Not quite as pretty scenery compared to the last 2 nights, and at $18, split 4 ways, it's still $18 pricier...
Not quite as pretty scenery compared to the last 2 nights, and at $18, split 4 ways, it's still $18 pricier...
As we approached the Old Faithful "town" center, there are many white flumes of smoke rising among the trees ahead. Matt tells Wendy, "Looks like there are people making fires up ahead." Then adds, "Or else there's a lot of smokestacks in this part of the park." Turns out it's just steam rising 100 feet from geysers. He feels dumb.
We meet up with Karl and Mariann, and see that Old Faithful is slated to go off at 9:40am, so we head to the "watching arena" and hang out for 30 minutes. While waiting, we see a geyser start spewing water across the park.
Mariann stands on the bench to take a picture of the active geyser in the center of this pic. Old Faithful is fizzling on the right...
Sure enough, ~9:40am, Old Faithful blows, and it's not as impressive as the geyser we saw across the park, but still pretty cool. It lasts a few minutes, and spouts water, and lots of steam.
The thick steam makes it hard to see the water shooting out...
Now that we've seen Old Faithful, the park's most popular attraction, it's time to leave Yellowstone, and head back home. Just kidding... We next take a ~3 mile loop walk and check out the other geysers in the area. This is the Geyserland area in Yellowstone amusement park.
The first geyser we hit is Anemone Geyser. Karl and I are surprised (once again, Amenone was the name of our band), and we watch this cool geyser burble and fizzle water. It's a spastic noisy little geyser. Very cool.
Anemone Geyser goes off every 7-15 minutes, but only shoots water a few feet high. Old Faithful is in the upper left corner, resting...
For a video of Anemone Geyser, click here (1.1MB)
A short walk down the boardwalk (everyone has to stay on the wooden trail, so as not to step on the bacteria mats) reveals the first beautifully colored pool we encounter.
Seeing tropical blue pools was a surprise...
We walk past several pools and resting geysers, and come to a group of people standing near Lion's geyser (named for a roaring sound it makes). We decide to hang around for a few mintues, since these people might know that the geyser is due to erupt. It's a good move, cause soon we see...
An up close view of Lion's Geyser erupting...
For a video of Lion's Geyser, click here (1.4MB)
It spews for several minutes, and we all take lots of pictures.
(left): A 3 pic vertical stitched shot to show the entire geyser.
(right): Now I understand Wendy's evilish laugh when she took this picture with me and the geyser...
Next we opted for a .3 mile (1-way) hike to Solitary Geyser, hidden in the woods, to give it some company. With our legs a bit tired from 25 miles backpacking, the .3 miles was a little longer than expected, but we found our sulfur odorous geyser.
The sign says Solitary Geyser erupts every 5 minutes, up to 4 feet in height, but we think it should say 4 inches, cause we only see a few bubbles come up...
We hike back down to the boardwalk, and tour all the geysers and pools on the stretch. Most of the geysers are sleeping, or occasionally squirting a little water, and it's tempting to wait in hopes of an eruption, but we have a lot to see and continue walking.
Pretty pools...
We see some water getting flushed around in the large cone/snout of Giant Geyser, and get hopeful that something big might happen, but after a few minutes we head on.
Giant Geyser eruptions are infrequent, but last an hour and can reach 250 feet. It didn't erupt for us...
Next we come to Grotto Geyser, which looks like a modern art sculpture in a park. It's just steaming calmly, at this point (hint, hint), and we pass by.
Grotto Geyser erupts every ~7 hours, and the cone may have been formed around trees that once lived here...
A giant volcano (one of the largest in the world) resides under Yellowstone park, which explains the hot springs and geysers. It's active, and will erupt sometime in the future. Some people consider this a dooms-day scenerio for human kind because it will send so much ash into the atmosphere. Matt and Karl discuss this, and decide that if Yellowstone erupts while they happen to be standing in the park, it would be "an ok way to go", and a spectacular last experience.
We come to the end of the boardwalk, where Morning Glory Pool sits. This rainbow pool is amazing! The water is actually clear, and it's the colored bacteria growing on the rock that gives it color. The water has a large temperature gradient, and bacteria of different colors grow in the various temperature regions. Quite spectacular.
