Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park – Days 49-52

Well, the weather predictions had been that the weather wouldn’t be too good on Sunday and Monday. There had been snow at Yellowstone the previous week so we decided to stay at the campground that was at the lowest altitude which was Mammoth Springs at the north end of the park – only 6200 feet instead of the 7000 – 8000 of most of the other campgrounds.

The drive from Glacier was very pleasant and easy and it was overcast which always makes driving easier. It was still overcast when we reached Yellowstone and looked threatening so we put up the screen tent so we could eat in the rain if need be. The campsite had a wonderful view of the mountains and was on a hill itself. The “host” of the campground had told us there was a slide presentation that night about the park and that there was an elk with two calves over by the amphitheatre where the presentation was. So within an hour of being there I had pictures of mom elk and the two fawns.

The biggest problem was that the site was on a hill and the bathroom was close by but you had to walk up equivalent to about four flights of stairs. That first night I managed to twist my ankle climbing down the hill so that was very uncomfortable but I was determined to tough it out.


The next morning I was awoken as was about everyone else in the campground by the baying of elk. I got up and there were about half a dozen female elks all over the campground – almost looking over people’s shoulders as they were cooking. They kind of wandered around eating the grass and not bothering anyone. Too cool! These are really majestic animals. As we were getting ready to leave, I managed to see a “bull” elk as well sitting up on the hill in the campground – we think he may have been the noise maker.


As it was still a bit cloudy, Warren and I decided that we would tour all the hydrothermal parts of Yellowstone that day. This turned out to be a very ambitious plan. I was cobbled with my very sore ankle by this time. We started out at Mammoth Springs which was closest and worked our way down the parkway to Old Faithful. What an amazing day. The weather cleared up almost immediately – it was 65 to 70 out and gorgeous. We stopped at every hot spring, geyser, mud volcano and site we could along the way. They were extremely interesting as well as strikingly beautiful with all the colors. The different colors are caused by the different bacteria which grow in this extremely hostile climate (boiling water that many times is the pH almost of battery acid). The afternoon was capped off with arriving at Old Faithful about 20 minutes before it went off. It is not as faithful as it used to be so it was about 2 hours between eruptions. There were crowds but it was not bad at all and we got a good parking space. We saw lots of animals including a bison that was determined to move a car out of it’s way. I have pictures of a field of bison with their calves which were also almost newborns. We saw a bear on the way back although we still can’t figure out if it was a grizzly or a black bear. I thought when I saw it that it was a grizzly but it is not clear from the picture. We were totally exhausted when we got back that night.

The next day we decided to take it easy and just to go over to Tower Falls and have a picnic along the road somewhere at the many picnic places. The day started out with quite a bit of excite as one of the lady elks decided that the tent in the site next to ours would make a nice breakfast and she was trying desperately to tear it down and eat it. Luckily the people had already gotten up. Warren and another guy finally got her to leave although it looked like she might try to charge them a couple of times!! She then headed to the next tent to repeat her performance!! The first tent was saved except for a fair amount of elk drool!! We found a place with a nice view for our picnic after taking much needed showers at the local hotel. The weather was again totally gorgeous – perfect for being out in the sun without getting hot and warm enough so you didn’t get cold in the shade. As we have found everywhere, there are wild flowers all over. Each part of Yellowstone has it’s own character and this day was lots of meadows and lots of bison. I of course took more pictures of flowers hoping to get a few that look good. We relaxed a bit at the campsite that afternoon with lots of elk to view again.


The last full day of traveling through the park, we decided to see the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, the Sulphur Cauldron and the Mud Volcanoes which we had missed on our first day. We first had to get some gas for the car so headed north. On our way, we saw a pronghorn which was a beautiful kind of antelope looking animal – supposed to be the fastest animal in this hemisphere. On our way to our first stop we also saw our first black bear (and our only as it turned out). We headed toward the Yellowstone Grand Canyon but stopped at the top of a mountain area and again had a lovely picnic looking out. A lady told us that there was a grizzly mom and two cubs just further on, so we packed up and went to find. Of course, everywhere there are the more unusual animals, there are lots of cars!! We did see mom but she was asleep; and the cubs were asleep also so we didn’t get to see them clearly. We also saw two bald eagles off in the distance as well as another beautiful bull elk grazing. Another coyote also passed by us and was determined to take up the whole road. They are really a pretty animal out here in the park – not like the ones at home.


We arrived at the Upper and Lower Falls which are part of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This canyon supposedly was created by a huge flood after glacier water melted and according to the ranger, this happened in less than a two week period hundreds of thousands of years ago!! The falls were beautiful and then we headed to an overlook called Artist’s Point. Well, it literally took my breath away, it was so beautiful. These falls cascade down this canyon which is all these different colors because there are again the hot springs coming out of the canyon walls. You add in bright blue sky and the green trees and you have a full palette of colors. I know my pictures will not do justice to this incredible eye candy – even Warren was impressed and he by this time was bored silly with scenery.

We headed to the sulfur cauldron and the mud volcanoes and they did indeed look different from the other hydrothermal features of the park. It is amazing to be walking around inside the caldera of what is considered to be an active volcano. The ranger said that there are about 1000 earthquakes a year inside the park but most very small. The magma is about 3-8 miles below the earth’s surface here as opposed to the 40 miles that it is most places. There are two mounds that they keep close watch on as they are rising and falling. It was also interesting to note that they didn’t know that Yellowstone was a volcano until they started getting satellite pictures. They have traced the three major eruptions – the last caused ash and materials from California to St. Louis. They said that another eruption like that would cover all of California in 10-20 feet of debris. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago. Pretty amazing stuff!! As you drive through, you smell all the hydrogen sulfide gas and see all the steam everywhere.