My plan was to spend another day in the national park before leaving the park heading west for a little detour.

One of the memorable sights along the way was the petrified tree which was the last of three preserved trees before tourists destroyed the other two by removing bits as souvenirs. It’s quite astounding how this group of trees survived the elements for so long while all the other trees (there must have been more) and the material around them that caused the trees to petrify have already withered away.

This is solid rock:

More wildlife. This time a bear feasting on the local vegetation.

Spectacular views everywhere.

Just like the day before I noticed my helmet visor suddenly being all lose. I checked it and found that this time the opposite screw was causing the problem: It had simply disappeared. I would have had to take the visor off altogether which would have been fine in the park but would not on the highway where I would collect 100km/h flying bugs inside my helmet. Looking at the empty screw hole I wondered if I could re-purpose anything I had on the bike to restore the visors function. It looked like the hole was the same quarter inch screw size that camera mounts have and I happened to have such a screw with me from a simple little magnetic mount for the GoPro Camera that I built for my panniers.

It fit perfectly. The mechanism worked smoother than ever before. Now I just had to make sure that in case of a crash I would not fall onto my right side. Easy.

The hot springs continued to look quite inviting even in the warm weather.

Seeing this you’d think the air was cold and that’s why the surface of the water was steaming.

Another bubbling death trap.

This one looked particularly inviting. A pool of steaming, thick, bubbling, boiling goo.

The fact that these trees had time to grow before they died shows how quickly the landscape in this area changes.

Despite the warm cloths it was not unbearably hot as long as I was driving or in the shade.

At a little creek I took the opportunity to cool off a little.

By poisoning the local fish.

A little later I even discovered a waterfall where swimming was not only allowed but encouraged.

Another canyon revealed an incredible geological pattern which otherwise could not be seen.

A little later I found a gravel road which brought me to the top of a little mountain.

The view reminded me a bit of the alps at home during summer. I took a little break enjoying the soothing silence.

The only crowded spot in the park was one of earths biggest and apparently the ‘most photographed geyser’, Old Faithful. Ideal for tourists, its eruptions can be predicted and occur in some 15 to 30 minutes intervals.

The wait is worth it. Like Old Faithful many geysers announce their imminent eruption by an increasing amount of steam followed by the slowly rising spout of boiling water. Old Faithful reached it’s maximum height within half a minute and subsided again another minute later. It’s stunning to get a glimpse of the power at work below earths surface.

Another exhausting yet hugely satisfying day was coming to its end. The sun was starting to set and it was time to look for a place to sleep.

I heard that there was supposed to be a camp site at the southern entrance of the park. The chances of it not being fully booked were again slim but since I didn’t have many alternatives I gave it a try. I wished I could have just put up my tent at one of the lakes but as much as I and the 600 bears in the park would have liked that it was not allowed so I kept looking for the camp site.

I found it a little later and walked to the end of a cue that had already formed there. I asked the two ladies ahead of me if they knew if the camp site was already closed but they didn’t know since they were just there to get some water to continue their trip. It was a big surprise when I heard them continuing a conversation in the German dialect that only exists in my home town Vienna. We chatted a bit and wished each other and said good bye after I luckily received yet another last minute camp spot in the park.

I set up my tent in the dark and an hour later I also had a fire burning. Remember the bison I saw the previous day? It tasted quite well.

There was a little general store next to Old Faithful where you could actually buy bison meat. It tasted much like beef but it was even more lean and had a bit of a sour aftertaste. I’ll probably stick to beef but it was not bad.

After dinner I spent another hour looking at the stars and enjoying the silence around me while the fire was slowly dying.