Karl and Mariann look into Morning Glory Pool...
A 3-pic stitched shot of Morning Glory. The sign nearby tells you not to throw coins in...
We turn around and head back towards the the visitor's center, and see some heavy steam rising ahead. We hurry to the source, and find that Grotto Geyser has turned into a fountain.
We're fortunate to catch Grotto Geyser in it's act on our way back...
A look from the other side of Grotto Geyser. Water shoots out of this many holes, kind of like a park fountain...
That was a treat! We walk back, and pass some hardcore geyser watchers, who are scattered throughout the park with walky-talkies. They constantly update each other on the status of the rare geysers, so they can all rush at a moments notice to a potential once a month/year geyser eruptition. We get a excited listening to the chatter, and debate about hanging out in hopes seeing a big eruption, but we continue to the visitors center, and there's TONS of people out now, awaiting the next Old Faithful blow. We head to the cafeteria for lunch, and then plan to drive north and hit the next attraction in Geyserland...
The masses are gathered to witness Old Faithul Geyser...
3 tough guys with arms crossed stand guard over Emerald Pool. I wouldn't try throwing any objects into that pool...
Emerald Pool is indeed green (and dark)...
Black Sand Basin is a small place, and we quickly pass Rainbow Pool, and pose in front of Sunset Lake.
A rare group shot, in front of Sunset Lake...
Sunset Lake looks tropical and beautiful, though a tad hot. Karl leans under the rail and sticks his finger into the pool, briefly, to verify...
Next we drive up to Biscuit Basin, and see another mix of 5 pools/springs/geysers. Nothing spectacular here, compared to other places, and we drive north to the next purple dot on the map.
Kind of looks like as if some giant wormlike mouth is gargling...
We stop at Fountain Paint Pot, and find out that "paint pots" are really fun to watch. It's like a pool of wet clay that burps and bubbles, and spits pieces up into the air.
You can see tiny bubbles blurping in this heated "paint pot"...
We could spend a long time watching this, but eventually head back to the car. There are some steaming geysers here too, and the landscape all over here has lots of white steam rising into the air. A kid nearby says, "Mommy, now I know where clouds come from!".
One other humorous comment overheard from a kid today: In front of Depression Geyser, a kid explains a possible reason for it's name: "Maybe someone fell in the hole, and everyone got depressed."
Typical landscape in "Geyserland", YP...
A buffalo, also called a bison, kicks up some dust...
The beast is standing still, and then nearly instantaneous kicks into motion, thrusting it's enormous (up to 2000 pound) body as if it were nothing. Pretty amazing strength. Matt decides to cross the road and peer into the trees, calculating that he has enough time to run back to the car, should the bison charge for some reason (he's still a good 150 feet away).
What a hump, and huge beard on this guy...
A waterfall we see off the side of the road...
We come to Artist's Paint Pot, and take a fairly long (10 minute) walk up the side of a hill to what will become everyone's favorite place in Yellowstone. These paint pots are super thick, and shot clay 5-6 feet in the air. Some of us get spit on by these pots.
These paint pots remind me of the "Bog of Eternal Stench" from the movie Labrynth...
Here's a great video of some paint pot action. It's HIGHLY recommended viewing (2.1MB). Be sure to catch the opening second.
This mesmorizing activity makes the ground seem alive. Every "burp" is unique. Anyone visiting the park must come to Artist's Paint Pot. We hike back down to the car, passing a few steaming pools.
More surreal Yellowstone scenery, with steam permeating the air...
So many purple dot "attractions" on the map, and we want to hit them all, so on to Norris, where we see some crazy colored rock and pools, while walking yet another boardwalk.
Looks like ideal tropical oases...
Looks like Nickelodeon extracts their slime from here...
The trio stands next to Pinwheel Geyser. Differences in temperature of the joining water sources result in the separate colors...
Then, out of nowhere, I run into my dad. What's he doing in Yellowstone? But after closer inspection, it's just a look alike. We continue on to the other pools and geysers.
This picture means nothing to any of you who don't know what my dad looks like. Sorry...
