Yellowstone

Sunday July 30^th

We started driving towards Yellowstone from Grand Teton after we finished lunch. We drove up I-85 through the John D Rockfeller Memorial Parkway up to the South Entrance. On our drive in we decided to stop at Lewis Falls and a couple of other pull offs as we knew we would not be back in this stretch of park. We drove towards our campsite at Bridge Bay. We got all checked in and the pop-up all set up. We had a great spot with some tree cover, open space, it backed up to forest, and most importantly was a shorter walk to the bathroom than at Grand Teton. 

We still had a little bit of time before it got dark so we headed to the closest attraction, West Thumb.

West Thumb is one of the smaller geyser basins, but it is immediately adjacent to Lake Yellowstone. Lake Yellowstone is a massive alpine lake in the center of the park, in fact it is the largest alpine lake in the contiguous US above 7000 ft in elevation. Because of the geyser basins and plethora of thermal features Lake Yellowstone actually stays a warmer than expected temperature year round. We got to walk around the boardwalk to see the thermal features, which allowed us to see our first few geysers and hot springs. We were little pleased when we discovered that geysers did not have the courtesy to erupt upon our arrival, and worse yet that we may have to wait years until they actually did erupt. We did enjoy when several of the smaller eruptions and the constant percolation of the springs. The thermophilic bacteria provide a stunning spectrum of color radiating along the drainage rivulets.

Once we completed that short walk our Fitbits informed us that we still should consider further walking before concluding our day.  So we started along the Yellowstone Lake Overlook, a 1.5 mile round-trip jaunt up a nearby hill to provide views of the lake and surrounding mountains. We didn’t see anyone else along the entire trail, which is always pleasant.

With that completed and our step goals accomplished, we headed back to the campsite to make some dinner, plan our coming days, and get ready for bed.

Monday July 31st

This was the day we decided to head north along the loop. We started out our day waking early with plans of a hike up Mount Washburn. We were slowed along our route by a herd of buffalo, which twofold slowed traffic secondary to both rubbernecking tourists taking pictures from the road, and buffalo who had decided the road is the most convenient path upon which to walk down. We did get to Mount Washburn a little later than expected but still before the usual onslaught of folk. This is a “strenuous” 6.0 mile round-trip hike which gains 1400 feet in elevation and ends at a look out and communications tower. We were hoping to catch a view of some mountain goats along the way however we would have to save those ambitions for Glacier. The hike was moderate, at best, cluing us into Yellowstone’s primary demographic of day hikers as a more casual tourist. The trail was wide and previously paved. We passed through several meadows with overlooks towards the canyon area and towards other mountains. The top did afford some impressive views however these were again impeded by a smoky haze from forest fires in Montana and British Columbia. The fire lookout/communications tower at the top was interested because it not only provided the only cell signal in the entire park, but also served as a full time residence for a ranger during the summer duration. We made our way back down to start some real sight-seeing.

Heading north, our first major attraction was Tower Falls, magnificent, but only able to be seen in partiality with a glancing view point. We headed down the trail there, which took us towards the Yellowstone River. This allowed us to get our feet wet, grab some pictures, then head directly back up the steep incline.

We made our turn around destination an exhibit, “Forces of the Northern Range”, which was a self-guided informational boardwalk, perhaps worth skipping on our next trip. We drove back through a one-way dirt road through the Blacktail Plateau hoping to catch some wildlife photos. We were not so lucky, but the guy in front of us was so hopeful that he found every rock worthy of further investigation to ensure it was not secretly an elk or pronghorn. I imagine he would be a great guy with whom to stare at clouds.

Our next stop was Petrified Tree, a blessedly short walk, and far enough away to not be swarmed by busloads of tourists.

Then we stopped by the Roosevelt Lodge to enjoy an ice cream and our first glimpses of the ever adorable ground squirrel.

We headed back south towards the campground. Our next major stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Unfortunately essentially all overlooks of the Upper Falls were blocked for construction. We were able to walk down to the brink of the Lower Falls, and then again climb up a steep incline. We were crushing our step counts. Then we got some pictures from further along the canyon from view points along the Northern and then Southern Rims. On our way to Artist’s Point we got to see our first elk of the trip, sitting alongside of the road, which was a fun surprise. Artist’s Point truly does have some of the best views in the entire park.

At this point we were quite tired and headed back to the camper, at least we attempted to. We were again waylaid by significant Buffalo Traffic. Actually in addition to Buffalo at the same point we crossed the herd we also heard of a grizzly and wolf pups across the river that were drawing their own crowds. We did not have the binoculars or the patience to try to hunt them down. After the extra hour or so of traffic we eventually made it back to the campsite.

In addition to our personally hygiene habits steadily regressing so were our eating habits. Grocery stores had become less frequent, lacking in produce, and more expensive. We enjoyed hamburger helper with a can of corn mixed in with a side of baby carrots with ranch.

It was an exceedingly long but rewarding day of sight-seeing.

Tuesday August 1^st.

