Yellowstone

Because we had planned a quick trip, we didn’t have much time to spend in Yellowstone. I think we saw a lot in a short period of time. We managed to see lots of big animals (Buffalo, Elk, Deer, and a Moose), lots of thermal features, and the Tetons.

We got up early and were on the road around 7am. We made our way to Norris Geyser Basin. We came up over a hill and there it was a huge field with steam rising from everywhere. Margaret made the comment that it must be hard to tell if there is a forest fire because of all the steam always rising from everywhere. It turned out that we were pretty much the only people in the basin while we were there. After we had been there a while, a few other families showed up. Here we saw a few geysers spewing from time to time, and lots of hot springs.

After that, we made our way to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Again, we were there before it was crowded at all, so we got to wander around Artists Point without too much distraction. We made our way further into the park stopping and seeing various things along the way. The thing I was most interested in was the Grand Prismatic Spring. It was about as I expected really cool, but you need to be about 100 feet above it to get a really good picture. The springs are varying in color because where they are hottest, no bacteria can live, as the water cools down, bacteria of different colors live in the water.

As we made our way further into the park, it got later and we had to deal with more people. By the time we got to Old Faithful, it was pretty crowded. But all in all not as bad as it could have been. After spending a little time around Old Faithful, we made our way down by Yellowstone Lake and through Grand Teton National Park and spent the night in Jackson, WY. A very full day, but very enjoyable.