Firstly a few facts about Yellowstone.

1. It was America's and the worlds first national park officially set side in 1872.

2. A large portion of the park is with in the caldera of an active 'super volcano. The earth's crust in the area is extremely thin which results in a lot of sisemic activity (2500 earthquakes per year) as its located on the boarders of two tectonic plates and also its famous geysers. Basically if it erupted it would wipe out most of the west coast and central west USA - its last eruption was the third largest identified in the history of the planet, around 100 times larger than Mt St. Helens. If it blew some predict that it would be a cataclysmic event similar to that that wiped out the dinosaurs (big global ash cloud, plants die then eventually all plant eaters etc etc etc).

3. It's a bloody big park which is located across three states Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

4. It is the only park in the US with all the large land mammals. Black bear, grizzly bear, elk, moose, bison, wolf, deer, coyote, mountain lion etc. It also has a wide range of environs and scenery from mountains, to lakes to forests and canyon lands - it basically is the park with everything.

Saturday was a big day for us in Yellowstone National Park. We started early to beat the massive crowds (even larger due to 4th of July long weekend), initially checking out some hot springs and geysers followed but a short hike down Yellowstone Canyon and falls which were quiet impressive. Checked out the visitors center which had great info on the siesmic nature of the park and the supervolcano. We then went on a three hour hike to Fariy falls (not that impressive) and Imperial geyser. On the way we passed the Grand Prismatic Spring which was one of the most amazingly beautiful sites that I've ever seen with its turqouse blue waters edged with yellow (sulfur) and rust stained rocks. Fortunately the hiking trail wasn't accessible to the main tourist viewing area so we didn't have crowds and we also had a hill to climb to get a better view and photos - for this one the photos actually look great and do it justice. Imperial geyser was also worth the walk as it was like a mini version of the Grand Prismatic Springs - the best bit was that we were the only ones there - but I did get attaccked by dinosaurs. It was a full day but we saw a lot of neat stuff - without a guide we wouldn't have seen half this stuff in twice the time.

One amusing note is that our little Dutch friend decided not to put sunscreen on yesterday (despite being reminded by our guide) and now has red arms and legs to match his red shirt and shorts!

Driving around Yellowstone is similar to going on safari in Africa, except for the fact tht you can get out of your car once you see animals. There are animals everywhere particularly the elk, bison and dear species. Over the two days here so far we've seen beaver, marmot, elk, bison, coyote and squirrels.

Last nights campfire got a bit out of hand. Kevin decided to see how many marshmallows i(aka fluffy bunnies) in his mouth. The rules of the contest were simple you placed a marshallow in your mouth and then had to say ' fluffy bunny' for it to be counted and hold it there for the next marshmellow. No chewing or swallowing was allowed, you had to hold all the marshmellows in your mouth. He achieved five on the initial run until Nic took up the challenge and managed six. At this point I had a go and couldn't do more than four and I have a new respect for the other two. Kevin not to be outdone had another go and managed seven fluffy bunnies. Nic got smart at this point and ceeded the rematch letting Kevin take the title. The scary bit was that we weren't even that drunk.

This morning we went and visited Old Faithful the parks most famous geyser. We got there early to beat the crowds that were in the main viewing area and climbed the hill to get a higher vantage point (and with less tourists. Old Faithful goes off pretty much like clockwork every 40 minutes. So we climbed, waited and saw the erruption.....the highlight was the playing marmots on the way bak down from the observation point.

Presently heading for The Grand Tetons (boobies in French) and then Jackson for the next two nights. Ciao.