Our journey from Gillette, Wyoming took us westward initially to Sheridan which is known as the King of Cowboys. It is interesting that each town seems to call themselves the King of something. As we wanted to continue westward we did not linger other than to have a wander through the Main Street in and out of some if the cowboy shops. Were we tempted to outfit ourselves with cowboy boots and hats - no! Onward to Cody which is another Wild West town. We followed the Big Horn Scenic Mountain Highway for about 100 miles and we only passed through three settlements and one of these, Shell, only had a population of 10. We had initially thought we would have driven into Cody further south but there was a forest fire and the road was closed and had been for sometime. By taking the mountain pass we saved over 200 miles extra which was required if we had to follow the highway further north into Billings, Montana then drop again into Wyoming. The road was a good quality two lane highway but had long steep climbs that was vehicle testing with the caravan behind. We stopped at the top at Shell Falls before continuing on to Cody. The area is widely used for recreation including boating, fishing, water skiing, snow mobiles, camping and hiking. Cody was named after the original Buffalo Bill whose name was William Cody. We had two nights in Cody to give us time to visit the quite famous Buffalo Bill Museum. This museum is run by the Smithsonian of Washington DC and is very highly rated amongst museums. It is advertised as five museums in one and your ticket allows for two days access. It was extremely busy - over four million people visit Yellowstone each year and Cody is the closest town and provides services to the east entrance some 52 miles to the west. We basically spent all day at Buffalo Bill museum viewing the five sections. It is very interactive and the displays are excellent. It tells the full story of the Native Americans, the arrival of the expedition explorers, wagon trains, Wild West Cowboys, natural history and natural wildlife, art, guns and ammunition plus much more. In the evening we attended a gunfighter show which is a nightly show outside the Irma Hotel which Buffalo Bill had built in grand style named after his daughter. To say the show was a let down was an understatement. We were sorry we had wasted our time and money. Cody is the King of Rodeo (had to be something, just like all the other King places) and the rodeo is held nightly in summer. We have been to a couple of rodeo now and felt that this one really offered nothing new and after our gunfight experience gave it a miss. We decided instead to visit Old Trail Town which is a series of original authentic buildings, furnished with artefacts and antiques of the day, from the district that have been brought together in the formation of a town. These include a school room, saloon with bullet holes in the door, homestead, cabins, etc. The hideaway cabin used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is also there. It certainly was a different kind of museum and brought the history alive. Throughout our travels over the last six weeks we have seen a lot of snow supports along the side of the road and in paddocks. These wooden structures capture the blowing snow and form a wall of snow. This helps to keep the road clear and apparently the cattle sit behind it and use it as protection. From time to time we see areas where it is marked that snow chains must be fitted, and then a few miles further on a pull off where chains can be removed. On our way to the East Entrance of Yellowstone we stopped off at the Buffalo Bill Dam. This huge dam was built in 1905 and must have been a mammoth task. From the visitors centre you can gaze down 295 feet below to the Shoshone River. The dam was initially the brainwave of Buffalo Bill (hence it was renamed in his honour) to provide irrigation to the North West. This dam has been so successful it supplies water to six towns plus supplies daily irrigation to farmers across north west Wyoming and some of Montana turning the dry arid countryside into very productive land. The dam captures the huge snow and ice quantities as they melt and releases the water on a daily basis as required throughout the year. It originally had a capacity of 456,000 acre feet but this was increased to 650,000 acre feet when the dam was raised 25 feet seven years ago. We have seen a huge amount of irrigation and wondered where all the water came from as often there is no obvious river or stream. From the East Entrance of the park it was 26 miles into Lake Village where we stayed at Fishing Bridge RV camp for five nights. Let's start by saying Yellowstone is huge and covers 2.2 million acres. The loop road alone is 142 miles. There are over 4 million visitors a year. We made our reservations in February as it is so popular it books out quickly even though there are thirteen campgrounds and numerous cabins, lodges and hotel rooms associated with the historic hotels which are still in operation. So you can imagine, we were not here on our own and everywhere there were people and cars! Yellowstone was the first designated national park in the world (1872) and 2016 marks 144 years. We divided our travels into a section for each of the four full days. Firstly we visited Old Faithful named as it is the most predictable geyser as it erupts every 90 minutes. Eruptions are as high as 180 feet and can last for up to five minutes. Lucky for us we arrived just as it started to erupt and in fact we saw three eruptions. Leading off behind the Old Faithful geyser there Is a three mile board and trail walk leading