Last week, we were in Yellowstone National Park, which is famous for being the first national park in the world. It was formed in 1872. There is a super-volcano underneath Yellowstone, and the Park contains 500 geysers, which is half of the total in the world! There are thousands of other hot springs and mud pools too.
Old Faithful
We started our visit at Old Faithful, which is the best known geyser in the world because it erupts so regularly. As we were waiting patiently for the eruption to start, water started gushing out of the top, only a few feet in the air to begin with. That was the sign that the eruption was about to start. The water then shot out the geyser about 60 feet in the air for around 3 minutes. It was really wicked.
Mother grizzly bear
Another day, we were driving along the side of the road when we saw a big crowd of people looking down at a mother and a baby grizzly bear running down the side of a hill and into some trees. It was really exciting because it was the first grizzly bear that we had seen in Yellowstone. We had also encountered a small black bear on the side of the road the previous night, and on our last day we saw a massive grizzly eating an elk carcass only 60 metres away from us. My dad didn’t want it any closer than that!!!! We also saw a Coyote, herds of elk and bison and heard wolves howling.
Professional photo of Coyote taken by Cameron
Bison Herd in Lamar Valley
On our way to a new campsite late at night, we were driving around a windy road and came across a Rangers car with its blue lights flashing. There had been a rock fall onto the road, which my dad had to maneuver through before any more rocks fell.
The next day we were up on the hills hiking, and we found lots of animal bones. Dan was putting them together in different ways to create new species, and we called one of these “Scorpadragon”! Ollie also found 3 empty bullet shells lying on the ground, and then Dad and I found 8 more!
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
“Scorpadragon”
Ollie and I enjoyed doing the Ranger Program that involves learning lots of things about the National Park to earn a Park Ranger badge. Yellowstone is fascinating because there is so much to see everywhere you look. There are geysers, mountains, waterfalls, a beautiful canyon and loads of cool wildlife. I would like to visit Yellowstone again and Ollie wants to become a Park Ranger!
My Ranger badge
Ollie’s Ranger badge
Wow Yellowstone looks fantastic, so sorry I missed it. A great post though Cameron, all counts towards your English schoolwork. Tell Dan it’s amazing what you can do with a masters in science- a whole new species no less!
Awesome adventures Junior Rangers !!
Hi Cathy, Rob and Lani
We are now going to hopefully earn our Grand Canyon badge too!
Glad you enjoyed Yellowstone as much as Dan did! Got to put that on my list of places to go – thanks for giving me the heads up Cam! Just one worry – is the weather messing up your hair??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love to you all xx
Hi Auntie Julie
Yes the weather was messing up my hair but luckily I had my hair brush back at the RV.
Awesome report Cameron! A great read. say “Hi” to Ollie, Dan and Dad and Mum when you see her, yeh! Buy, Nick
Hi Nick, Mum got here last night. We are heading to the Arches National Park next. Will tell you all about it on our next blog!
Hi Cameron and Ollie, good to hear that Mum has joined the party. You are having a great adventure and we are following your travels day by day. Some of the sights you are seeing are truly awesome and we can’t wait for your next report. Give our love to Mum, Dad & Daniel
Hi, yes I am here now and very glad to finally be back with my family, and to share in these amazing adventures !
Hi everyone – Just wanted to wish our lovely Oliver a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hope you’re doing something amazing today, lots of love from Auntie Julie, Uncle Chris and Adam xxxx Dan can give his own birthday greetings, lucky thing!
I loved the dinosaur museum for my birthday treat, there were lots of big bones and an Earthquake simulator. Thanks Ollie X
It seems as though every day of you’re trip is an adventure,keep on enjoying. Pop / Nan
Thanks Nan & Pop, we are really enjoying our trip so far and it’s a great adventure. Looking forward to seeing you in Australia, we have heaps to tell you! Cameron xx
Hi Ollie, I hope you didn’t think we had forgotten you on your birthday. We haven’t read any reports from you so we were wondering if you have been eaten by a bear or swallowed up by a larva hole but I think you are probably still eating that enormous pizza that we saw you with earlier on in the trip. Whatever you are doing , have a great birthday and we shall look forward to seeing your smiling face on some more pictures from your travels. Lots of love Auntie Sheila & Uncle Ian xx
We have finally finished our pizza and the bears didn’t get us yet! We have seen some lizards and Kaibab squirrels which are interesting because they are rare and they have pointy ears like a knife and they are black with white tails. Ollie X
Hi Cameron just read your report about the kaibab squirrels are they anything like the ones we get in northallerton ya now the ones you get in the chippie on the stick “kebabs” sounds like a great holiday are you eating any other strange creatures or are they all protected. Watch those bears they could mess your hair up and you don’t want that do you 🙂
Your awesome cousin charlotte
P.s happy birthday Ollie
P.p.s happy birthday cam when it comes
Hi Awesome Cousin Charlotte
The Kaibab squirrels were delicious but they were not on a stick so we had them on a bun instead with a bit of mayonnaise making them perfecto-mundo! Ollie had a corn dog on a stick, which he says tasted disgusting and so we don’t think anyone would want to protect them anyway. Cameron x
Hi Cameron, Just a little note to wish you A Very Happy Birthday. How does it feel to be 10 ..? Glad you are having such a good time. You will have lots of stories to tell your friends when you get back home. We are really looking forward to you coming to Australia. Pop and I are going up to the Sunshine Coast soon to look at holiday accomodation .Give our love to everyone. Nan & Pop. Xxxxx.