Yellowstone Part 2

Saturday:

 

It’s another cool, wet day here at Yellowstone. Temps failed to reach 50 and the light to moderate rain has kept up all day. But it didn't stop me from attending the Ranger guided tour through the Mud Volcano area. The geological features here have colorful names like Sulphur Caldron, Churning Cauldron, Black Dragons Caldron, and Dragon’s Mouth Springs. The air is permeated with the smell of hydrogen sulfide gas. 

Ranger Lidia took us through the hour or so guided walk and explained the history of the area as well as the difference between hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles.  I couldn't resist asking her if she had any tattoos. When she looked at me strangely I mentioned the Marx Brothers and Groucho singing Lidia the Tattooed Lady; guess I was showing my age. She just laughed politely.

 

After the tour I drove up to Canyon to treat myself to lunch, following the Yellowstone River through the Lamar Valley and trying to watch for bears along the banks. Canyon was jammed with cars, people and tour busses, I felt like I was back in Chicago. There was a waiting line at the restaurant so I grabbed a bag of trail mix at the gas station when I topped off the tank and drove back to the campground. As always there was another bison blockage in the valley extending my drive time by 10 minutes or so.

Tomorrow is a 2 hour guided hike along the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and a bit of backcountry hiking as well.

 Tonight’s movie is Charlie Chan, City in Darkness (1939) with Leo Carroll and Lon Chaney Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s (Sunday) Ranger guided hike was Hayden Valley View. I allowed an hour to reach the meeting point which was about 15 miles north of the campground and needed nearly all of it. The bison were crossing the road in two different places and people were stopping on the road to take pictures. It wasn’t like the bison were blocking the way; the people just refused to pull over and blocked the road.

This 3 hour hike follows Clear Lake Trail, Wapiti Lake Trail and the North Rim Trail, traveling through wooded areas, meadows, the Hayden Valley and ends with a walk along the Yellowstone River to the upper falls. Ranger Carol was most informative, stopping every so often to give a short talk on the parks ecology, bears, bison and wolves. Yellowstone now has almost 5,00 bison and they are everywhere. We even had one blocking the trail a short way into the hike. It forced us to take a small detour as the bison decided he wasn’t moving for us. In contrast, there is only about 150 grizzlies and 120 wolves in the park. But the Elk take first prize with a population of 10,000 to 20,000.

That bison was the only large wildlife we saw but we did see a Northern Harrier hawk that was a bit far off but I tried a shot anyway. The scenic views of the valley and upper falls, as well as the informative talks by the Ranger made the hike worthwhile. The hike also allows one to get into the back country as most of the park isn’t visible from the roads.

When we reached the overlook of the upper falls Ranger Carol got a bit perturbed with some idiot who had climbed out onto the rocks near the falls. He wasn’t with our group, he was across the falls from us but our overlook gave us a good vantage point to see him. Ranger Carol stopped the hike, walked a short distance from the group and got on the radio to report the incident. I snapped a shot or two of him on the rocks.

After the hike I drove back to the campground and had a nice lunch of grilled cheese sandwich and chicken noodle soup. Around 430 I headed out, driving the 27 miles to the east gate. Supposed to be good bear country there and a few people in the hiking group said they had seen bears along the road. It was a pleasant drive with nice scenery but no bears in sight.

Tonight’s movie is Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)
 

 

 

Monday:

How could I travel to Yellowstone and not see Old Failthful? This famous geyser is located in the Upper Geyser Basin, the largest concentration of geysers in the world. It also features many hot springs, pools and other geothermal features.

I made the 39 mile drive in record time, not seeing a single bison or getting caught in any wildlife backups, although I did see a couple young Elk grazing along the road.

The area around Old Faithful is quite developed, with Old Faithful Lodge, Old Faithful Visitor’s Education Center, restaurants and shopping. It’s like a small town with a matching population and considered the heart of the park. I arrived for the 930 AM tour and found no problem parking close to the starting point behind the education center. But by the time I left things were getting a bit busier.

Our guide, Ranger Leia, led us on a 1 ½ hour tour of Geyser Hill starting by watching Old Faithful erupt, spewing water well over 100 feet high. The timing of these eruptions is every about every 90 minutes but can vary. Depending on how large the eruption is, the next may occur anywhere from 50 to 127 minutes later. The education center posts the time of the next eruption (plus or minus 5-10 minutes) and with the 1 ½ hour walk I was able to see the show twice, getting a better picture from Geyser Hill than I did being close up.

While there are over 40 different geysers in the basin, only Old Faithful is on somewhat of a schedule. The others may erupt daily or not for weeks or years. The beautiful colors of the hot springs, pools and geothermal features are caused by minerals.

