Day Twelve already and it is our last day at
Yellowstone. The time is passing by
quickly and it certainly seems that we will need to return another time if we
ever want to see even some of all that we missed. I would certainly love to do that. We decided to see the Grand Prismatic Spring
and West Thumb Geyser Basin today. Armed
with our plan, we headed out in search of natural wonders.
Wondering why Brett made a very quick maneuver into a
parking lot in West Yellowstone, I was informed that he had seen a sign for a
bakery and today was the day he would finally get a doughnut. Doughnuts were procured and all was right
with the world. Our day got started
with a laugh at the Main Gate. Brett
proudly produced his new lifetime pass and driver’s license. The ranger looked it over and peered into the
truck for a while (she was looking for an old person who belonged to the
pass). Then she said “Oh, it’s you! You don’t look it. You’re a newbie.” Brett said thank you and we drove on.
It was fun to see this herd of horses each morning as we
headed for the park. They look very
western. I think that there are bison
living in other areas of the country but this is the first place where I have
seen them. Our last bison jam came
complete with a tale to tell. There was
a little green convertible right in front of us as the traffic stopped for
critter viewing. At some point they must
have decided that better viewing would be had if they opened the roof. This they did, but only half way which was
enough to obstruct our view of any happenings immediately ahead of us. Once the traffic cleared, the green car took
off at 50mph with the roof still half open.
I took this picture out the front window as it barreled along. It pulled into a turnout shortly after so I
assume they realized that something needed adjusting.
I thought that I was geysered out yesterday but I guess I
wasn’t. Today was cloudy, overcast and
cool. As we approached the Lower Geyser
Basin this morning, the cool air was causing the geyser plumes to look really
spectacular. The photos can’t put you
there but imagine looking across this big open space and seeing dozens of
plumes of steam rising. It would give
you a “what the heck is that” moment if you weren’t aware of geysers in the
area.
The Grand Prismatic Pool was on Brett’s must see list. We have seen many pictures of this pool taken
from the air. It shows a stunning blue
center with various colors surrounding the edges of the pool and extending out
into the basin. It is a big pool. Approaching the area you see first lots of
cars and tourists. This is a popular
stop. I’ll note that there seem to be a
lot of Asians traveling in the park and a lot of people with cameras. I exchanged a few words with a fellow Canon
shooter although he spoke German and I did not.
We worked out that we liked our cameras and he’d taken the shots he
wanted to get. A bridge over the
Firehole River leads to the first pool.
The river surely gets the name because of the streams of boiling water
that come pouring into it from the pools.
On the approach, all you can see is this big mound with steam rising
from it. Cross the bridge and this
morning the first pool was a big blob of steam.
We spent quite a bit of time here so I did get a few photos as the steam
moved on the air currents.
The Grand Prismatic Pool is reached by walking on boardwalks
that have been placed across the basin.
They go for quite some distance and have no railings so I needed to
remember to do only one thing at a time; either walk or take photos. Many people, excited to be here, were not
single threading their activities and there were more than a few people pileups
on the walk at the prime photo spots. I
must say that the pool looks the very best from the air (as seen in the picture
on the display sign). From eye level, I
was able to capture the tendrils of brownish color along the edges and the
lovely steam rising into the cool air. A
little disappointing but only insofar as I could not see the view I had
imagined. It was thrilling to be there
nonetheless.
The next pool along the walkway (Opal Pool) is a smaller
version of the Grand Pool and I got a good photo of it. There was a bit of that sulfur smell in the
air here but the worst smell in the park so far has to have been at the
restroom here. Ick.
We left the geyser basin and headed east toward West Thumb
(which is named for the thumb-like projection of Yellowstone Lake upon which it
sits). The road crosses the Continental
Divide twice and we had to stop for at least one picture. We noticed a lot of areas with rock slides
and traffic signs which said either Fallen Rocks or Falling Rocks. Now, Falling Rocks seems rather active to me
and I really want to be sure which sign I’ve seen before I continue too far
along. I couldn’t help but remember the
exhibit we saw yesterday that showed how many earthquakes this area gets each
day. So each steep section found me
whispering a silent plea for no quaking.
I also seems that they expect to get a lot of snow up here. I had Lowell stand next to one of the “driveway
markers” along the road. He is 6’4” tall
and there must be another 2 feet of marker past the tip of his head. A ranger told us that they get 150,000
visitors in the park in the wintertime.
I suppose it’s good form to mark a road or two rather than having them
slip into a ravine.
The North Thumb Geyser basin starts with a warning about
wildlife. Interestingly, the sign is
right next to a picnic area. Is there
one that advises the bears not to approach the picnickers? There was a ranger led talk going on while we
toured. I love their uniforms.
This area is different than the others we looked at in that
it is directly on the shore of an enormous lake. The “thumb” of the lake is formed on another
volcano. Odd to see lake water bubbling
around the edges. There were numerous
mud pots, pools and geysers. It started
to rain while we were walking and a brisk wind came up so it was rather cold. The winter temperatures up here can get to
-50F. At the end of the season, the
shelves are removed from the bookshop and it becomes a warming hut. I went into the little book shop to get a
cancellation stamp for my passport. I
adore the ranger in there. He said hello
to me and then said “Nice hat!”. I’ll
probably look like a fish out of water back in Maine with my cowboy hat (which
I fully intend to wear) but will have the pleasure of knowing that somebody in
Wyoming thought it was nice.
We saw so many wonderful sights at the park. We returned to our campsite full of wonderful
memories and are looking forward to heading west again in the morning.
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