Wild Kingdom

Day 9: Sept 4, 2011

Last night in the private campground, we made the most of the facilities. We charged every electronic device we have, as well as our giant auxiliary batteries. We enjoyed the very upscale shower facilities--the nicest I’ve seen in ANY campground EVER. And of course, I uploaded 3 blogs and a heck of a lot of photos. I didn’t get to sleep until 3 a.m. That was the downside, and I am incredibly tired tonight.

This morning we packed up, later than desired (as usual), and headed back into the park for one last day. My first priority was to find a campsite for tonight, otherwise I would have to call the private campground back and reserve our slot again. But I REALLY did not want to spend that much money, wifi or not! Luckily, however, as we came back into the park, we saw that all the campgrounds were open. We made a beeline for the Mammoth Campground in Mammoth Hot Springs, and snagged a fantastic site with an unbelievable view, for the ludicrously low price of $14 for the night. I said to Joe, I feel like I hit the jackpot this morning!

As soon as we had the campground issue settled, we headed into Mammoth Hot Springs to explore the Mammoth Terraces. These are geologic forms with springs much like the ones we’ve already seen, but they deposit a mineral called travertine in a unique terrace-like formation. We found them more interesting than we expected. We went on the lower walkway around the base of the huge structure first.

Then we drove up and around to the top, to see the upper level.

From Mammoth, we drove south toward the Norris Geyyser Basin. The road through this part of the park is pretty distinctive in many places. In 1988, there were huge fires in Yellowstone which destroyed many trees. The predominant tree in the park is the Lodgepole Pine. This tree has seed cones which stay sealed up for years in a waxy cover, until there is a forest fire. Then the heat causes the was to melt, cones to open and the seeds to drop into newly burnt area. The seeds have plenty of nutrients from the burnt trees, and of course all the sun in the world. So new Lodgepole Pines are born. All along the road, we saw tall white “poles” of the dead trees, with a thick new forest of green pines about 20 feet tall. They are all competing for sun and space, and eventually will be a mature forest. But right now, you would hardly be able to walk through them, they are so thick. It is so amazing how nature destroys one forest and reseeds another.
We stopped at a pullout for lunch before reaching Norris, with a view out our door of trees and a lake. I had the idea to take a walk down to the lake after we ate. But just as we finished, I realized that cars were pulling over maybe 50 feet further down the road ahead of us. It had all the hallmarks of an “animal jam”--cars stopped in both directions. So of course Joey and I got out of Mo and walked along the edge of the road to see what they were looking at. Suddenly I saw it--a bison was walking along the roadway, just inside the tree line, and was heading right toward us! We ran back to Mo and jumped in and latched the door, and only moments later this humungous animal walked right past our door, perhaps 10 feet away. He was totally oblivious to us, and kept going while I took a photo through our screen door.
We did take a walk down to the lake after that, but we were much more cautious, making sure we didn’t see anymore lone bison! The lake was beautiful and serene, and It would have been nice just to sit on a log and meditate for a while, but we felt like we should keep moving.
So we continued to the Norris Geyser Basin. Unfortunately, this was the one thing we saw or did at Yellowstone which turned out to be disappointing. I guess it’s partly because we’d seen all the other “hot spots”, and those geysers and pools were either more active or more beautiful. We went on a 1.5 mile walk around the “back basin”, and with the exception of Steamboat Geyser, none of the others did anything more than a slight bubbling here and there.

In addition, the wooden walkway was taken down so much of the trail was on uneven ground, and it was 90% in the hot sun. So we were sunburned, exhausted and disappointed when we finished--we could have used that hour to better use just chilling next to the lake, like I said!

