yellowstone part 3 : what's that smell?

I know that the holiday season is in full swing (I think the leaves are even starting to turn in Southern California!) but let's take it back a few months and return to Yellowstone and our last leg of the visit to this National Park. On the southeast route, we hit a few tourist grabs--the Sulphur Pits and Yellowstone Lake.

The pits were the second prehistoric flashback I experienced in the park (the first, The Petrified Tree, you can read about here). These pools of mud and steam abruptly disrupted the smooth dirt of the forest floor. The odor emanating was absolutely disgusting--yes, it really does smell like the most rancid rotten eggs. It was almost like a game to see how long you could withstand the stench to snap some photos.

 

Yellowstone Lake was much cleaner. And stench-free. And, even though we were just coming from our city on huuuuuge Lake Michigan, this body of water was impressive. Lake Michigan doesn't have any of those shadowy mountains in the background, either (on a clear day, though, you can see the smokestacks of Gary).

Exiting Yellowstone, you practically drive directly in to Grand Teton National Park (hint, hint--that's what I'll be posting on next in this series).

Want to remind yourself of the whole shebang? You can read my posts on Yellowstone here and here. I can not recommend a visit to Yellowstone enough. I can't wait to go back and stay for a week--camp, hike, see the geysers, see more of the lake. There are so many gorgeous mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, falls, plateaus in this one National Park. I would even be so bold as to call it THE quintessential American National Park. That's right, I said it.