Yellowstone is still busy in September!

We are in a line of traffic to get into Yellowstone National Park.  We have been to Yellowstone in the fall before - when we lived in Billings.  However, it was not crowded at all at that time.  We were surprised by the crowds which included young families with children.  I am continually surprised by changes caused by the pandemic that I did not anticipate.  

Since we couldn’t get a campground for Friday night we are staying at the Absaroka Lodge and we left the camper in their parking lot during the day while we go into the park.  We line up to get in the park around 9.  Although there is a line, it moves quickly.  We decide to check out the side drives this time around and we plan to see Lamar valley today.  

Lamar Valley is teaming with Bison herds and we stop and look at those.  We take a side drive to Slough Creek trailhead and saw some Bison along the creek as well as Pronghorn.  We decided it was a pretty spot for lunch so unpacked our chairs and picnic and sat and enjoyed the scenery.

 

Afternoon we hike part of the Lamar River Trail (see picture).  Phillip found petrified wood in the river!  Before going back to the hotel, we visit Mammoth Hot Springs.  It has changed so much since we first started coming to Yellowstone.  It is so disappointing since it has basically dried up.

 It is a wonderful evening, sun shining, pleasantly cool temps.  There are Elk wondering all around our hotel which is on the river. We walked over to the Cowboy café for dinner since we are staying in a hotel.  We got our order "to go" and sat outside on a picnic table.

Our route for this day: