha made a nice breakfast of corned beef hash and eggs on my new camp stove with her cast iron skillet. We spent the rest of the morning just sitting out. It was bright and sunny and I set up the solar panel.

Another big chore we needed to take care of was laundry, so we went to Gardiner to take care of that. While Marsha was doing laundry, I went and got gas, ice, and 20 lb. tank of propane. Also washed the dirty, dusty truck. We were done with all that by 3:30 in the afternoon.

Something we always do every year we are at Mammoth is go get pizza at the K-Bar in Gardiner. Well it just so happens that the K-Bar was just across the street from the laundry place and we got all our errands done. So we went to the K-Bar and got a pizza. The waiter came over to talk to us. He remembered us from last year. The pizza was as good as it always is. We’ll hit it again before we leave Mammoth.

Returning to the campground we saw an old friend from two years ago. Jean from site 49 when we had site 48. She’s the one who was alone who had been to Alaska that summer. We both had Casitas. She still does. We stopped by to chat with her.

Back at the campsite it was 85^o. We had no ambition and spent the remaining part of the day doing nothing.

Day 77 Tuesday August 30.2016 Mammoth Campground, day 2

Sat outside with coffee and a nice fire. Speaking of fire, here are some pictures showing the haziness of the smoke.

The cliff across the way is almost hidden.

Here's a view of the same cliff on a clear day.

At 11:30 left to go fishing on the Gardner River, which is across the way from the campground, behind the park employee housing, down in the valley. The river is very braided so there is a lot of channels to explore. Some worthy, some not. There were five other anglers up river from me that already hit some of those stretches. I tried hoppers which is a staple at this time of year. Except, for some reason the hopper crop this year is way down, even though it was a drought year. Dry weather is usually good for hoppers. Got a few hits, but no hook-ups. Switched to nymphs and had better luck. Caught three small brown trout on the day.

While fishing a pool across from a cliff face, looked up and had four elk standing in a riffle at the end of the pool watching me. A few more were on the hillside. Got pictures.