through the various geothermal areas. We definitely were not on our own as we headed off on that trail! We finished our walk with the customary visit to the Old Faithful Inn. This is one of the historic hotels within Yellowstone and is an original wooden structure which was very lucky to escape the 1988 fires which devastated large areas of the park. Our second day we headed north west to Norris Geothermal area and Mammoth Hot Springs. We expected to take about an hour plus to drive to Norris but didn't factor in the wildlife. Just fifteen minutes from our camping ground we were held up on the road through Hayden Valley by bison. The bison herds in Yellowstone are wild and wander the park so can be seen anywhere. They are huge - the males particularly. There were also lots of calves. As many drivers are not used to cattle on the road, and many have rental cars so are fearful of receiving a dent, the drivers seem to just stop rather than attempt to drive on. The Rangers were there attempting to keep the traffic moving but with a herd of around 500 bison and lots of cars stopped we were held up for nearly an hour and a half. Eventually we made it to Norris and enjoyed the largest display of geysers in the park. We continued on to Mammoth Hot Springs which quickly became my favourite area in the park. The terraces formed by the cascading terraced stone and mineral laden hot water. I thought of the pink and white terraces that were part of the geothermal area in Rotorua until they were destroyed in the Mt Tarawera in 1886 and can only imagine that this was what they must have looked like. They were magnificent. After completing the trails we visited the Mammoth Hotel which is the only historic hotel in the park which remains open all year. We planned our drive back to the caravan for between 6.30 and 8 pm which is apparently the best time to see the wildlife and we were driving near the Lamar Valley area where they are most likely seen. They say that Yellowstone is where the bears are - let me tell you that disappointingly we didn't see one of them! Bison, yes, wolves apparently were well in the distance, elk and moose yes but sadly no bears. We did see the petrified redwood tree which is in a small forest of preserved specimens of ancient plants and trees. We also stopped off hoping to complete the trail to see the 132 foot Tower Fall however most of the trail was closed so we only saw the waterfall from the top. We were staying in the Yellowstone Lake area in the RV Park. This camping ground does not allow any tents or canvas sided caravans because of the frequency of bears coming out of the forest. No food or BBQ's can be left unattended and all the rubbish bins have special catches so that the bears cannot access the waste. Some of the other camping grounds in the park, which are further away from known bear territory, do allow tents and canvas but still have the food security rules. There is no internet available in the camping grounds or the visitors centres and very limited telephone service. We visited the historic Lake Lodge each morning and paid their exorbitant fee and connected to the Internet for a few minutes and while there one morning I made use of their laundry facilities (paid my $9.50 charge) to avoid the queue at the camping ground. The Rangers do provide their educational talks plus escorted hikes and we attended a couple of these including joining a tour of Old Faithful Inn and another of Lake Hotel. These were particularly interesting. Day three in the park we visited Grant Village which is a new visitors centre and camping ground on the south shore of Yellowstone Lake. Each of the visitors centres has a different theme and this one was fire in the park. We walked the short West Thumb Geyser Basin trails. This is a smallish area located on the shore of Yellowstone Lake and has geysers, hot springs and bubbling pools. From here it was on to Bridge Bay where there is a marina for use by privately owned and hire boats and the scenic trips leave from there. We had considered an evening boat trip but with thunder and lightning about these were cancelled. Our last full day we visited Mud Volcano before continuing on to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We walked the Artists Trail along the South Rim for spectacular views of the colourful canyon and also the two major waterfalls which are 109 and 308 feet respectively. After walking the south rim we drove to the north rim and walked sections of this as well as drove the length to Canyon Village. It is impressive to say the least. Mud Volcano was again very much like visiting the geothermal area in Rotorua in NZ. However, this time we had a very large bison standing very close to the board walk and as it is recommended a distance of at least 75 feet this created a problem. After waiting quite a while the bison sat down with his back to the board walk so along with others we continued along the trail. We loved our time in Yellowstone. It is no wonder that there are so many visitors during the summer as there is much to see and learn, plenty of places to relax, shop in the General Stores, great choice of eateries and places to stay. The pedometer recorded we walked 67 kilometres in the week - seems a bit high to us but that was the recording. No wonder we felt tired at the end of the day. We can only imagine what Yellowstone must look like in winter when all but Mammoth Hotel and a couple of lodges are open and the rest are winterised. I am not sure we will ever see it in winter. Our son and a friend visited last Christmas and stayed in Snow Lodge near Old Faithful so I must check out his photos!