Yellowstone National Park 2010 – Day 1

Yellowstone National Park – more than 2 million acres of erupting geysers, steaming cracks, bubbling mud, roaring waterfalls and fantastic, other-worldly views – spend a day here, and it’s obvious that our Creator had a sense of humor.  Yellowstone, is a joyous, happy, noisome park; the phrase “bubbling over with joy” would certainly apply, as the various thermal locations hiss, spew, bubble and spray.

When we began our day, we were surprised to find the truck windshield covered with frost, but it didn’t take long for the sun to start warming up the day, and by the time we reached Old Faithful, the temperature was comfortable.  As we neared the first thermal features of the park, the steamy fog was thick.

 

When we were here last year, one small section of the park was closed for road construction, but we knew it was an area we wanted to return to see.

On that visit, we arrived at Old Faithful mid to late morning.  After watching it’s display, we decided against taking the mile plus boardwalk along Geyser Hill, just behind Old Faithful.  That walk was first on today’s list.

Old Faithful gained its name by being just that, faithful.  Thousands of gallons of steaming water thunder into the sky on such a regular schedule that the park personnel can predict the next eruption within a 20 minute window.  We arrived within that window, so decided watching would be our first action of the day.  Having seen its dramatic show last year, we were a little surprised at the display this morning.  Due to the cold temperature of the surrounding air, and the hot temperature of the spraying water, all we could see was billowing steam… lots of it, but the water was completely shrouded.  Still, an impressive 3 minute display:

  

Geyser Hill is dotted with several small geysers congregated in a small area.  You  never know when the one in front of you will decide to erupt.  Capturing photos at just the right instant can be a challenge.      

After circling the hill, we took a few minutes to tour the newly opened Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, an impressive 27 million dollar facility.  As we looked at the many interactive exhibits, a ranger announced that Old Faithful was due to erupt again shortly, so we decided to watch again.  This time, we were not disappointed.  The eruption lasted 3 minutes, and surely reached it’s average eruption height of 130 feet.  

From Old Faithful, we drove to Biscuit Basin, containing another circular boardwalk and the trailhead for both Mystic Falls and Fairy Falls.     

Mystic Falls was our destination.  The round trip is 3 miles, which doesn’t sound like a difficult hike until you consider that you are starting at 7,000 feet elevation and climbing a switchback trail to an overlook more than 700 feet higher.  We found that we had to stop frequently to let our heart rate and breathing slow, but the hike was very rewarding.

   

From the trail, we could see Old Faithful, several miles away, erupting again.

 

The steep trail finally brought us to the overlook, where the view over the caldera was outstanding.

The Yellowstone caldera (caldera comes from Latin for "cooking pot") measures roughly 34 x 45 miles.  From the overlook you can see the western wall of the caldera.

The trail continues for almost another mile before reaching the falls.

Mystic Falls probably got its name from the thermal activity in the area.  The 70 foot falls is the only one in Yellowstone that has thermal activity.  Although you cannot see it in the photo, steam was rising from several vents alongside the falls.

Our return hike took us along the Little Firehole River.

Back at Biscuit Basin, we admired more of the features along the boardwalk.    

Last year, we to0k the short Firehole Lake Drive and were rewarded with seeing one of the geysers beside the road erupt.  We decided to drive through again to see if there was any activity today.  We were not disappointed.  As we neared White Dome geyser, it began to shoot up water.

With a cone height of 20 feet, and an orifice of only 4”, it puts on quite a display, and rewarded us with what I thought was one of the best photos of the day.

Finally, deciding our sore muscles needed rest, we headed home, currently 22 miles southwest of West Yellowstone.  Ironically, we never even got to the stretch of the park we set out to see this morning!  Guess we’ll just have to come back tomorrow!

Yellowstone – America’s Playground

Day 1 in the Park

When I first saw the nickname, “America’s Playground” for Yellowstone, I wondered why   was this park tagged America’s Playground… why not any other National Park in the U.S.?  But after visiting the park, I realized the reason.  It’s not where America goes to play, it’s where America plays!  This park’s ground is alive!  You cannot watch the bubbling mud pots, the frisky geysers shooting into the air until you start toward them, or the exuberance of Old Faithful without smiling.

