Summer Vacation 2012: Day 8

On Friday morning, we woke up early to go see the Mud Volcano area before we packed up and headed back toward home.

Some birds along the way.

A geothermal area along the side of the road.

The mud volcano area is made up of several muddy pools with gaseous bubbles and sulfuric acid. Some of these pools have erupted and spewed mud in the past, but aren't doing that right now.

This pool was bubbling quite a bit. You can see mine and Bill's reflections in the steam.

Since we were up early, the Mud Volcano area was nearly deserted. Bill and I were walking along the boardwalk and came upon this buffalo. He looked up and gave us a very menacing look. There are many signs all over Yellowstone saying that tourists have been "gored by buffalo." Needless to say, we gave him a wide berth...

One of the bubbling pools steaming in the morning air.

The Black Dragon's Caludron is a very large pool. It's difficult to see its size here, but you will be able to see it in the compilation video.

A bubbling puddle.

This pool had so many gaseous bubbles coming up that it actually created waves and a mini shoreline.

A sulfuric stream.

This is what I think of when I see this robin:

I love this movie...

I'm thinking maybe this robin has heard that a few too many times?

This steam really stunk like sulfur.

The pools in the Mud Volcano area are the most acidic in the park. In this spot, the steam has worn away the grate. It also discolored the wood railing and stone walls. If you look in the picture below, you'll notice that the wood is stained this dark blue color. This is from the steam.

A hole in the parking lot. I guess a thermal feature started to break through after they'd paved it?

After going to the Mud Volcano area, Bill and I packed up our camp and headed south through the Grand Tetons (K on the map) and all the way to Price Utah (L on the map)

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On our way out, we saw a large crowd of people stopped on the side of the road looking at this mamma grizzly bear and her two babies. They were very far away. This was the best I could photograph them with an 80x digital zoom.

Shooting Star flowers.

An Elk

He was done with us lol.

Below is my compilation of all the video clips from Yellowstone. Enjoy!

   
I recommend viewing this in full screen. If you have a good internet connection and computer, you can change the settings to 1080p.

The Grand Tetons again :)

Bill and I decided to go looking for some moose. We have been trying to see a moose ever since our Alaska trip two years ago and we heard this was the area to see them.

  

Unfortunately, we didn't see any moose, but we found some pretty spots. 

We stopped back through Jackson, Wyoming for some geocaching and saw these awesome antler arches. 

Day 9 coming soon!

Summer Vacation 2012: Day 4

On Monday, we woke up to a gorgeous morning in the Tetons (G and H). The sun had come out and the clouds over the mountains had parted.

Bill making pancakes at our campsite.

Our tent.

The Tetons over Jackson Lake. Remember when they were covered in clouds?

Close up.

We weren't standing on a nice shore, but at the edge of a cliff.

This is the highest peak and was the hardest one to photograph without cloud cover.

These were growing everywhere. I'm not sure what they are.

The view from the boat launch area.

I took a picture from the dock this time.

The highest peak again.

After packing up camp and taking in our last views of the Tetons, we headed on the road toward Yellowstone. The two parks are connected, and it only took about an hour to get there. Our first stop was Old Faithful (I). When we got there, we realized that we had just missed it, so we headed out to Biscuit Basin (J).

The first pool at Biscuit Basin. Yellowstone is actually a giant volcano, so there are many geothermal features all over the park. This area contains many beautiful pools and geysers.

One of the "bacterial mats." These can be found in many of the geothermal areas of the park. They're formed  when layers of thermophile or extremophile bacteria grow in the hot, sometimes acidic water from the hot springs, pools, and geysers.

When these hot spings pop up, they slowly kill the trees and plants around them.

 It's not uncommon to see steam rising out of "fumerols" as you drive around the park.

 There are many areas of the park where there have been past forest fires. In some spots, it still looks like a moon scape, while in others, like this spot, the forest has begun to grow back. One third of the park was burned in a massive fire in 1988. More about that fire here.

 In this picture, you can see the wooden walkway through biscuit basin. These walkways were built to keep people off of the delicate (and dangerous) geothermal features, but we still saw plenty of idiots stepping off the walkway.

 A close up of the bacterial mats in the water.

 Sapphire Pool. You can see the "biscuit formations" around the edge. It used to have more until it became an erupting geyser for about ten years in the 1960s. The temperature of this pool is around 200 degrees Farenheight. 

 More bacterial mats.

Jewel Geyser. Bill and I didn't even realize that this was a geyser until it randomly started erupting as we were standing there.

 The layers of deposits around the geyser.

 Shell Geyser. We didn't see this one erupt.

 Bill with his wide angle.

 Elk tracks. Apparently the animals walk in these areas, especially when it's cold and snowy out.

Bill's cousin and son.

 He wants to do everything dad does.

Everything!

There is a river that flows right next to the springs and geysers at Biscuit Basin. Some of those springs flow into the river.

On our way up to the campsite (K on the map), we drove through Hayden Valley, known as the Serengeti of Yellowstone. It is a very popular wildlife watching spot. It's not uncommon to to see cars just randomly pulled over on the side of the road and people running around taking pictures.

 A goose.

 One of the many buffalo grazing in the park.

 It's hard to believe it's real.

 More buffalo.

Mama and baby.

Once we got to camp, we set up our tent and cooked dinner with Sean's family. Check back for my blog about Day 5!