From Norris, we cut across the center of the park’s figure-8 double loop, back to Canyon Junction. We decided to look at the Yellowstone Falls from the south rim views, which we skipped a couple of days ago. This was a great decision, because the one thing the Falls are NOT is “disappointing.” We first took the path down to the brink of the upper falls, and as soon as I caught a glimpse of the Yellowstone River roaring around the curves toward the drop, I started the “wow, wow, WOW!” thing all over again. It was simply spectacular--and that was the part BEFORE the water “fell” over the brink. You can stand right at the top there, and it is just mindboggling. So absolutely gorgeous.
Then we drove to Artist’s Point, and again the views were stunning. We were just sorry we’d skipped them two days earlier, because we’d have been there about mid-day. This time, in the late afternoon, the view was stunning but the camera simply couldn’t do it justice. The view of the canyon with the waterfall at the end is just completely amazing.
Cheered up by that, we decided to take a slight detour on the way back to Mammoth, and go back to the Lamar Valley to see if we could see any animals. It being 7pm by the time we got up to the turnoff to the valley, we were hopeful. What we had was another very intense encounter of the bison kind--we found people watching three separate herds (or maybe it was all one, all spread out). One group was right by the road, and just starting to cross, thus stopping traffic.
The second group was down in the valley crossing the river, and working its way up to the same point to cross the road.
And the third group was up on a hill nearby. As you can see from these few photos, they got VERY close to us.


We spent at least 30 minutes watching and listening to them. They were so cute--some rubbed their heads on the fenceposts nearby to scratch itches; I saw one mother nursing its baby after they crossed the road; the big bulls took turns standing in the road so no one could go past them. The best part is listening--they grunted and made these low mooing type noises that are very hard to describe, but are somehow so adorable. They are obviously talking to each other--all the single bison we’ve seen have never been talking or mooing. They are HUGE.
Then we drove back to Mammoth Campground. I drove the last part of the road when it got too dark for Joe to see well (see tomorrow’s blog) and it was dark by the time we got to the campsite. I was disappointed to have missed the sunset view from our site. But I did have one last treat: from our site, we could see the road leading up into the park, and the cars were all stopped. As I said, that means only one thing. It was virtually dark, but I could see large light animal shapes walking across the road in single file below us. I grabbed my binoculars and could see them clearly--they were elk, and were parading across the road and up into the brush nearby. They took their time, and there were a lot of them! I was amazed how clearly I could see them despite the darkness, but the car lights were shining on them so that’s probably why. It was a great end to the day’s wildlife encounters.

Water Water Everywhere

Day 8: Sept. 3, 2011

Today was all about water. We got a later start this morning, leaving Madison Campground after dumping and filling our water tanks. We headed south, planning to stop at all the places between Madison and Old Faithful which we'd had to pass up the night before.

Our first stop was the Firehole Canyon Drive, a one-way road along the canyon formed by the Firehole River. We spent most of the day by this river, which is warmed by the many hot springs which empty into it along its length. But at the north end, it forms a canyon and cascaded through below us.


We left the canyon drive and the road opened up again into that beautiful combination of blue blue water and green grasslands. There we found a mother elk and her calf resting along the river.
We took a short side road which led to a hot spring right at the edge of the river. Joe tested the water and said it was a nice temperature for a swim--not too cold. This was just the first of dozens of springs we saw today, spilling into the Firehole River and warming it up.
We continued down the road, and as we approached the Lower Geyser Basin, we saw the incredible, unworldly sight of steamy plumes rising into the blue sky.
We couldn't stop and explore them, however, because the parking lot was jammed! It was our first experience so far with lots of tourists, but I suppose only to be expected on Labor Day Weekend. We left the basin for later, and continued on to the next stop: Midway Basin. Again we had problems parking but we managed. We were determined not to miss Grand Prismatic, the largest of Yellowstone's thermal springs.

