See that hill in the distance? Joe, Mallery and I walked across the highway, and took the next pictures from on top of it. 
From on top of the hill, I was looking north toward the town of Gardiner. 
Sorry for the quality of the picture. It was starting to get dark and my camera is not very good with dusk pictures. From this point, I am looking west. Our campground, Mammoth Hot Springs is below us on the other side of the highway. Above the campground, the village of Mammoth Hot Springs sits. 
Looking east are the Absaroka Range of the Rocky Mountains. 
Joe and Mallery checking out the views. I know the hill looked small, but it really wasn't. It was very steep going up. 
Another view of the campground below. It sits in a valley, next to highway 89. 
This is a picture of another hill on the other side of the highway, north of the hill . We climbed it a couple of days before, but I didn't take any pictures. 
Joe caught this rising moon over the Absaroka Range. (some what enlarged picture verses next pictures.) 
Almost over. 
He must have got bored because this was his last picture. I guess you could call this picture over the mountain.7/27/2010
The next day we decided to follow a trail that seemed to go down and along the Gardner River. We got down to the river, but it left us on a peninsula of the river with no exit. We needed to get across to the other side to finish the hike along the river. Joe made his own trail through a bunch of very tall weeds and brush (which I didn't like much) and we found a narrow spot where we could jump across a narrow creek. We finally got across to the other side of the river and continued our hike. 
These are the only flowers I could find on this hike. None of them were blooming yet. 
Part of the river wall had cracked and was ready to fall into the river. "Don't get to close", I told Joe. 
As we continued, we saw this up lifting of rocks, with deep crevices. I thought to myself, " A good place for snakes." 
We walk by. Picture # 16 ( read on to see why I numbered this picture) 
Looking back on our trail. 
All of a sudden, I yell to Joe, " A snake". Can you see the snake? 
Here is another picture of it as it gets closer. 
It crossed over the trail we just walked on. 
It was a really big one. 
I hate snakes. I don't hate very many thinks, but I hate snakes. 
I talked to a lady in Gardiner, who said they had a lot a rattlers and bull snakes in that area. Joe said it didn't have a rattle at the end of the tail, so it must have been a bull snake. 
Close up of it. 
It slithers down toward the river. I went back through my pictures and noticed another snake in Picture #16 in the bottom left corner. You might have to double click the picture to enlarge it. I don't think this is the same snake, as the snake I photographed was a few steps farther up the path. 
We finally get where we have been heading , the Boiling River. 
This is where a hot spring enters the Gardner River. 
Children are standing in front of the hot spring that is dumping into the river. 
We looked down the river and saw other people soaking in the river. 
Another shot of the hot spring creek before it dumps into the river. 
It was time to head back to camp. We didn't bring our swim suits or towels. Check tomorrows blog for our experience in the Boiling River for a soak. 
As we followed the river I kept my eyes pealed for big snakes. 
We took another route on the trail home so we didn't have to go through tall weeds where icky, scary snakes could be. We had to take about 8 breaks for me to get up the hill. 
At the top of the hill, we walked along the highway back to camp.
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