Hey Boo Boo, Have
you seen my pick-a-nick bas-kit?
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| Very little light pollution at Yellowstone |
Yes, I was feeling it from the previous nights festivities
in Bozeman, but Yellowstone National Park
was calling loudly so I couldn't sit around all day licking my wounds. "Ok, ok, Yellowstone, take it down a
notch, have some sympathy!" Firstly, I filled my belly at Bozeman's great Co-Op then stocked up on groceries and beat it down to the west
entrance of Yellowstone.
I began by driving down "Geyser Alley" and upon seeing the multitude of vast
plumes rising high into the air, I wondered if the entire park was not ablaze as it was in 1988 when 36% of the park caught fire in the parks largest recorded wildfire. Fortunately is was steam from the geysers just giving the appearance of smoke.
Down at the Old Faithful Visitor Center I
received some educational tidbits. Established in 1872, Yellowstone was the first
national park created in these here United States. It's one of the largest and
also has two thirds of the Earth's geysers. Thanks to the heat loving microbes known as "thermophiles" not only does it have yellow stones, but it also has tan, red, orange, green
and blue stones! Additionally, Yellowstone happens to be one of the
most geologically active areas on the Earth with lava a mere 3-8 miles below
the surface. The funny thing is that the 45 mile diameter Caldera is so huge
that once you are in the park it's easy to forget that nearly the whole thing sits on
a massive volcano. Notwithstanding the evidence staring you in the face in the
form of 1000's of hot springs and geysers, of course.
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| Old Faithful |
Long ago there was an initial massive eruption 2.1 million years in the past,
another one 1.3 million years ago and the
last eruption happened 640,000 years ago. So it erupts about once every 800,000
years. Or about once every 300 million days. By my calculations that means that you are
nearly as likely to get swamped by or doused in lava while visiting the park on
any random day than you are to win the Mega-Millions
Lottery! I wonder how many lottery players conveniently dismiss those odds
while betting their lives by entering the park? Seems to me that your life is a
much heftier bet, but then what's a few bucks donated to the State? I guess
those punks "Just feel Lucky!"
Of course, you're pretty much obligated to watch Old
Faithful blow its top and since it goes off every 90 minutes or so
there is no excuse not to and I did. However, the first couple of days I was
entranced by The Great Fountain Geyser which has built up terraces by
spewing out minerals for eons and has created a beautiful multi-terraced base
which happens to catch and hold water and sunsets equally well creating wonderfully mirrored
reflections. The bad news is that it only goes off once every 12 hours and the
predictions are + or - 2 hours so it's difficult to catch the eruption which
can reach up to 200 feet high when it's strong. Even with the wide prediction
latitude the park's predictions for Great
Fountain were woefully inaccurate the first two days I tried to be witness
to it. Or maybe it was just taking time off for the Labor Day Holiday, I
don't know!
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| Great Fountain Geyser (not "geysering") |
Oh well, the park is HUGE and there is lots more to
discover so off I went. At Black Sand Basin and Biscuit
Basin there is no shortage of smaller geysers and colorful springs. A
little past Madison Junction there is the Gibbon River and Gibbon
Falls. In the northwest section there is Beryl Spring and Monument
Geyser Basin along with bubbling colorful mud pits in the area known as
Artist's
Paintpots.
I tried to stop at Norris Geyser Basin, but there was
no parking. So much for waiting for Labor
Day to pass to thin out the crowds! It was too bad because it is the park's
largest geyser, although it rarely has a full eruption. It must be getting old!.
It didn't seem worth circling endlessly for a parking spot just to see a half
erection,...uh,.. I mean... eruption so I continued driving north. Next time
I'll bring a viagra to toss into it. (Incidentally, a big no-no. Don't toss
anything into the geysers or springs, it clogs them up!)
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| Mammoth Hot Springs Terrace |
Down the road Obsidian Cliff used to be filled
with volcanic glass, but was a disappointment since it has been picked dry by
thoughtless visitors over the years. Sheepeater Cliff provided a nice
view, even to a vegetarian's eyes. As did Swan Lake, although I left after the
first intermission. Ballets always bored me. Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces
are another very impressive array of mineral terraces that don't just form the
base of a geyser but cover an area of a few football fields and are enhanced by
a multitude of colors!
Part II
Driving towards the east part of the park you can stop and
have a gander at Undine and Wraith Falls which are nice, but
neither one will take the cake for being the park's most impressive. Continuing
east you can take Blacktail Plateau Drive for a slow off road adventure along a
road less traveled. That is unless you have a new Mustang like the one that went just ahead of me and now is missing
a piece or two! The views are great if you can make it through though.