The pool is really too large to appreciate from ground level--I understand the thing to do is hike to the top of a nearby "hill". But of course we did not have time for that. So we did our best to appreciate the blue of the pool and the orange and yellow runoffs.
Nearby is the Excelsior Geyser, which is huge. It sends 4,000 gallons of boiling water cascading down into the river every minute! The vision of this runoff was incredible and I took a short movie as well as still shots of the steaming water rushing into the deep blue river.
I especially liked the patterns the water made as it ran out of the geyser--little terraces with bands of colors.
The view from Midway Basin is also wonderful, if you can tear your eyes away from the springs and geysers. If you look up, you can see the meadows which surround the hot springs, and the mountains in the distance. So beautiful!
When we left Midway, we were hungry, so we stopped in a pull-out along the river for lunch. This was our view out our door--dozens of hot springs steaming and spilling into the river.
After lunch we visited Biscuit Basin. What can I say--more delightful springs, these much smaller but very active. We saw several small springs which bubbled up and over, subsided and sank down into their "holes", and then bubbled up again--all within a 5-10 minute time span.
Finally we came to the Upper Geyser Basin, home of Old Faithful. The parking lot was mobbed when we arrived around 3:30, but we found Mo a place in the back of the Visitors Center area and trekked on over there. We picked up a guide to the basin, found out that Old Faithful was not due to erupt for another 80 minutes, and so we went to see the other geysers. The vista is completely other-worldly.
We saw lots of geysers, including Aurea, which erupted for us while we were still close to it.
Then it was time for Old Faithful itself--and we had a wonderful show. I had to take my iconic photo just like everyone else.
After the eruption, as we were walking to the Old Faithful Inn, we saw in the distance that Lion Geyser, which we'd seen a little while earlier, was erupting. Thanks to my zoom lens, I was able to capture a good shot.
We looked into the Old Faithful Inn to admire the architecture (and get ice cream!)
Finally we started back north again--we were hoping to get to our campsite tonight in Gardiner before dark, and it was already 6 pm. But of course we stopped along the way for Gibbon Falls
and for Roaring Mountain (there was no traffic, so Joe turned off Mo's engine and I could hear the mountain roar!)
and for a herd of elk on the lawn in the middle of Mammoth Hot Springs.
After that, we went as fast as we could for the last 6 miles to Gardiner. Despite the dusk, we could see that once again, the scenery was fantastic. We also passed a pair of mountain goats who were grazing right at the edge of the road--but not only was it too dark, my camera's batteries had run out. So with no more photos, we made it to the campground around 8:30, just as the last light was fading.

Wow. Just wow.

Day 7, Sept. 2, 2011

Our “wow” day started out with 9 hours sleep for each of us--much needed! Joe did all the driving yesterday (and driving over those mountains is stressful!) and I have been up late blogging every night. So we both were happy to have an early evening. Anticipating a cold night (the temperature was down in the 30s), Joe had set up one of our small propane heaters, which he turned on sometime in the middle of the night. We were all (including Roxy) toasty warm when we woke up at 7am. We dressed warmly, made hot cereal for breakfast, and were on our way by about 8:30.

We made a short stop at the Visitor’s Interpretive Center at Canyon, which has a terrific exhibit on the geo-thermal aspects of the park. I grabbed a few hiking guides for the various sections of the park, and after giving ourselves a fast overview, we decided to enjoy the fresh morning air. As we left the parking lot, we saw this guy grazing by the side of the road.

Our first destination was the North Rim Drive of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. The Upper Falls could be seen from the distance at our first stop along the drive, and it was beautiful.
We decided to follow a path, and suddenly found ourselves hiking 600 feet down to the brink of the Lower Falls. It was STEEP! We had almost as many switchbacks as we’d had in Mo the day before! But it was worth it when we stood right at the edge of the Lower Falls, listening to the roar and watching the waters rush past our feet and plunging 308 feet to the base of the canyon below.
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So our first hour was strenuous and we felt very virtuous, plus wowed by the views of the waterfalls and the Grand Canyon. From there we proceeded along the North Rim, stopping at each scenic overview for another “wow” moment. We were happy that it was so early, and not very crowded. One highlight: we were able to see an osprey nest at one stop, with the almost-grown chicks in the nest with their mom.

