The Grand Daddy Of National Parks ~ Yellowstone
“Yellowstone, ... Daily new, always strange, ever full of change, it is nature’s wonder park. It is the most human and the most popular of all parks.” - Susan Rugh.
My American Parks Odyssey continues with the grand daddy of all National Parks - Yellowstone. Quite literally, Yellowstone was the first national park to be awarded that status all the way back in 1872. There are tales of high society ladies, and names like the Rockefeller’s, the Vanderbilt’s and even a poet of Rudyard Kipling’s stature making their way here in search of adventure and/or trophy hunting. The Old Faithful Lodge and Inn were established during that long ago time to provide welcome and lodging to these visitors.
We stayed at the Snow Lodge at Old Faithful which is a bit newer than the Old Faithful Inn but the sense of endless time and history pervades the area. If we had a time travel machine it would be interesting to see how similar the adventures might seem between then and now.
While I have long desired to make my way to Yellowstone and some of the other treasures that I had the opportunity to explore on this trip it just never happened until now. I call this my silver lining to the COVID cloud which has led me to focus on attractions closer to home rather than rushing off to exotic destinations around the world. Many friends warned me that my timing might not be ideal, however God served up crisp and cool sunny days with little to no crowds every where we went.
Of course due to many of the lodges and campgrounds closing down, quality of the food was a bit of a challenge and we had to deal with boxed lunches and to go meals at some of the lodges we stayed at and many of the places we passed through were shut down with signs saying that they would re-open in 2022 or shutting down behind us as we moved onwards.
I had imagined Yellowstone as wide open spaces with a plethora of animal racing across the grass and mountains. Clearly I knew about Old Faithful that geyser that spewed up into the sky several times a day. I never imagined the bubbling, boiling, steaming, pitted landscape that at times made me feel like I was on an outer space adventure balanced with the beautiful blue of the lake, river and streams that ran through the landscape. The trees that rose majestically out of the canyons along with the burnt out desolate hulks left behind after the last fire that raged here.
It might have been the season or it might have been where we wandered but we never did see the herds of animals that I had imagined though we did see bison, elk, moose, pronghorns, and what some folks on the tour said were bears ( I would not swear to that). Sightings were precious and scarce but I can’t complain.
I know the scientists say that they do not expect a volcanic eruption here for hundreds of years, so definitely not in our life time but still when you see the seething surface it’s hard to believe that whatever is happing at the center of the earth is far away.
The reality far surpassed anything that I had read or seen about Old Faithful. I found the timing for the next outburst at my hotel and made my way past the visitor’s center to the viewing benches and walkway that surround this famous gusher and others around the area.
Smoke drifted over the landscape and every few minutes the earth would spew small bursts of steam keeping the waiting crowd on tenterhooks with their cameras poised for that special shot.
Then suddenly was there a sound? I don’t know but the geyser burst forth from the ground in a burst of bellowing stream that had people on their feet and camera’s clicking. The intensity was startling and the geyser just seemed to go on and on even as people reluctantly put down their cameras tired from their clicking.
The lower geyser basin or West Thumb Loop that runs along the lake with it’s pools of bubbling and boiling pools. The water is so hot that you can actually see the boiling bubbles in some of the pools. One might imagine a spa with a chain of hot tubs only these are extremely injurious to your health should you step into one.
The Middle Geyser area with it’s steam and flowing water mimics the magma that is released after a volcanic eruption.
A one way path curves around the various colored pools with their natural mineral deposits that is so definitely worth the walk.
The Prismatic pool with it’s beautiful copper colored deposits changes faces with the sun and wind.
There’s an opal pool also but this turquoise pool was exquisite. There was so much natural beauty that I kept snapping pictures. The hardest thing was to pick the ones to share with you.
The painted pots with their smoking pitted surface makes one wonder if this is what the surface of Mars looks like?
Does it really feel as though this volcano is not going to erupt for hundreds of years? There’s almost an eerie beauty in this landscape. Best of all are the stories abut people leaving the designated walkways and wandering on the ground only to find their death lurking in the boiling waters or steaming land mass.
Intellectually there are not that many deaths that have occurred here as another one of our party googled and informed us and each one of them is of course because some one broke the rules clearly signposted all over.
Gibbon Falls.
Leaving the eerie seething, steaming, boiling landscape behind we embarked on the canyon drive and stopped at various points to goggle at the beauty of the waterfalls that abound along the path.
Along the Yellowstone river in the lower falls region where the water chuckles and sparkles over the natural formation before it makes the big drop over the canyon at Artists Point.
Artist Point, the iconic view that symbolizes the beauty of Yellowstone Park.
While we saw a lot of bison later on most particularly when we made it to Custer State Park, the first bison sighting was quite exciting. As I mentioned earlier we saw an elk with a small family that was completely surrounded by people out of their cars busily taking close up photos. We joked that the slowest person would be the one that would be caught if the elk were to charge.
On a different note, why are moose sightings said to be lucky? we were fortunate to catch a quick glimpse as we left the park but no pictures.
We are now headed across Wyoming to South Dakota gawking at the landscape imaging Native American tribes thundering through these valleys on their horses with tales of greed and outlaws ringing in our ears and imagination. We are going to have an opportunity for a quick respite and change of palate at a dude ranch in Wyoming before plunging deep into cowboy and Indian territory.