Down the road there is a stop to check out the last remaining Petrified
Tree out of the three original that were there before souvenir hunters
took away the other two, literally piece by piece. Tower Falls is available to see,
although again, it won't even come close to taking first prize in the category
of Yellowstone's Falls. I debated on whether or not to go out the northeast end
of the park into Lamar River Valley which is fairly sparse, but is said to be a
good wildlife viewing area. In the end I decided to head further south seeking
out yet another dirt road climb up Chittenden
Road towards Mt. Washburn (10,243') where the Grizzly Bears are said to frequent.
Bear sightings, both Black
and Grizzly, are fairly common in Yellowstone and I was really hoping
to shoot one (with my camera), but I
didn't have the luck to be in one of those "right
places" at one of those "right
times". I did, however, get to see a very nice rainbow in the evening
and as I was hiking back down the mountain in the morning after my bear hunt I
came a across one lone Bison. He was kind enough to pose for me and then
decided to follow me back to the parking lot where I was able to get about 6
feet away while hiding behind the corner of Mage(van) for protection. You really don't want to get much closer,
those mammoth creatures are surprisingly quick and nasty when they decide
they've had enough of you!
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| Brink of Lower Falls |
Continuing south along this massive parks figure eight loop
I stopped to walk along the Washburn Hot Springs loop and continued
on through Canyon Village. From there it was on to explore the North
and South Rims around the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which
happen to be the home of the park's King and Queen of waterfalls. There are
various spots to view both the Upper and Lower Falls and each
vantage point is worth seeking out, especially the brink of the Lower
Falls where I caught an incredible rainbow emanating out from the
bottom of the falls. The two best viewpoints are Artist
Point (go figure!) and Uncle Tom's Trail. It's even worth
every one of the 328 steps down Uncle Tom's trail. The 328 steps
back up the trail is another story and up for debate!
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| Lower Falls |
Continuing south there is
Mud Volcano and not far from
there is Sulphur Cauldron, which stunk by the way! Near to that is the Fishing
Bridge where you are no longer allowed to fish, but as you can guess
was once a popular fishing spot. Across the bridge is another visitor center
which is a fine example of old timber construction on a large scale and has a
nice wildlife exhibit. It also rests on the shore of Yellowstone Lake if you'd
like to get a little beach time.
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| Yellowstone's Natural Bridge |
Further east you can picnic by the two quaint little lakes, Sylvan
and Eleanor. Or if there is too much oxygen there you can always go a
bit further and stop at the much higher elevation of Sylvan Pass between "Twin Peaks", Avalanche
and Grizzly Peaks. On the way back into the main thrust of the park
it's worth a short steep climb up to Lake Butte Overlook for an expansive
look at the Yellowstone Lake and the surrounding mountains. From there I
was treated with a "fire in the sky"
sunset that was leaves you wondering if the sun hasn't exploded.
Part III
For some reason the power was out the next morning at the Fishing
Bridge General Store, but luckily the registers were on UPS power
supplies so I was able to get my morning's cup of joe before they ran out of juice.
I circled back around to the Old
Faithful area to further explore the less faithful geysers in the area as well as the famous Morning
Glory hot spring which really is gorgeous. After catching Castle
Geyser erupt I made my way to take photos of Excelsior Geyser and Grand
Prismatic Spring which is nearly as colorful as Morning Glory only much,
much larger.
Thinking that the third time might be the charm I went back
to the Great Fountain Geyser to hopefully see it erupt. I did get
another great sunset view there, but alas it didn't go off during the daylight.
However, patience and perseverance were to
pay off when after sticking around past dark, a group of determined
individuals trained their headlights on the fountain and around 9pm I finally
got to see the grand spectacle.
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| Grand Prismatic Spring |
The following morning it was showing signs of getting ready
to do its thing again so I got to see it repeat, this time in daylight.
Afterwards I drove to Fairy Falls Trail, not to see the
falls, but to get to a vantage point where I could get all of the Grand
Prismatic Spring in camera frame. It was a very steep climb up, but the
hike down after getting my shots was the really tricky part.
So that is the short (kinda) synopsis of my 8 days Yellowstone. On that final morning I picked up two
Yellowstone employees hitching to the lake on their day off to do some
kayaking. I dropped them off in the Thumb Village area, said good bye to
Yogi and Boo Boo and promptly continued
south towards some of the highest peaks in the U.S., the Grand Tetons. Tune in
again to find out what those bodacious tatas have to offer........
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