By the time we finished that and started south on the park’s main loop road, it was almost noon. We were driving along the Yellowstone River which widened out into the Hayden Valley. The blue of the river against the bright green of the grass was just amazing, and we were looking for wildlife--supposedly the valley is known for animals. We decided to stop and have lunch in a pullout facing the river, although no animals were in sight. We never did see any wildlife other than a herd of bison resting down below the road level, but the valley itself was gorgeous. As soon as we started driving again, however, Joey sniffed and said, “Is there a geyser around here?” Sure enough, we were driving past the Sulfur Cauldron. We stopped there, and the Mud Volcano area was just across the road. We spent some time with the mud volcanoes, which are not very pretty but are very interesting. They bubble and grunt and boom, and smell a lot too.
There was a film crew near one of the most interesting mud pots, and Joey exchanged a few words with them as we passed them on the boardwalk. They asked us if we’d mind being filmed and answer a few questions about the mud volcanoes for a show called Modern Marvels which they were filming for the Discovery Channel. Joey said, “Sure!” and they made me do it too. They asked us about things like what did we think of the smell! So Joe says, “I really don’t mind it--it’s kind of like a good fart!” The guy holding the microphone was cracking up and the guy with the camera was grinning too. Since I didn’t really think it smelled too great, they asked me to make the kind of face that would reflect the smell--I did my best to grimace painfully . We spent about 5 minutes with this silliness, and then they asked Joe to sign a waiver so they could use the film. I can’t imagine if they will, but it was very funny! Here is Joe signing away our rights…. I don’t *think* we said anything too embarrassing--he doesn’t consider his remark embarrassing, of course. LOL!
We were still giggling about that experience when we got down to Bridge Bay on Lake Yellowstone. The lake itself was simply breathtaking. We decided to take a boat ride onto the lake, which had been recommended in a blog that I read. So we went out onto the lake and got a different visual perspective on it all. We saw some of the oldest buildings in the park along the shore, saw a forest fire burning (the tour guide said it was a “small fire” and they are letting it burn, as they usually do), and learned all about the trout problem in Yellowstone Lake. The short story is: the only fish that was natural to the lake was the cutthroat trout. It lives at the surface of the lake and is a food source for dozens of species of animals and birds in the park. A few years ago, someone illegally introduced lake trout into the lake. These have proliferated in great numbers, and their prey is the much smaller cutthroat trout. The lake trout live in deeper water and therefore are less accessible to the animals and birds in the park (such as osprey) which depend on the fish to survive. The numbers of cutthroat trout have been noticeably diminished, and there has already been an impact on the other animal life in the park. The lake trout are being fished out with netting as much as possible, and fishermen are encouraged to come and catch as many as they can--there’s no limit. (Cutthroat trout have to be released after being caught.) It will be an ecological disaster if the cutthroat trout can’t be protected.

The boat ride lasted a very pleasant hour. It was 4pm when it ended, and we quickly set off down the lakeshore until we got to West Thumb Geyser Basin Trail. This part of Lake Yellowstone is an example of a small caldera, with mud pots, fumaroles, pools, springs, and geysers.
None of the latter are active, but there are examples of everything else. The pools and springs are simply gorgeous, and the mud pots and fumaroles decorate the area in random places happily bubbling or fuming away. We spent at least an hour there, and I was just in love with the views of the deep aqua pools backed by the darker blue lake and the bright white mineral deposits.
Adding to this was the multicolored algae at the edges of the pools and in the rivulets of water flowing out of the springs and down to the lake’s edge.
The lake bed includes geothermal activity also, and there are several cones and geysers surrounded by lake water or even underwater. The entire area is simply fascinating. I know we will see other examples of this kind of stuff tomorrow, but I fell in love with this small basin area at the side of the lake.

By then it was getting late, and we headed north toward Madison Campground, where we had a reservation for tonight. As we drove, however, Joey saw a sign that said "Kepler's Cascades”. He stopped there, and we discovered this fabulous place that I hadn’t even heard of before! It was probably one of my favorite sights of the day.
After that, we bypassed Old Faithful, the Midway Basin and all the tempting white clouds issuing from it, and all the other interesting looking stops along the way, in order to get to our campsite before dark. We never stopped looking for animals along the river as we drove, however, and just before reaching Madison, we finally saw an elk in the distance. She doesn’t have antlers, but at least I got a photo!
It was a VERY long day….. so full of amazing sights. The weather was perfect--it warmed up nicely and was sunny all day. This park is simply awesome. And tomorrow we have all the geysers to see. I am simply running out of superlatives! We could not have asked for anything better today.