Yellowstone: Take Two

Summer television reruns aren't my favorite. I keep seeing the ads for the new season, and I'm looking forward to more choices for evening television viewing. (We are not in a prime location for streaming, so I'm limited to the "million" or so channels from my Dish Network. Yes, I know that's ironic, coming from someone who grew up with four TV stations - ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. My, how times have changed!)

Anyway, we had a "rerun" to Yellowstone during our trip. I had someone ask me why we'd want to go back. There were several factors. Even though we'd spent 12 hours in Yellowstone in 2011, we didn't see it all. If you're driving to Glacier, you have to figure out some way to get back home. Why not include the beauty of Yellowstone in the travel itinerary?

The Madison River

This time, we drove through different areas than we had the first time. Though we repeated the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, we didn't visit Old Faithful, Blue Star Spring or Grand Prismatic Spring on this latest trip.

Yellowstone has been a national park since 1872. But nature changes. It changes from day to day, much less since our visit 13 years ago or when it was founded 152 years ago ... and beyond.

Gibbon Falls

 

This was Beryl Spring. The violent agitation of the water is due to volcanic gases, mostly steam. The temperature of the water is usually a few degrees below boiling. It's one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone.

We took a short hike to the Artist's Paintpots.
 

The shot below wasn't nearly as pretty, but it shows the aftermath of all that boiling and bubbling.

We saw more geysers at the Norris Geyser Basin. It is Yellowstone's most dynamic - the hottest, most acidic and most dynamic geyser basin. It's part of one of the world's largest active volcanoes (according to a sign at the park.)

Norris Geyser Basin

It was named for Philetus W. Norris, who served as superintendent of Yellowstone from 1877 to 1882. He recorded the area's hydrothermal features in detail and also oversaw construction of some of the park's first roads, which still remain in the Grand Loop Road.

 

The next day, our trek along Blacktail Plateau Drive took us off the beaten path and onto a gravel road. (Our car is used to that.)

We only saw two other cars along the gravel road, which was a nice change of pace.

But, soon enough, we were back to the main road and heading toward some of the better known attractions - like Tower Creek. About 50 million years ago, volcanoes in Yellowstone and surrounding areas started to erupt, burying the land under volcanic rock. These ancient Eocene volcanoes left their mark with darker vertical cliffs that stretch up from the river. 

The 132-foot drop of Tower Creek, framed by eroded volcanic pinnacles has been documented by park visitors from the earliest trips of Europeans into the Yellowstone region. It has inspired numerous artists, including Thomas Moran. His painting of Tower Fall played a role in establishing Yellowstone National Park in 1872. 

Most of this visit's stops at Yellowstone were new to us. But the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was our favorite spot when we visited the park in 2011. Unlike the summer reruns on network television, this second viewing was just as awe-inspiring as the first. 

The canyon varies from 800 to 1,200 feet in depth and from 1,500 to 4,000 feet in width. It's about 24 miles long. 

 

Hot spring activity has continued through the ages, altering the lava rock to produce varied colors which are largely due to different iron compounds. 

 

We also saw Roaring Mountain ...

 ... and Yellowstone Lake. (It is huge.)

We packed as much as we could into our day and a half. I'm sure we didn't see all of it this time either. 

Visitors at Yellowstone seemed to form the United Nations of the world. As we walked around after supper in West Yellowstone, we heard many different languages - probably more that weren't English. But is it any wonder that the natural beauty attracts people from all around the world? 

It wasn't just the different countries represented. The National Parks also bring together people from all different parts of the country and different lifestyles. There were plenty of families with little boys skipping rocks into lakes. (It does seem little boys and rock skipping are universal. I'm not being sexist. Boys just seem to gravitate to the rock throwing more, in my observations.) I sat on a bench with a woman about my age who lives in New York City. She couldn't believe how "isolated" and "remote" everything was. I'm looking around at more people than I usually see in a week and thinking about how different our daily lives are. But we still had a wonderful visit while sitting on a bench. I "met" another woman while standing in line, waiting for a bathroom at Glacier. She said, "They say everyone has a twin somewhere in the world. I know yours." Ironically, my "twin's" name was Jill, and I told the lady that I had a daughter named Jill (who looks nothing like me). I happened to see her a couple more times, and each time, she said, "Hi, Kim!" 

It really is a small world. And it's a beautiful world, too. 

Old Faithful

Do you remember those little flip books when you were a kid? You put your thumb along the right side and ruffle the pages of the book, making it look like you're watching a movie.

I could make my own flip book with the photos I took of Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone. Then I wouldn't need to pay $4.50 from the Yellowstone gift shop. Actually, I didn't buy a flip book, though I did rifle through one when we were standing in line.

But I did take several of my 568 photos before, during and after Old Faithful's eruption.

(We have a family joke about overzealous photography. When I merrily click away, my family will remind me of my priceless set of photos of the Rose Parade in Pasadena. They were taken on a family vacation when I was a fifth grader. There are dozens of photos of the brilliantly-colored, flower-filled floats ... all in black and white. In my parents' defense, it was much cheaper to develop black and white film back in the day.)

While my Old Faithful photos aren't in black and white, they aren't the best. The sky was filled with fluffy white clouds, so the plume blended into the background. And as the geyser erupted, there were dark clouds racing up behind us, casting a shadow. But we weren't going to wait another 90 minutes for the next eruption, so it just had to be good enough. (And Randy is again thankful for the advent of digital photography. He couldn't afford me otherwise.)

I'm guessing the guy to Randy's left got better photos than I did. He had three cameras with him, including the long lens. I'm sure there were hundreds of photos taken of that particular eruption, since most of the people in the semi-circle around Old Faithful had cameras with them.

It is one of those stops in Yellowstone that you have to make, since Old Faithful is easily the most famous of the attractions. But it wasn't my favorite by a long shot.

These were contenders:

Blue Star Spring near Old Faithful. What can I say? I love blue.

The vivid colors at the Grand Prismatic Spring are the result of pigmented bacteria. Who knew bacteria and minerals could be so pretty?

Hundreds of yellow water lilies filled the Isa Lake at the Continental Divide, elevation 8,262 feet.

The sign said we were standing at the peaked roof of the continent and the upper watershed for two of the nation's most extensive drainage systems - the Snake and Columbia Rivers and the Missouri and Mississippi. Isa Lake drains in two different directions.


As the sun was setting, a storm was rolling in as we drove along Yellowstone Lake and back to our motel in Jackson, Wyo.

But my favorite snapshots in our 12-hour excursion into the park was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


America the Beautiful? Yes, it truly is.