Geyser Day

With the intent of missing both the Buffalo and the crowds we woke up early to head for Upper Geyser Basin, the home of Old Faithful. We were able to enjoy the basin with minimal crowds in the cool morning air which made all the mist from the thermal features even more impressive and beautiful. Our guidebooks had suggested hiking up to Observation Point for the best view of Old Faithful. Since we had arrived immediately following an eruption of Old Faithful we had approximately 90 minutes to walk around the Upper Geyser Basin before making our way up to Observation Point. Upper Geyser Basin is incredible just from the sheer volume of unique features in close proximity to each other. Here we made two discoveries, not unrelated: 1 – Robyn is convinced every unpredictable geyser is imminently about to erupt, 2 – these same geysers are not going to erupt while we are there and therefore the geysers that go off every one to five minutes bring significantly more satisfaction.

We made it up to the point with several minutes to spare. We even got to see our first marmots, up close, along the way. It was very cool to see without the crowds surrounding us from a birds eye view.

Afterwards we headed towards Solitary Geyser, then back again through Geyser Hill towards the car. At the care we grabbed our bikes to explore the rest of the basin and then up to Biscuit Basin. We got to see almost every feature in this section of the park but did make some exceptions for the sake of time.

Once we made it back to the Upper Geyser Basin we checked out the gift shop. This is the gift shop Greg was finally able to hunt down a Yellowstone shirt that was not 100% cotton, and in a miraculous event it also came in his size for a reasonable price with a choice of two cool designs! We also grabbed some groceries for the next couple of days.

Midway Geyser Basin was our next stop. The main attraction at this venue was the Grand Prismatic Spring, which was even more beautiful than I pictured.

Next up was Lower Geyser Basin/Fountain Paint Pot Trail. This held our favorite geyser display that we were able to see in the park, Fountain Geyser. It splayed water for almost 30 minutes before it wound itself down.

As we were tiring from the crowds, the heat, and all the walking our final stop of the day was the Firehole Lake Drive. This is particularly notable for Great Fountain Geyser, which per report, has an even more impressive, perhaps even Greater, display than the fountain geyser we had just witnessed. Unfortunately it still had at least 90 minutes before an eruption was about to begin, so we moved along. This has been officially added to the list of things to catch when we do come back to the park.

Back at the campsite we made a dinner of a Chipotle Macaroni Pasta Side mixed with ground beef and sautéed cauliflower which actually turned out incredibly delicious.

We got ourselves to bed because we had a big hike planned for the next day, and, well, it’s camping so you always go to bed early.

Wednesday August 2^nd

We woke up none too early to head out towards the east entrance to the park. We had Avalanche Peak in mind for the day. There was quite a bit of smoke around from nearby fires that was obscuring some views even from the ground, but we were still determined to enjoy our hike. It was a 4.6 mile roundtrip with a gain of 2000ft of elevation to summit Avalanche Peak at 10,544 ft. Other than the smoke the weather was again in our favor with pleasant temperatures, but did get a little bit nippy at the top due to the unrelenting wind. I loved the hike as it started in forest, crossed through meadow, then ended on rocky mountain top. While it had parts that were as steep as others we had gone on, this felt much better as we had some time to acclimatize to the elevation, and it was significantly shorter.

One thing you East Coast People may be unaware of is how dry the northwestern part of the country is right now. Many places have not had a significant rain in months and are in severe drought conditions. Every National Park, Forest, Recreational Land we drive through has a sign with Smokey alerting us to the fact that fire danger level is currently “Very” or “Extremely High”. We started becoming aware of this fact on top of Devil’s Tower, when we commented on the haze and the guide told us of fires in southwestern Montana. We had first noticed haze even back as far as Badlands. By the time we got to Grand Teton we learned that there were also fires in other parts of Montana and British Columbia. Many campgrounds had fire restrictions in place such as no smoking or campfires. Thankfully there were no active fires in the park while we were there, but I would say that every other day was extremely hazy, although it improved the farther East in the park you moved. We even heard rumor they were going to pump water from Yellowstone Lake to help calm nearby fires.

After our hike we had a picnic lunch aka PB&J plus Tuna Packets to augment our hiking diet of Clif Bars and Clif Blocks. Then we headed over to the Loop Road again to hit up some thermal features we had missed on our way south from the Canyon.

We had Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron left to explore in that area of the park. Thankfully they are both reached from one parking area. We looked at the Sulphur Cauldron first. It was aptly named; to have left out Sulphur with a capital S would have been remiss. These were particularly pungent thermal features. Instead of being like geysers full of expectant thrills, they were putrid and horrifying roiling masses you wouldn’t wish your enemies to fall into.

The Mud Volcano area was next. This held one of my favorite features, “Dragon’s Mouth Spring” which looks and sounds exactly like a Dragon huffing inside of his lair. This made my little fantasy nerd girl heart squeal with delight. Next was Mud Volcano, a disappointingly named feature. One thing they advise visitors of consistently is that the only constant of thermal features is change. Mud Volcano, an excellent example of the evolution of features, used to be a 30ft high cone which spewed mud high enough to envelope surrounding trees however sometime in the mid-19^th century it blew out one of the sides leaving only a boiling mass of mud pot at the bottom. Overall still cool, just significantly less impressive than the name would suggest. Other features in this area were enjoyed not only by human visitors but also a couple of napping Buffalo who had strayed from the neighboring herd to catch some warmth and relaxation at the pool edges. The buffalo appeared significantly more serene than the adjacent battery-acid level acidity of the water would allow me to be has we switched positions.