Left the Old Faithful area and drove north to Madison Junction and then up to Norris. This completed my driving the south loop and all the main roads in Yellowstone except for the drive to the south entrance, which I will do when I leave. It was then on to Canyon, taking a short scenic drive through Virginia Cascade and finally back to Fishing Bridge. Stopped at the general store for a few items and headed back to the camper for dinner and a relaxing evening.

Tonight’s movie is Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)

 

 

Tuesday:

The storm woke me around 330 AM with thunder, lightning, hail and heavy rain. Today would be a good day to catch up on chores I thought and went back to sleep. I woke around 7 AM and checked the forecast; thunderstorms all day with a possibility of snow this evening. They were right, all day thunderstorms.

I headed over to the Laundromat which is located right here in the campground. Glad I got there at 8 AM when they opened because it quickly became very crowded. I guess a lot of people had the same idea.

Returned to the camper and the older German gentleman camped next to me came over and asked if I had a compass. He was lacking one and having a devil of a time getting his satellite dish to work. After telling me that he had searched high and low trying to buy a compass he asked if I would sell him mine. It’s was a good Brunton sighting compass but I could see he needed it more than I did and agreed. He insisted on paying $10 more dollars than the compass was worth.

Then I cleaned house; dusted, vacuumed, washed the floor and put clean sheets on the bed. It was about time to dump the black and grey water tanks and I managed to do that between the raindrops. After having lunch I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening typing narratives and editing photos so I could publish “Yellowstone Part 1” for the blog.

Tonight’s movie is “The Roaring Twenties” (1939) with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.

 

 

 

Wednesday:

Well, it’s about 5 PM and as I type this I’m watching the snowflakes fall here in Yellowstone.

It began as the second day in a row of cold, wet, windy weather. I puttered around the camper till noon when the weather seemed to break. There was Ranger tour along the shores of Lake Yellowstone at 4 PM but the sky didn’t look promising for the 30 mile drive to West Thumb.

So I took a ride to Lake Side Village for some lunch and to pick up a few needed items. As I left the rain stopped again so I took a drive into Lamar Valley and staked out a spot near Mary Mountain trailhead to see what might appear. By 3:30 pm the rain started in earnest so I headed back to the camper, noticing that the temp was dropping. By the time I reached Fishing Bridge it was 38 degrees and the rain was now mixed with snow.

I guess the nice thing about spending 11 days here is I can afford a few down days and still have lots of time to explore. The weather is supposed to clear out overnight with a low temp in the upper 20’s. Tomorrow should be nicer with temps in the 50’s so I’m going to get an early start for the Norris Geyser Basin to attend a 930 AM tour.

Tonight’s movie is The Petrified Forest (1936) with Bette Davis, Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart

 

 

Thursday:

Woke to about a half inch of snow this morning; really quite beautiful (yes, that's my rig in the second picture).The first snowfall always seems to be so enchanting. But it’s also a warning that winter will be coming to the mountains soon.

For my last day at Yellowstone I decided on a tour of Norris Geyser Basin. This area, the hottest in the park, actually consists of 2 separate basins: Porcelain Basin and Back Basin. Ranger Gary led our small group on an hour and a half tour of Back Basin. The chilly 32 degree temperature had the place all steamed up.

I counted more than 15 geysers in the Norris Basin, all of which are unpredictable as to when they will erupt (Yellowstone has over 300 geysers). Steamboat Geyser lies in the Back Basin and hasn’t erupted in a few years. But when it does it shoots 300 feet into the air. That’s almost 2 times the height of Old Faithful. According to Ranger Gary it’s the largest geyser in the world.

Our walk took us past an array of hot springs, geysers and steam vents with colorful names like Emerald Spring, Black Pit Spring, Puff’n Stuff Geyser and Pork chop Geyser. Incidentally, Pork chop Geyser originally got its name because of its shape. But in 1989 it decided to erupt so forcefully that it threw boulders over 200 feet and lost its Pork chop look. But the name remains.

The water at Norris is acidic and it kills the pine trees in the basin creating a barren landscape. All of the geysers here are acidic and I don’t think I would like to be too close to one when they do erupt.

After the tour I drove up to Mammoth and, on the way, was treated to seeing a grizzly bear feeding on a carcass. The bear was way across a lake and while I could watch with the binoculars, it was about out of camera range. However I did snap a few pics anyway.

After having lunch and gassing up the truck in Gardiner for tomorrows drive to Grand Teton National Park, I started the long drive back to Fishing Bridge. Of course two more bison blockages made the hour and a half drive even longer. As I neared the campground I saw a very nice landscape which I couldn’t resist shooting.

Tonight’s movie is White Heat (1949) with James Cagney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s the end of the report on my trip to Yellowstone. Now it’s on to the Tetons for a few days.

 

Hope this update is finding everyone happy and healthy!