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Nowhere in the world are there as many aqua thermal spots as in Yellowstone … more than 10,000 of them.  The ground around them stays hot to the touch.  It surprised us that we could be cold emerging from the truck, but needed to remove our jackets while walking the boardwalks in the thermal areas.  It’s like being in a gigantic steam bath.

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    The caldera, or basin, measures approximately 30 x 45 miles.  Boardwalks have been erected throughout the areas for the safety of visitors, but they often have to be moved.  New eruptions occur daily, often too close to the walks or roads.  We actually saw a couple of places where steam was rising through the gaps in the boardwalk, and one place where the road had collapsed.  We were told there is one section of road that they have finally decided to leave gravel.  When they replace the asphalt there, it keeps melting.

Old Faithful lived up to its reputation of being predictable. We were told it would erupt within 10 minutes of 2:30.  At 2:31, it began.  The show lasted for almost 4 minutes.  Old Faithful’s height ranges from 106 to 130 feet; it erupts every 90 minutes.  It’s mind-boggling to realize that 3700 to 8400 gallons of water are expelled with each eruption.  The temperature at the site just before eruption is 204 degrees.

This shot was just at the start of the eruption (more photos are in the slideshow – link below)

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The main roads of the park are divided into two loops.  We decided to take the lower loop today, which included Old Faithful.  We have parked the trailer for the week at Wapiti, about 30 miles east of the East entrance to the park, so that we wouldn’t have to pull over the mountain passes with it.

Each loop of the park takes a good day to see, with all the stops.  We were gone 11 1/2 hours today.

I took so-o-o many pictures.  Those of  you that know me well can imagine.  It’s been hard for us to choose just a few to put into slideshows to upload.  Day 2 in Yellowstone continues below the slideshow link.

Day 2 in the Park

Our second day started with a bit of excitement when a grizzly was spotted across a field.  We stopped and watched it for some time through the binoculars, but it was too far away to photograph.  We had hoped to see at least one grizzly, moose, and eagle, but this was our only glimpse of either.

Although Day 2 contained thermal features, the topography of the park was quite different than what we saw the first day.

After a brief stop at the LeHardy Rapids (Yellowstone River), we spent quite a bit of time in the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron area.

The first major feature you approach at Mud Volcano is the Breathing Dragon Cave.  It is easy to see how it received its name; you can almost imagine that it’s going to belch forth fire at any moment, and from its accompanying descriptive sign, used to have quite an eruption before earthquakes in the 90s changed its behavior.

A short boardwalk takes you on a loop through the area. We were there in early morning, and the steam was so concentrated, it was hard to view the features.

Canyon Village includes the “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” and the Upper Yellowstone Falls and Lower Yellowstone Falls.

Uncle Tom’s Trail (named after an early ranger) drops over 500 feet to near the bottom of Lower Yellowstone Falls.  Decades ago, the trail involved over 500 wooden stair steps and rope ladders.  Thankfully now, there are only 328 steps; at 8000 feet altitude, it’s still considered a very strenuous hike.  With a few misgivings, we decided we had to give it a try.

We were so glad we did; the view at the bottom was well worth the climb back out.

The falls thundering down into the canyon was magnificent, with a “rainbow” in the spray at the bottom; we would have loved to stay all day.

Many colors paint the canyon walls, and it’s easy to see how Yellowstone earns its name. The next photo is a view of the falls from Artist’s Point, just a little down the road.

Seeing the falls from the bottom of the trail was probably our favorite part of the day… but we were just starting the 70 mile loop that was our destination for the day, and it was already after 2 p.m.!

The road on the west side of the loop climbs through the mountains to Mammoth Hot Springs.

The main attraction at Mammoth Hot Springs is the terraces. Heat, water, limestone, and rock fracture combine to create the terraces.  The area is in a state of constant change. As formations grow, water is forced to flow in different directions. The constant changes in water and mineral deposits create a living sculpture. You almost feel as if the inside of a cave has been transported above ground.

There’s an eerie feeling.  You feel as if you’re in the center of a winter landscape of snow,  yet there is hot water bubbling out of the stone.

We have perhaps been in more beautiful parks, but never a park as amazing as Yellowstone National Park.

For more photos from our second day in the park: