Summer Vacation 2012: Day 6

On Wednesday, we said good bye to Bill's cousin's family and they headed back on the road toward Arizona. We decided to spend the day exploring the road to the east entrance (O on the map) and the West Thumb Geyser Basin (P on the map) until it was time for my kayaking excursion.

We spent a lot of the day looking for wildlife and of course saw...

More buffalo!!

Buffalo!!!!

I thought it was interesting that most of the flowers I found in this area pointed down. I'm not sure why.

One of the areas damaged by forest fires.

There were several interesting lakes on the east entrance road. They were small and shallow with interesting colors. Many of them had volcanic bubbles popping up in places.

We stopped to take pictures at this pretty lake.

I think this is an elk jaw bone.

Bill and I had a nice picnic by the river.

After lunch, we drove around the area and found this guy. Such a huge head!

I think this tree might be dying, but it's such an interesting color.

West Thumb Geyser Basin is located along the shores of Yellowstone Lake.

A bubbling pool.

Black Pool.

            

This is one of the mud pots at West Thumb.

Abyss Pool. This is the deepest geothermal pool in Yellowstone at 53 feet deep.

  The edge of abyss pool.

             

Seismograph Pool.

The area where Abyss Pool drains into Yellowstone Lake.

             

Fishing Cone Geyser. This Geyser has now become dormant since the water in Yellowstone Lake has shifted southward due to a rising volcanic dome (let that sink in--there is so much magma underneath Yellowstone that it is moving a lake). In the late 19th century and early 20th century, fishermen used to pull fish out of the lake and put it straight in the cone to cook it right on the hook. More about that here.

This is a geyser that has been covered by the migrating lake. If it were to be uncovered, the loss of pressure on top would cause an explosion. When I went kayaking, we actually went right over this geyser.

After checking out the West Thumb Geyser Basin, we headed over to the boat marina to meet up with the kayaking company. In my group was the guide, a father and son, and I. The kayaking trip was 3 hours long. That's a lot of kayaking! My arms, shoulders, and core muscles were definitely sore the next day. Yellowstone Lake is cold and it is difficult to bring a boat to the park, so the park of the lake we were in was empty. It was like we had the whole thing to ourselves. It was pretty cool! It's definitely a windy and somewhat choppy lake, so it's more like kayaking on the ocean.

The kayaking trip took us over to West Thumb Geyser basin. It was really cool to be able to see the geothermal pools and geysers from the lakeside. I took this picture with a waterproof camera and I got sunscreen on the lense right before the shot lol.

The sulfur scented steam rising from the geothermal pools. The wind was blowing hard right in front of the geysers, so it was hard to stay in place to take a picture.

The geothermal water draining into the lake.

The snow-covered peaks across the lake.

It was pretty sunny still!

Bill didn't want to kayak, so he drove over to the West Thumb Geyser Basin and took pictures of us in the water. 

This elk was just hanging out on the beach.

She was unfazed when we paddled closer and just looked at us. I think she was enjoying the view.

A storm rolling in...

The view from back on the beach.

An elk.

 More elk.

 Sunset across the lake.

I think those are the Absaroka Mountains.

The sunset had been mostly obscured by the clouds until Bill suddenly pulled over the car to look at this:

Can you see him?

This bird just happened to stop and land on that stump while I was taking a picture.

Day 7 coming soon!

Summer Vacation 2012: Day 5

On Tuesday, we woke up for our second day of Yellowstone. We stayed at Canyon Campground (K on the map), which has an elevation of nearly 8000 feet. It was chilly at that campground! The overnight low was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. I was wearing around four layers most of the time: thermals, a long sleeved shirt, zip-up hoodie, down jacket, and sometimes a rain jacket. There were bathrooms at this campground and I made the mistake of trying to wash my face in the freezing cold water only once!

                           

Our campsite. They keep the vegetation thinned out--probably to prevent forest fires.

At Yellowstone, you spend a lot of time driving. It's a huge park -- 3,472 square miles! On this day, we went to Lower Yellowstone Falls (L on the Map), Norris Geyser Basin and Artists' Paint Pots (M on the map), Old Faithful (I on the Map), and Grand Prismatic Spring (N on the Map). Google estimates that we drove a total of 113 miles that day, and that's just the bottom half of Yellowstone.

