Day 3: Yellowstone River

Hello y'all,

Before I talk about what I did today, I received some questions about the Lewis and Clark Caverns.

1. How is the temperature?
It was pretty cool. I personally liked the temperature in the cave, not so cold that you got goosebumps, but not so warm that you would get sweaty form walking all day in there.

2. Are they damp?
I couldn't tell how damp the cave was, since I didn't touch the cave itself. For climbing down stairs, I always used a handrail. Touching the cave is very destructive because the oil on your hands gets on the wall, which makes the water that builds up stalactites slide right off. Same goes for touching already made stalactites and stalagmites.

3. Did it smell?
The cave smelled like rock, kind of metal-ly. Even where there were bats, it was pretty much odorless.


4. Was it slippery?
No. I never had trouble staying upright. The cave has just the right conditions to make it so that there was water to make stalactites and stalagmites, but not so that anything was slippery.

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The Yellowstone River is quite a river. Today, I kayaked it with my aunt. It was easily the coolest river I've been on.
The river comes from Yellowstone lake in Yellowstone National Park, and drains into the Missouri River. There was no shortage of views. Throughout the river, you could see mountains, some of which still had snow on them.

In the picture to the left, you can see just how wide the river was. Below, you can see snow, if you look carefully between the mountaintops.

The two pictures below are of a bald eagle. On the left is from far away. On the right is a cropped version, zoomed in.

Along where we stopped for lunch, we saw mules. They were very friendly, but quite nosy.

The trip, overall, was very relaxing. It really is like nothing else to be on a river surrounded by mountains. Someday, I will definitively have to return and hike a few of them.


I recorded a one minute video of the river, viewable right here. This is not the last you guys will be seeing of this river; you'll see it again soon. Tomorrow, I am going on the Beartooth Highway to my aunt's daughter's house. The Beartooth Highway is supposed to be one of the most beautiful highways in the country, so I'm pretty excited.

Till next time,
Ben