An early start to catch the “ Wake Up the Animals tour [that took off] at 6:45. We and another couple were taken [ in the dark ] to Lamar Valley (the Serengeti of Yellowstone ). We saw many, many bison and elk, some quite close to the vehicle. We also saw lots of ravens. The high point though, was watching 4 wolves as they scouted a herd of elk and the elk used various tactics to fend them off. While Larry was on the road watching [ eyes in the binocs ], 2 coyotes trotted past him about 10 feet away. Overhead a couple of bald eagles soared and swooped. The whole trip was amazing and the scenery was spectacular. We went back at the hotel around 10:15 and did a quick trip to the Visitors Center to get trail maps. We walked to a couple of the hot springs near the hotel here at Mammoth then picnic’d in our room. After lunch we headed out on a tour to the Norris Geyser Basin (VIDEO). We had the same guide, Paul, but a very different experience. A van picked us and a family of 5 up at the hotel at 12:15, but it only took us a couple of miles. We transferred to a Bombardier snow-cat vehicle and were issued with ear plugs. We then proceeded over hard-packed snow roads, stopping at a few points of interest. There were few animals, none close up. But there were amazing hot springs and areas with many steam vents across a pretty broad area. We saw frozen waterfalls and steaming streams full of [ tropical ] vegetation. There were snow drifts and areas where the ground was hot enough that the snow didn’t stay on it. At the Norris Basin we hiked for about an hour and saw many manifestations of geothermal activity – several “constant spouters” – small geysers that sploosh out water every few seconds or minutes, and steam most of the time. The most impressive was Steam Boat Geyser. It had several 10 foot eruptions while we watched and many smaller ones. It apparently has 70 foot eruptions fairly often and “major” (!?!) every few years. Then a noisy rough ride back to the hotel by about 4:45. [ a few drink in the room, dinner, and that free hot tubing, a musical slide presentation from a guide, put us to bed real early.
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