While Celine and Sophia were napping I decided to go for a walk down to the nearby river. It was a great time to be alone and observe the natural essence Yellowstone had to offer. After they woke up we went looking for the boiling river so that night we could bathe (for the first time in 4 days :P).

     Evening arrived so after supper we went down to the boiling river and made the plunge but what we didn’t realize was that the water was either ice cold or scalding hot 80% of the time. There were only a select few spots that allowed for comfortable relaxing and even then you’d catch the occasional shock of cold or boiling water. Even though it was a painful experience and one that I wasn’t the fondest, of we were a little cleaner and less foul smelling.

     On our way back to the vehicle it was already dark and for some reason I was super paranoid the entire time. About 50 meters from the vehicle Celine and Sophia were joking about seeing a bear and then not a minute later they both went quiet behind me and told me to keep walking. As we approached the vehicle I noticed their speed escalating. Confused and somewhat panicked I asked what was going on and they simply replied by saying, “nothing,” and then full out ran. I followed suit and it wasn’t until we were back in the vehicle that they informed me of the massive bear print in the mud that was clearly not there on our walk to the river. None of us saw a physical bear but the size of the print they described made me thankful for getting back when we did. If it was just a black bear I wouldn’t have been too worried but judging by the size it was evidently a grizzly and at the time of year we were there the bears were feeding 20 hours a day.

     We safely made it back to the campsite and I think I slept with the bear spray in my sleeping bag that night ( just kidding that wouldn’t be safe :p). Anyways, the next morning we packed up and set off for the 10 hour drive home. Overall the trip to Yellowstone was a great time of relaxing and exploring an area I had never been before. The history, wildlife, and unique geological features definitely entice me to go back again but there are so many other amazing sights that I can’t wait to see. Thanks for reading this long, drawn out series and I hope to be able to get up to date with all the other small day adventures I’ve gone on.