Yellowstone threw everything it had at me....wind, rain, sleet, snow, and fortunately some sun too. Temperatures never exceeded 60 while I was there, and most days it was in the 40's and 50's, with snow always visible. The whole park is a mile high, so lots of areas, especially the southern end of the park were snow-locked. It appeared to be mid-winter in some locations.
But I had a hell of a time. This park literally has everything.... More Elk and free roaming Bison than I've ever seen, 4 new bird species, plus geysers, hot springs, and other geothermal phenomena, amazing waterfalls and canyons, snow covered alpine meadows, forest-fire burned forests everywhere (the whole park basically went up in flames in 1988. All the trees are only 23 years old, so very few exceed 25 feet in height), oh and did I mention close encounters with a Black Bear and Grizzly, both in the same hike? Haha, well I won't get into details about that. I didn't have to use my bear spray, but I was glad I had it in my back pocket during that hike.
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| Yellowstone atop bunsen peak |
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| Blue Grouse, another one of those chicken-like birds that live in the woods |
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| Eerie burned forests. These woods burned nearly 25 years ago, but due to the dry air, everything is very preserved. You would have though the burn happened yesterday. |
I spent 3 nights in Yellowstone. First day was spent hiking around the northern portion of the park. I hiked up a mountain, then went and visited the mammoth hotsprings. The hotsprings have nice boardwalks meandering through them. You can't afford to go off trail in these geothermal areas. Most of the ground is thin crust, and the water is literally at boiling point. Another hike later that evening went through one of those burned forests I mentioned. Pretty nice hike, until sleet met me at the furthest point out on the trail. Worth it though. Saw my first ever Lewis' Woodpecker.
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| dead trees that couldn't get out of the way of the hotsprings |
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| Mammoth hotsprings |
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| calcite buildup at Mammoth hotsprings |
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| One of hundreds of free-roaming bison. Eventually you just get tired of seeing them. |
Day 2 found me at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, a massive gorge cut out by the Yellowstone River hundreds of feet wide, with a waterfall at the upper end two times as high as Niagara Falls. I hiked up to the Artist's Point lookout and had some spectacular views of the gorge and waterfall from there. The reds, oranges, and yellows of the cliff faces really would suite a painting well. Although the tourists were a bit overwhelming at this point. No worries...next I find myself atop Mount Washburn, nearly in the clouds at just over 10,000 ft., searching for Ptarmigan and Rosy-finches. No luck on either of those, but the views were spectacular. As was the snow that pelted me when I reached the top. The road to the top was closed, so I had hiked my way off-trail to the top. Pretty steep climb, but worth the vistas and the remoteness. I also tried to get in a run...fail. The combination of altitude, hills, a day's worth of hiking, and a day's diet of Chewy bars and crystal light gave me the worst stomach ache I've had in a while. I was spent after 25 minutes. Unfortunately, my day wasnt done, as the only point in the park at which I had a cell phone signal was a 2 mile hike up the mountain I had hiked the previous day. Certainly the most effort I've ever made for making a few simple calls.
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| Traffic on the way to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone |
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| Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone |
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| View of alpine habitat on Mt. Washburn |
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| A bull elk with fuzzy antlers |
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| Newlyweds emerging from the woods. |
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| PIKA! |
Day 3 finally found me touring the geyser basins of the southern section of the park, including Old Faithful. As it was Monday and the day after Father's day, I figured less people would be in order. An early morning stroll through past steaming hot vents and bubbling pots of mud found few tourists at first. But by noon, my arrival at Old Faithful seemed to coincide with the largest spectacle of tourists I have ever seen, just to witness hot water shooting out of the ground. Old Faithful is one attractive lady. She's got her own highway exit, her own hotel and visitor center and general store, and parking for 1000's of cars and RV's. Fortunately she's honest to her name, spouting water up 200 feet roughly every 90 min. I stuck around to watch her blow off some steam twice. It was an amazing sight both times. It's funny though, Old Faithful really is just a tourist attraction. Literally thousands of people stand in a semicircle around the geyser, awaiting the explosion. The shot of water lasts 2 minutes tops, and then everyone leaves, off to see the visitor center, the souvenir shop, or to some other oddity found in the park. I guess it's just one of those things people like to say that they've seen...a check off the bucket list.
I felt a little better about myself, watching it go off TWICE. Although I'm sure the rangers who work there get a kick out of all the visitors who oooow and ahhhh over the hot steam of water.
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| Steam vent coming out of a geyser |
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| more hot water. I have way too many pictures of just hot water. |
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| There she blows. Old Faithful. |
I had planned on spending a 4th night at a camp site in the lower section of the park. But the campground was closed due to heavy snow. The lake which the campground sat on was still rimmed with ice! So I moved out of the park and off the escarpment that is Yellowstone, dropping down to Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, which lies south of Yellowstone. Ended up being a great decision, as the view from my camp site was better than any I could have had in Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is an amazing place. Definitely the best place in America to see an assortment of wildlife, and such extreme variation in scenery. At one point youre looking at 10foot snowbanks. A ten mile drive later, youre walking through a basin full of boiling hot water, a little later you're looking down into a canyon carved out 500,000 years ago. Crazy stuff. Just be prepared for the crowds and the multitude of languages being spoken by tourest. You might just feel like youre in a foreign country. Pictures to come....
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