With those last features checked off our list and a vague headache from the constant exposure to hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide we headed back to the campsite.

Thursday August 3^rd

Having learned from our experience in Upper Geyser Basin, that crowds are to be avoided at the expense of sleep, we woke extremely early to head towards Norris Geyser Basin. Our sacrifice was well worth it to enjoy at least half the basin in relative solitude including some exciting features like the Vixen Geyser and Minute Geyser. This basin does hold the geyser with the largest eruption in the park, Steamboat Geyser, however it is wildly unpredictable and has not erupted in years. Whomp whomp, geyser fail. Greg felt like he could easily picture this landscape on the surface of Mars as it was so alien and in stark juxtaposition to the lush pine forest covering the remaining 80% of the park.

Then we headed to finish the rest of the loop, driving down towards Madison Junction. En route, we stopped at artist’s paint pots. While an incredibly soothing feature it was hardly worth the stop, scramble for parking, and 1 mile round trip walk. Thankfully you can get a decent view of Beryl Spring and Monument Geyser from your car, and you likely will already be driving at an ideal viewing speed. We did stop at Gibbon Falls for a quick picture and found that to be an easy in and out activity.

Next we drove Firehole Canyon Drive which was well worth the extra couple of minutes for some incredible views of water falls and sheer rock faces.

Then we decided to bite the bullet, brave the construction and lengthy drive, to explore Mammoth Hot Springs. Like our friend Zach says, there are two seasons up north: winter and construction. Accordingly, most parks are undergoing some road construction and updates throughout the summer, especially this year to recover from the significant winter snow fall which led to significant spring melt and wash out. One particular stretch of construction we were informed was between Norris and Mammoth with almost 10 miles of road cut down to single lane traffic, with anticipated 30 minute delays. This was still significantly faster than Buffalo Traffic, so we prepared to hunker down. We pulled up to the construction, parked the car, got out, picnicked around the car, and pleasantly passed the mere 15 minutes until we had to get back in and start driving again.

We got to Mammoth where I made the executive decision to stop at the visitor center. This turned into an ordeal trying to find parking in the busy area. We then discovered that the visitor center offered Wifi so we trekked back to the car to get our phones. Then I trekked back to the car to get our credit cards to pay some bills, because I do need to adult from time to time.

We finally headed out to see the travertine terraces. These I remembered from my childhood trip, as I through they were quite pretty. We walked the lower then drove around the upper. Our curiosity for thermal features had been beyond satiated at this juncture, so we headed back to Fishing Bridge.

Fishing Bridge is where we could find showers, at $4 each. We had already splurged on showers once this week, but we had dinner reservations so we went all out.

We still had time to relax and enjoy a drink and reading before we headed to dinner. We had reservations at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We knew that most of the restaurants were more casual theme-park-esque, but that this one focused on local sustainable dishes.

I cannot rave about the food enough. We started with Elk Ravioli and Lamb Sliders, both of which were individually the best dish we had in months. We debated just ordering second helpings of each, however the buffalo steak we ordered weighed on our minds as well. The steak was great, but the ravioli and sliders were just so exceptional……. I’m having a moment.

We went to bed meat drunk.

Friday August 4^th

We planned to have a relaxing day before our big travel day to Glacier. We had driven over 500 miles just sightseeing around the park, and were ready for a break. We slept in then headed out for a quick little trail just up the road. We walked up Elephant Back Trail to a pleasant overlook of Lake Yellowstone, a 3.5 mile round trip jaunt through pine forest with 800 foot climb. We were able to enjoy the overlook all to ourselves, which was a pleasant surprise.

After that we took a quick drive over to the lake itself and pulled off at a lovely point on Gull Point Drive that we had all to ourselves. There we enjoyed the sun and reading our kindles while fending off some carnivorous flies. The water temperature was still prohibitive for a long swim, but we both waded up to our knees.

With our vitamin D stores adequately filled we headed out for another little hike. We checked out Natural Bridge, which again was just around the corner. This was a one mile each way little walk to a stone arch that formed a …. Natural bridge. It was cute, however they do not permit you to walk across for safety purposes. There is one tree managing to stand proudly in regal solitude reaching his roots across to each side for stability and nourishment, quite a sight for such a humble low volume attraction.

Feeling as though we had given Yellowstone a very strong effort and hitting all of the major attractions we decided to call it and head back for some quiet relaxation and packing to prepare for the next leg of our journey.

And now a picture of our local campground Elk. 

Saturday August 5^th

Early rising, 4 am, to pack up the camper while waking all of our neighbors. Sorry neighbors!  Glacier iis up next, eventually!