Yellowstone National Park

While Naomi and Danielle were away on their mission trip, Jeff and I took advantage of the kid-free opportunity and headed to Montana and Wyoming to visit Yellowstone National Park! I did not really know much about the park other than it is known as one of our greatest parks full of unique nature. The majority of the park resides within Wyoming, yet 3 of the 5 entrances are in Montana. We learned that Yellowstone was actually THE FIRST national park and was established by President Ulysses S Grant in 1872.

For some reason I thought it was President Theodore Roosevelt who established this park, but I was incorrect. However, Roosevelt does have an arch there! (He happened to be visiting when the arch was being built and got to lay the cornerstone.)

The location of the park is key to all its beauty and uniqueness -- it is in an area where molten rock (magma) is only 2-5 miles below the surface- yes, active volcanic activity. That combined with rain and snow melt from the mountains, creates all kinds of geological wonders. Mammoth Hot Springs is an amazing display of terraces made up of travertine build-up. Simply spectacular.

As you drive throughout the park, you are never far from seeing a cloud of steam billowing up from the ground. Some are small, some are quite large. They are the many hot springs that are scattered literally all around. Again, these occur as the water seeps down into the earth but is then heated by the magma not far below. 

Some of the steam, is just that - vaporized water.

Other times, it includes a stinky rotten egg smell, from the sulfuric acid, but the vibrant colors make it worth getting close to see! The colors come from billions of thermophiles, which are microorganisms living and thriving in the hot temperatures. When they group together, they appear as masses of fantastic color.

There are signs everywhere warning people not to venture off the path or beyond the rail, due to the danger of super-high heat. This poor person, didn't heed the warnings, and musta just melted away...

While the water in hot springs sort of oozes to the surface in wide pools, the geysers are a whole other phenomenon! It is the same hot water, however, the underground plumbing is different. The water is trapped and constricted in channels, and the heat and pressure builds, until at a certain point when it erupts. There are several geysers throughout the park, however, Old Faithful is the most famous and erupts the most frequently, about every 90ish minutes. (The next eruption time is calculated based on the previous eruption, the duration of the last eruption and the height of the last eruption.)

Old Faithful is not exactly precise, but it did erupt close to the predicted times. Since we were staying a the Inn nearby, we happened to see it erupt 4 times (20 minutes late, 15 minutes early, 10 minutes late, roughly on-time). You can usually tell when the time is getting near, because the crowds of people will begin to show up (based on the times posted online and on signs). Also, the geyser usually gives a small early warning signal with a few low waves of water erupting, before the tall stream of water shoots into the sky. It was slightly less impressive than expected, because the tower of water is often enveloped within the cloud of steam, but definitely still an amazing sight to see, and that it just keeps happening!  

 

The entertainment of nature doesn't stop there! Check out the mud pots and other weird forces in action.

I did not realize that Yellowstone had its own "grand canyon". It is not a surprise once you continue to see the Yellowstone river every where you drive. That mighty river created the 20 mile long canyon, that is up to 1,000 feet deep and anywhere from 1,000-4,000 feet wide (as compared to THE Grand Canyon which is 277 miles long and 5,000+ feet deep). Beautifully breathtaking.

There is a cycle of life here, and often the hot springs and hydrothermal activity overwhelms the trees. It sure makes for an incredibly scenic and layered view! 

Wildfires are also a very natural part of the park. Apparently it is not uncommon for lightning strikes to ignite a small fire that ignites, but ultimately burns out naturally.

And of course...the quest to spot wildlife! After a few hours, we discovered that bison are a dime a dozen -- easy to find! The young, light brown calves are unique to viewing in early June, as they are typically born in early spring as the snow starts to melt.

We honored the park rule to stay at least 25 yards away from the bison, and the bison obeyed the rule as well.

Usually, you can tell there is wildlife nearby because other cars stop in the middle of the road to observe and take pictures. However, we were the first to spot this little guy running along the edge of the road with lunch in his mouth!

The biggest traffic jams happen when the elusive black bear makes an appearance! This guy mostly kept his head down eating roots and but did briefly look up to move to a new spot. Supposedly, the bears hibernate until about mid-May, so this one was busy filling its belly. (NOTE: Jeff and I read the book Yellowstone Standoff during our trip, which gave me a slightly different, more hesitant, perspective on wanting to encounter a bear while we were there...)

We timed our visit well for the weather! It never got above 70 degrees, and at night it dropped into the low 50's. There was plenty of sunshine in the mornings, with a daily afternoon rain shower, but thankfully, it never interfered with our time out of the car. Most of the snow had melted away, but there were several places where it still remained! Good sticky snowball snow!

We did not sleep in all this nature - instead we stayed one night in a cabin at the Snow Lodge and one night in the "og" portion of the Old Faithful Inn (that means no private bath, just like back in 1904!) It was a marvelous structure where the architect tried to bring the outside in. Tons of detail went into creating this unique space.

And one other interesting note within the park -- the continental divide runs thru! (Jeff is fascinated by this, and we've stopped at 2 other crossing points, here and here).

I now recommend that everyone add Yellowstone to their bucket list! It is such an amazing place with much to marvel at. It makes you appreciate the beautiful earth that we live on, and be thankful for the leaders before us who chose to preserve and protect it!

Oh, and by the way, if given a choice, you might want to drive a slightly smaller vehicle. It's tricky to park an F150 super truck between the lines!