FTJ, Entry 112: Geyser Gawking: The Yellowstone Experience

First, we want to send our love and concern to our friends and family who are in the path of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. We are thinking of you and wish we could be there to help or provide support. It is a helpless feeling hearing about the storm from across the country. So we are crossing fingers and toes and whatever else. Keep in touch and PLEASE let us know how you are. All our best.

(Compared to what you are all experiencing or about to experience, I am a bit sheepish about this blog -- it seems so trivial. But maybe it can be an after-the-storm diversion.)

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We just left West Yellowstone, Montana and Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was immense, fascinating, wonderful -- and oddly disappointing. The geyser fields and scenery were mind blowing, but we wanted more fauna, dammit. You have seen those photos and videos of cars stopped on the roads in Yellowstone, to allow herds of bison or bears or deer or moose across? Well, we didn't see any of that. We swore we kept seeing one bison -- we named him Barry/Bob/Bill (whatever moved us at the time) -- five different times. He was always right alongside the road. We figured that maybe he just makes appearances throughout the park, like a roving entertainer. 

Eventually, as we left the park and headed east, we discovered where the buffalo roam -- we saw big herds in a grand expanse of yellow rolling meadow toward the east entrance of the park.

The best sight, and the first wildlife we encountered during our visit, was a coyote hunting in a meadow. Very exciting for us, in that neither of us had ever seen a coyote in the wild before. The next-best experience was a moose (again, the first ever for both of us), but it was about a half mile away. We could only see him with the binoculars. He was a young bull, antlers just blooming and still in velvet.

Coyote cutie. Probably hunting mice.

A bald eagle from afar. This is the best I could do with our zoom.

Barry/Bill/Bob the bison, along the road, moving on to his next appearance in the park.

Found the rest of the herd, finally.

Is bison poop in a geyser field an oddity? I think so.

Beyond these sightings, we saw only small herds of elk, one deer, and two chipmunks. No bears, no wolves, no nuttin else. Bummer.

But the geysers and fumaroles and other geologic wonders were just that...wonders. Yellowstone, basically a collapsed caldera, sitting on one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world, has more geysers than anywhere else on earth. On earth, my friends. And we saw a lot of them, including, of course, Old Faithful. (For email readers, please go to our blog for a video of a geyser hissing and bubbling.)

 

We almost decided to skip Old Faithful, but then figured we had to see it. It was impressive, but surprisingly, not that much more so than the Old Faithful geyser we witnessed in Calistoga, CA.

 Below, photos of various other sights of Yellowstone:

I think this was Midway Geyser Basin.

 

There are geysers below and above the surface of Yellowstone Lake. The lake is huge -- and gorgeous.

 

Typical sight as you drive through the park -- steam.

One view of Mammoth Hot Springs. Amazing.

The colors in the geyser fields ranged from brilliant cerulean blue to rich orange and copper. Stunning.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs walkway.

One view of The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

 

Too many photos of me in this blog. Behind me, the incredible Lower Falls.

Upper Falls in the Grand Canyon.

Beau had to try his hand at fly fishing in one of the park rivers, the Gibbon. He caught only a small creek chubb, whatever the hell that is. He did have several bites from trout, but none landed.

The park, most of which is in Wyoming, averages 8,000 feet in altitude. The Continental Divide snakes through it. We must have crossed the Divide, in various places, at least seven times. Had to commemorate it.

OMG - We Actually Went Whitewater Rafting

I stole these photos of our rafting experience on the Gallatin River from the Geyser Whitewater Expedition site (thus the "proof" labels). We took a trip with them out of Big Sky, Montana. I still cannot believe I did this. I am terrified of drowning. But I have to say, it was a BLAST for both of us, and I would do it again in a minute. These were only Class II and III rapids, but for our first time, they were perfect.

They put the old hefty folks (us) up front for ballast, I guess. We got drenched. Thank god for wetsuits.

The water was 50 degrees.

We are crazy old loons.

A Baby Rodeo 

(Again, for email readers, please go to our blog for a video of the rodeo we attended in West Yellowstone -- pretty cool.)

A few blurry photos of the rodeo experience:

The little dog beside the horse is a bull wrangler. He makes sure the gigantic bulls return to the stalls after throwing and stomping the cowboys. It was scary watching him work, right under the bulls' hooves.

Next posting we will include photos of the towering Grand Tetons in Teton National Park. Yet another awesome spectacle we have been privileged to enjoy.

Tanks, Panky