Yellowstone National Park--Day One

We went to Yellowstone National Park two days during our vacation--Sept. 9 and 10. The two days were radically different weatherwise, so it was like visiting at two seasons of the year--fall and winter.

On the first day, we took the Old Faithful loop. Before we arrived at the oarking area for the famous geyser, we saw our first bison.

I've heard people have waited 90 minutes from the time of arrival before seeing Old Faithful spout off. Well, we sat down and five minutes later, off she went.

From there, we checked out the geyser basin nearby and saw some of the bacteria that causes the rocks to look yellow.

Here's a closeup of one of the scalding pools. The smell of rotten eggs was pretty pungent.



I really liked the Opalescent Pool, though. The pools is blue not because it was reflecting the blue of the sky, because it was a very cloudy day.

We got a real treat with these two elk curled up beside a stream. I can't imagine anyone wanting to shoot such beautiful creatures with anything other than a camera.

I love waterfalls and we decided to take the loop road to Firehole Falls. There, we encountered a very friendly chipmunk--my, but these 'munks are huge out west! (You can't tell here, but it was about 50-percent larger than the ones in the midwest. The western ones also have long bushy tails. Maybe they're a cross between a chipmunk and a squirrel.

This wasn't one of the tallest falls, but it was a pretty one with lots of stones to cause the water to diverge in different directions.

We also drove out the North Rim loop and saw Yellowstone Falls. While walking back to the car, I heard an osprey's cry and saw the mama swoop down onto a jutting rock in the canyon where she had several fledglings. No photo, but we watch her feeding her babies through the binoculars and shared the field glasses and conversation with another couple. These were pretty big babies and we figured mama would be clearing her next soon. Can you imagine what it must be like for them to take their first flight? It's a long way down!

 

As we made our way to the Mud Volcano Area, I saw an old bison bull making his way across a field. On the other side of the road (and far across a river and a field) was an enormous herd of hundreds of bison. I had a feeling this old bull was heading down to rejoin the herd, so we pulled off where other visitors were photographing the far-off herd. Slowly, but surely, this noble beast made his way. At one point, we were afraid this unobservant driver was going to hit him. (The driver must have been looking at the herd and missed the one right in his path!)

But he made it across the road, not too concerned about all the gawking (and clicking) people standing nearby.

Clearly, the old fellow has had to deal with more than his share of tourists.

The neatest thing was to watch him swim across the river (note the dark specks on the right-hand upper side of the field--part of the herd).

Then, he stood up in the water and shook off the excess water.

From here, we went on to the Volcano Mud Area. This pool bubbled with its steamy contents. Notice the islands of vegetation growing (and dying) nearby.

I thought the colors of these "grasses" (or whatever) were so beautiful compared to all of the gray and neutral colors nearby.

Then we came to the Dragon's Mouth. The rhythmic "belching" of the dragon was mesmerizing. And check out the milky color of the water! A sign said this "mouth" used to spew it's hot, milky contents at visitors on the walkway. But it hasn't been that forceful in the last couple decades (for which I am truly thankful).

As we made out way toward the southern exit, it began to rain. I looked out across the lake at one point and was sure I saw snow in the higher mountains. (As you read in the blog entry before this one, I hoped that would mean snow in the Tetons.) But the rain was falling and the sun was shining and there in front of us (very briefly) was a beautiful partial rainbow.

Talk about a perfect ending to another wonderful day of checking out the many wonders our nation (and National Parks) had to offer!