A Day in Yellowstone…

…and what a day it was. We entered the park at the East Entrance which is about 2/3 of the way down the eastern edge of the park. Driving around the northeastern edge of Yellowstone Lake, we made our first stop at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center. The girls decided to attempt to complete the requirements to become Yellowstone National Park Junior Rangers during our visit. This was a nice addition to our trip, as their Junior Ranger newspaper curriculum added to our understanding and insight into Yellowstone’s wildlife, plants and geology.

For those of you who are familiar with Yellowstone, from the East Entrance we drove counter-clockwise around the loop from Fishing Bridge to Canyon Village to Norris to Madison through the Lower, Midway and Upper Geyser Basins, then onto Old Faithful, through West Thumb, Grant Village and out the South Entrance. We spent about 8 hours in the park, stopping at all the ‘must see’ locations on our route and, while it was a long day, we only barely scratched the surface of what could be experience at these places.

Our next stops took us to Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron, geologic hot spots where molton rock deep below the surface cause wild, other-worldly thermal events. There are hot springs which are angry, sinister looking pools that are filled with hot, boiling, sulfurous smelling water. There are mud pots which are just what their name implies; mud filled ponds except that they are BOILING, devilish cauldrons! There are fumaroles which are vent holes in the earth which belch steam like some sleeping dragon (steam because the vent doesn’t have enough water to be a hot spring). From the girls’ Jr. Ranger materials we learned that water boils in Yellowstone at about 199º F and that some thermal features can reach as high as 280º F, guess that’s why they had the signs telling people not to step off of the boardwalks…duh. These signs were sort of funny because they had a cartoon scene with a kid standing in a mud pot getting the *&%@!! burned out of him, while his cartoon mother stood aghast on the boardwalk with her hands on either side of her mouth and a “Mr. Bill…Oh No!” look on her little cartoon face. We had a good family chuckle as we recalled the Scamper Family we wrote about whose kids were climbing all over the Badlands formations…right next to the sign that said STAY ON THE BOARDWALK. We concluded that we hoped, for their own safety, that the Scamper Family never comes to Yellowstone.

The next stop on our tour took us to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We took the South Rim Road that led us out to Uncle Tom’s Trail and a view of the Lower Falls. Then we continued on to Artist Point and a view of Upper Falls. Spectacular, colorful views. Awe inspiring grandeur. Gorgeous canyon wall colors in combinations you have never thought to combine. Forceful, pounding, rolling, rollicking, foamy water dropping by the thousands of gallons every moment you watch.

When you see a scene such as this, with a 1,200 foot drop and a waterfall with a force that would kill in an instant you realize how very small and insignificant we are. It is a scene to be viewed with awe; a location to be respected for its ability to cause one’s untimely demise…if stupidity were to prevail. And yes…stupidity does prevail, even in the face of clear and present danger; signs that warn explicitly of the danger and tell you EXACTLY what to do and not to do. And so, while we were awed and amazed by the grandeur of the scene, we were also treated to the personification of stupidity in the person of a young man of about 20 who had climbed outside of the railing and was walked around on the rocks, precipitously hanging over the 1,200 foot drop. One misstep, one slip of a shoe and this dolt would have been doing a Wil-E-Coyote impersonation…only there would not have been a cartoon funny ‘poof’ as he hit the canyon bottom. Luckily for him, he didn’t misstep…at least while we were standing there.

From Canyon Village we moved on to the Norris Geyser Basin, reputed to be the hottest spot on earth, where Sveta and I hiked down to the Artists Paintpots…and stayed on the boardwalk. This area really does look like a sand stone colored canvas floor with massive ‘paint pots’ dotting the scene. The paint pots appear to be pools of azure blue, aquamarine and turquoise green. And…amidst this artist’s scene, lying somewhere deep below, must be sleeping dragons with only their nostrils and mouths at the surface, alternately snorting out puffs of steam or belching up splashes of boiling, watery bile. Sveta and I loved this spot and could have walked around the whole area, but alas we had to move on and so we headed back up to the Cozy Den where Nadya, Bob and Daisy were taking a short rest from driving.

Our final stop of the day was at Old Faithful, which is spewing less frequently than previously, but still faithfully nonetheless at about every 90 minutes. It had sent its spray just moments before we arrived, giving the girls time to finish up their Jr. Ranger materials while we waited and all of us the opportunity to watch a 10 minute Park Ranger educational talk about geysers and Old Faithful. It’s pretty amazing to watch this natural water display. As we waited for the big event, a steady column of steam boiled from the hole’s top. At about the predicted eruption time, the tease of eruption began. Massive splashes, gurgles and throat clearing spurts of white were launched 3-4 feet into the air. Then nothing. Then a huge column of steam. Then nothing. Then more throat clearing. Then, finally a massive column of boiling water and steam shot high into the sky against the backdrop of a gorgeous blue sky. It’s something to behold…pretty cool.

We had a terrific day and were left wanting more. As with the Mount Rushmore area, we could have stayed here for a week or more to really be able to experience and appreciate Yellowstone. To cap off our day, we were given one final animal sighting treat (in addition to the 6 moose, lots of bison and several pronghorns)…a sighting of a two year old grizzly bear!! As we were heading out of Yellowstone, there were cars and people littered everywhere and three park rangers beside the road…a sure sign of something worth seeing. We crossed over a bridge and about 100 feet down and 70 yards off in the marshy field the bear was plodding along, unaware of the commotion he was creating.

Lucky for us there was a turn out just across the bridge. So parked the RV and the girls and I grabbed our cameras and ran back to join the crowd. By the time we had hoofed it back to the bridge, the bear had meandered along being below the west side of the bridge to now being on the east side of the bridge…perfect for sun behind us attempts at photos. Watching this bear meandering along eating something taste every once in a while was a perfect ending to our day. The last thing we watched the bear do was the perfect image of what we ourselves were intent on doing: he flopped down on his tummy, right in his tracks to take a little nappy.