Green Dragon Spring seems to have some smoke originating from inside the cave...
We get lucky and happen to walk by Steamboat Geyser as it's erupting.
Steamboat Geyser in action.
Then it's back to the cars again, and the next stop is Mammoth, where we plan to find camping (hopefully there's availability late in the day on the 4th of July). The drive north is stunning, with colorful mountains and valleys.
The road hugs the canyon edge, offering beautiful views...
This site is immeasurably better than last nights site in the woods surrounded by spoiled kids...
We debate about whether to get dinner, or check out the hot springs area. We decide to walk the boardwalk and see the sights while the sun is still lighting the east facing hill that the springs are on.
The landscape here is really bizarre! It's so hard to explain that pictures are really the only way to go, so:
Orange rock, and each terrace holds a pool of water...
The view from a bit higher up. An odd pillar stands tall on the left, below...
We follow the boardwalk up the hill, and reach the top of this rock formation, where it's flat, with various hot pools, some very colored.
Check out that baby blue water pool, that disappears over the edge...
The last group shot of our adventure, from atop Mammoth Hot Springs (sniff)...
We continue the walk down the other side of the rock, and see where the water from the blue flat top goes...
Too bad this terraced area was in the viewed in the shade...
Karl dipped his finger in the water, and agreed that red/orange water is hotter than the blue...
It's an other-worldly experience walking among the rocks here. We head back to the car, chatting along the way. For dinner, we buy some food to-go from the local cafe, and a 6 pack of Old Faithful Ale at the store, and head back to our campsite to eat at our picnic table.
Walking back to the car, with a nice view of the opposite side of the valley...
At dinner, we chat about Karl and Mariann's planned move to Norway in Sept '06. They'll be sailing their sailboat from Seattle, through the Panama Canal, and across the Atlantic to Norway. They plan to spend a year on this trip, and will visit the west and east sides of Central America, the Carribean, and any other interesting place on the way. Quite an ultimate adventure.
Karl plans to get a Ph.d., hopefully at Trondheim University, and Mariann may become a teacher, once they get to Norway. Matt is already planning his next trip to Norway, once they move, and expresses interest in moving out to Norway with them. Mariann tells Matt that if he comes out to visit for a few weeks, she'll hook him up with a nice Norwegian woman...
After dinner, Wendy decides to drive to the hotel for another pay shower, and Matt, Karl, and Mariann hang out, and watch a mule deer that wonders close to their tents. A ranger stops by and invites us to attend a slide show at the ampitheater at 9pm, which will emphasize Yellowstone's wildness, ie the Grizzly and the Wolf.
We watched this deer get closer and closer to us, and then cross the road...
Matt notices a small hill with a trail nearby, and runs over, with a full stomach, to try to get a glimpse of the beautifully pink clouds. He gets there a little late, and not much pink remains.
Too bad I didn't come 10 minutes earlier to catch a better view. Our campsite is on the left side of the valley...
When Matt returns, Karl, Mariann, and Wendy are ready to go to the slide show. We walk to the ampitheater, and are treated with a passionate telling of the beauty, majesty, and wildness of the greater Yellowstone area. The pictures are gorgeous, with many animals (the baby animal pics draw a sigh from Wendy), waterfalls, and mountains. The ranger is extremely passionate about his love of "Yella-stone" Park, and we all leave the slideshow emotionally charged to be in such a special place.
We make our way back to our tent site in the dark (none of us brought lights), and ready for bed. Karl and Mariann plan to head back to Seattle early tomorrow morning, and so we plan to get up at 6am. This setting is very peaceful, and we watch the stars are awhile before going to bed. It's a clear night, and the milky way is readily seen given a new moon. Matt sees a shooting star.
There are stray fireworks that can be seen to the north, perhaps from a town. It's the 4th of July we remember. The crowds have been surprisingly tame here at Yellowstone, given the holiday weekend.
Time for the last night of our adventure. Matt leaves the fly open on the tent, so the stars can be seen while laying down inside the tent. Matt and Wendy still have time to explore more of Yellowstone tomorrow before heading back to Fort Collins, and an early start will help them get the most out of the day.