We hiked down to Lower Yellowstone Falls at around noon. It's a short hike that takes several switchbacks to get to a platform where you can view the falls. It's not bad on the way down, but the way back up was rough. I had to stop several times to catch my back with the steep switchbacks and high elevation.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I love the formations in the volcanic rock.

The Yellowstone river crashing through the canyon with snow still on the sides.

The falls.

A tree silhouetted in the roaring white water before it hits the falls.

On this day I started taking video of many of the features at Yellowstone. It's difficult to understand them without seeing the movement.

More buffalo!

Facts: 

• There are over 3,000 buffalo (bison) in Yellowstone. 
• They are the largest mammal in the park. 
• Bulls can weigh up to 1,800 pounds and are about 6 feet tall. 
• Wolves in the park have been documented hunting buffalo.
• Many park visitors have been gored by buffalo when approaching too close.
• Buffalo will ram vehicles if they feel threatened.
• Buffalo have lived in Yellowstone since prehistoric times.
• There were less than 50 buffalo in Yellowstone in 1902 due to hunting.

We went to Norris Geyser basin next. Unfortunately, non of the geysers were going off while we were there.

Steamboat Geyser. This is the largest geyser in the world (380 feet). The last time it erupted was in 2005. You can see a little bit of water sloshing around in the picture.

A pretty view from Norris Geyser.

A fumerole.

The path through Norris Geyser Basin.

Porcelain Basin. This area is highly acidic.

Look! A buffalo!!

I'm not sure what this is called, but we stopped to take a picture of it. I love how so many of these volcanic springs run right into the river.

These signs were everywhere, yet we saw many people sticking their fingers into pools and walking off the walkway. It made me sad that people are so uncivilized and so uneducated. At one point, Bill stopped to tell a woman that was sticking her fingers in the pools that some of them are acidic. She gave him a look of shock. Tourists have been injured in many of these areas. Here's an incident that happened at the Artists' Paint Pots: http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/08039.htm .

One of the streams coming from the volcanic spring.

A bubbling pot. Click the video below to see one of them in motion.

I love the beautiful plants that grow right next to bubbling acid and super-heated water.

One of the pretty pools along the walk.

One of the bubbling paint pots. 

Some of the dead trees from a forest fire with the new trees growing beneath.

We stopped to look at Gibbon Falls on the way down to Old Faithful.

We sat staring at Old Faithful for a good 30 minutes waiting for it to start. Most of the time, it looked like this. Every once in a while, a little bit of water would start to bubble up and we would think it was starting. Everyone would get their cameras going, and then it would stop. This happened at least five times until several of the cameras in Bill's cousins family died and mine nearly did. 

My new Vibrams with Old Faithful in the background. These one's are leather and warmer.

Luckily, I managed to keep my camera going long enough! I have a video of the eruption, but you'll have to wait a couple of days to see it in my compilation video! ;)

Our last stop before heading back to the campground was the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is a beautiful area that you generally see these awesome, colorful, areal shots from. We had the unique experience of being there during sunset. It was nearly deserted, the colors had a different hue, and the whole area was covered in gorgeous reflections. This is a shot of the spring flowing into the Firehole River.

More beautiful flowers growing next to boiling hot springs.

A thistle in the fading sunlight.

It was cold out, so many of the pools were producing a lot of steam.

The view from across the boardwalk loop.

Where's Bill? Can you find him?

the sun before it goes behind the mountains.

The colors in these bacterial mats were amazing. I would love to go back during the day and see them in their full bright splendor. In this shot, you can see some elk tracks.

Notice this sign.

And what do people do anyway? What I find to be interesting is that people don't even think about the fact that they're sticking their fingers straight into thick layers of foreign bacteria.

I love the way the steam rises off of this pool.

The ribbing in these bacterial mats is really interesting.

It looks alien.

A close up of the ribbing.

The sun as it makes its way behind the mountains.

I love the reflection of the clouds.

Bill's cousin and his son walking through the steam.

Check back for Day 6!