The Avid Reader (and enjoyer of all subjects)

One of the most known national parks in the world and a site for about half of the world’s geysers, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park.  It is home to many species of animals (even though it contains only 7 species of trees) and of course many geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles.  However, don’t forget that Yellowstone is a big volcano, and around 2,000 earthquakes occur in it annually!

We set off from Idaho Falls for the West Yellowstone entrance quite early.  The drive was quite uneventful (except for the breathtaking mountain views, Teton mountain views, and occasional glimpses of cows and horses) and took 90 minutes.  A few miles away, we passed through Targhee National Forest.  Then, the landscape was sparse, with almost no houses or buildings at all.  Suddenly, after some miles, we caught sight of many buildings.  Soon, the figure of a toll booth appeared.  This was the West Entrance.  We got a few maps and brochures from the park ranger, and then went cruising around, anxious to see some of Yellowstone’s sights.

Only a minute after passing through the West Entrance, I caught sight of a gray dog-like animal in the distance.  It was a wolf or a coyote.  The wolf/coyote looked at us for a few seconds, then walked off.  When we had driven for a few more minutes, we saw a crowd of visitors.  We looked out to the plains and found that there were three mule deer leaping about a river.  We saw a few more mule deer, then went on.

Our first stop was the Lower, Middle, and Upper Geyser Basins.  We were incredulous at the steam billowing from the geysers in the Lower Geyser Basin.  The only negative thing was that the geysers smelled like rotten eggs!  We also caught sight of a large herd of bison grazing nearby.  Bison are very unpredictable.  They can sprint up to 30 miles an hour when angry (and they especially do so when mating, protecting food, or protecting young), so we had to stay at least 100 yards away from the nearest bison.

Our next stop was Old Faithful Geyser.  There are many myths about Old Faithful.  One of the most commonly mistaken beliefs is that Old Faithful is the tallest geyser in Yellowstone.  That is NOT true–Steamboat Geyser in Norris Geyser Basin holds that position.  Another myth–what my dad thought–was that park rangers could control the eruptions.  No way!  Here are the facts:  Old Faithful’s eruptions range from 100 feet to over 180 feet, with an average of 130 feet.  It erupts (on average) every 92 minutes.  During this time, around 4,000 gallons of water are expelled every eruption!

We had to drive a long time to get there.  In fact, it was already lunch time!  We had a quick meal there, then went loafing around the general store for some souvenirs.  I got a Yellowstone cup, my sister got a sweater, and we all bought some postcards.  We also got a piggy bank for our neighbors.  Unfortunately, we had some difficulty locating Old Faithful and its parking lot, so we missed its eruption at 12:25 PM and had to wait for 92 minutes!  Old Faithful was scheduled to erupt again at 2:01 PM.  However, at 2:02 PM it still hadn’t erupted–there were just short bursts of hot water.  Everyone was beginning to question the “faithfulness” of the famous geyser.  However, soon enough the water skyrocketed up to 100+ feet and astounded everyone in the crowd.  I thought Old Faithful was the best part of Yellowstone!  Of course, we didn’t forget to capture photos of nearby Craig Pass.

Then, we set our destination as West Thumb and neighboring Yellowstone Lake.  West Thumb is one of the smallest geyser basins in the national park–so small that after we passed it, I was still inquiring, “Where is West Thumb?”  (We didn’t actually visit West Thumb.)  We caught views of Yellowstone Lake and made sure to capture both snowcapped mountains and the lake while driving by.  My dad spotted a black-and-white duck swimming by.  However, we didn’t go boating or fishing.

We also made sure to stop at the Yellowstone Canyon/Waterfall.  Before Yellowstone Canyon, we needed to pass through Hayden Valley.  Hayden Valley is supposed to be one of the areas with the most wildlife (behind Lamar Valley), but all we saw were herds of bison.  At Yellowstone Canyon/Waterfall, the views were absolutely breathtaking (my mother said this had been her favorite part of the whole trip), but we had to walk close to a mile to get to there.  It was very hard not to look down, and my acrophobia kept me from thoroughly enjoying the canyon and river.

We stopped at a mud volcano, too.  The mud volcano was very smelly.  My dad wanted to see the Black Dragon Cauldron, but my sister objected, saying that the smell was too strong and that we couldn’t bear a 1-mile walk.

The next stop was Tower Falls, but that was quite far away.  We made plenty of short stops on the way–wherever there were animals, we stopped.  We came upon a whitewater river at first.  Even though I thought no fish would want to endure the perils of this habitat, my dad and I spotted some leaping trout.  There was also a pelican passing by the more peaceful waters some yards away, with a fish.  Then, we came across Mount Washburn, and my dad encouraged us to climb it.  However, I was already bone-weary from all the walking we had to do, so we didn’t reach the summit.  My parents spotted a yellow-bellied marmot and its mate, though, and a nearby chipmunk.  My sister was peeved off by my exhaustion, because she wanted to see the bighorn sheep near the apex.  (I guess we’ll save that for another visit.)  Strangely enough, my dad said that climbing Mount Washburn had been his favorite part!  Later, in the dark, we also found a big group of cars blocking traffic.  It turned out that there was a black bear!  It vanished, but visitors caught a glimpse of a black bear cub.  We got a very good view of it from our car, and my dad took a picture of it on his cell phone.

We arrived at Tower Falls, but I was starving, the stores there were all closed, and we hadn’t reserved any hotel/motel rooms!  (My dad suggested sleeping in the car.)  We could only get a peek of Tower Falls before my parents tried to locate food and lodging.  We tried nearby Roosevelt Lodge’s food, but to our dismay the wait would be 45 minutes!  Our final solution was a 30-mile trip to Silver Gate and Cooke City in Montana.  Fortunately, this path would take us through the wildlife-abundant Lamar Valley.  Indeed, evening was one of the best times to spot animals.  A gray wolf with shining eyes came within our sight, and we also saw more bison and a couple of deer.  My dad claimed to have seen a mountain goat.  One bison was only a few feet away from our stopped car.  At one point, a mule deer stood inn front of a group of cars, not moving at all!  At Silver Gate, we ate at a log cabin cafe and had delicious crab with steak.  We stayed at a comfortable, cozy log cabin for the night and prepared for the rest of Yellowstone the next day.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 9:05 pm and is filed under Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.