Wyoming – Yellowstone Part 1 Geysers and Springs

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day…this song certainly came to mind as we traveled the park roads in Yellowstone, which we shared with the bison. Unfortunately, the no clouds part is eluding us. Luckily, as stated previously, we can drive about 10-15 miles to a different part of the park and have completely different weather, it’s just you never know what you’ll end up with until you get there.

Yellowstone National Park is huge! It’s 2.2 million acres encompasses Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, with Wyoming having the largest section. Every day we started with a plan to visit a specific section and then depending on how long it took, we added more. There are so many geysers, springs, lakes and one of our favorites, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Unfortunately, we did not get to the Lamar Valley because the road was still closed for the season. To get there via a different route would have taken 3 hours one way and there were plenty of other areas to visit. The reason it takes so long to get to each destination is because of the wildlife sightings. There are bison roaming everywhere, even walking right down the streets. If there is a moose (which unfortunately we did not see here), bear, fox, elk or other animals that are more elusive, then as you drive you come up to cars parked all over the road and people scurrying about to get a picture. We join in, find the subject of everyone’s excitement, take our pictures, stay and observe for a little while, then move on to the next traffic jam.

We felt like we were in a winter wonderland

most of the time we were here. On Wednesday,

our day of departure, they had to close some of'

the roads due to the overnight snowfall. Luckily, our route 

was open and we were able to head out.

Abyss Pool in West Thumb Geyser Basin.

Hot springs are the most common hydrothermal 

features in the park. They vary from frothing,

mocha-like boiling water to clear and calm pools.

Mud Pot

Mudpots are acidic hot springs with a limited water supply.

This is Dragons Mouth Spring, 

it sounded like a dragon roaring when the steam escaped.

With each gush of steam, a wave of hot water would roll out

of the cave, representing the dragon's tongue.

Solitary Geyser

Sometimes you just see steam, other times you

will see and hear water bubbling.

Grotto Geyser

One of the most interesting looking geysers we saw.

Morning Glory Pool

One of the biggest problems with maintaining these

pools and geysers are humans. People throw objects in,

which causes havoc with the ecological systems. 

Grand Prismatic Spring

One of the world's largest hot springs.

We decided to take the hike to the observation

point to watch Old Faithful. It wasn't until

we were halfway there that we found out it was

a tough climb with some steep slopes.

Waiting for Old Faithful from the observation point.

There she goes! One of the most predictable

geysers, going off approximately every 90 minutes.

After finishing our hike, we watched Old Faithful from

ground level. Here are all the people waiting and watching.

Old Faithful from ground level.

We dined at the Old Faithful Inn. It's a national

historic landmark, built in 1903-1904 with local

logs and stone. It is one of the largest log-style

structures in the world.

The night we were there a person was playing a 

violin on the 2nd floor serenading those waiting 

in line for their table.

The dining room.

This is the outside of the Inn. People are seated

on the 2nd floor patio to watch Old Faithful erupt.