It's Big Trip Time! Part 5 - This Place is Dangerous!

I hope you didn't miss Part 4.  You wouldn't want to skip Part 4, would you?

Our first selfie inside Yellowstone National Park!

That's Lewis Falls in the background.

We set a 6am alarm to wake us up on Tuesday morning, as it would be a big day for us, and we wanted to get moving early.  This would be our chance to hit up Yellowstone National Park (or as much of it as one can do in one day), and we didn't want to waste a moment!  Chris busted open the bear box and made us breakfast sandwiches, so we could start our day with full bellies.

The weather would continue to be drizzly and overcast

most of the day, but the sun did peep out every now and then.

We didn't care - we were used to it by now.

It's early. And cold. And I'm still drinking my tea.

Before too long, we were on the road; although Grand Teton (where Gros Ventre Campground was located) and Yellowstone are on the same road and are separated only by a few miles, each one is pretty darn huge (and they do make you pay for entrance to each - if you're doing these two, just buy an annual national parks pass - it's like $10 more and you can use it all year).  It took us over an hour to make it to the Yellowstone South Entrance station (it's only about 30 miles from the campground, but it's a lot of 40 mph roads, so it takes awhile), and from there, it was another hour to drive to the Old Faithful Visitor Center.  While I drove the truck (it seemed more than fair for me to handle the driving on this day, given all the miles Chris had covered with the full rig), Chris grabbed some shots of the surrounding area, including the gorgeous sky:

All of these were taken within Grand Teton National Park.

It's a tiny bit further south and about 1000 feet lower in

elevation than Yellowstone,

so the weather can actually differ pretty significantly.

Look!  Bison!  Enlarge the picture to see them more clearly.

As we drove through Grand Teton, the road narrowed down and we started to see brake lights.  Turns out that the rangers had spotted a pair of bears, and everyone was slowing down to take pictures of them.

Here's the best (heavily cropped) shot we got of the bear.

He/she is probably a good 30 feet off the roadway,

and we didn't stop and get out of the truck like other people were.

Here's a more accurate depiction of our view of the bear:

OMG NATURE!

After a quick stop at Flagg Ranch General Store (for the necessities: souvenirs and bathrooms), we passed through the southern entrance to Yellowstone, and almost immediately, the scenery changed a bit.

What's all that white stuff on the ground?

The snowpack was pretty significant along this part of the drive - 

at least a foot deep or so, 

and probably more around the trees farther from the road.

It's COLD.

A good two hours after we left the campground, we found ourselves in the parking lot for the Upper Geyser Basin, where you can see Old Faithful (OF).  We gathered our gear (i.e., put on more clothes and got the big camera) and walked to the OF viewing area, only to find that the 10am show had just concluded.  Undeterred, we figured we'd see the next viewing (it is called Old Faithful for a reason), so we killed time by strolling the boardwalk around the Basin and looking at all of the other weird and wonderful geothermic features in the area.

We also bought stickers at the general store.

We started out by attempting to hike the overlook trail, but it was super muddy from all the rain, so we decided that was not our bag for today.

Eh, too muddy.

The OF Inn, across the basin

Once back on the main boardwalk, we continued our stroll and got up close and personal with several smaller geysers and other features.  This was so cool - one of the dudes would be bubbling up, sending clouds of Sulphur across the walkway, and you could feel the difference in temperature - it was at least a good 10-15 degrees warmer than the surrounding area, and that was just from the vapor the geyser was producing.  There were tons of signs all over the area, telling visitors to stay on the walkway; you could easily get burned or worse if you ended up on/in one of these things.  What continued to crack us up is that across this barren landscape of geothermic potholes and bubbling cauldrons of Sulphur were giant buffalo "chips" - the buffalo seem to be a hardier breed of mammal than we are.

 

Chipmunks are apparently heartier than us, too.

This little dude ran right out from under the boardwalk,

checked us out to see if snacks were imminent,

and continued on his merry way.

Aw, it's just a baby geyser!

 I didn't grow up in an area formed by these specific natural forces,

but I seriously had NO idea how many types

of geysers and other geothermal features there were,

and how different each one could look.

It was easy to see why the reports given by early explorers

were thought to be fabrications -

who would believe things like this exist?

While most of the geysers just had mist coming from them, some were actively bubbling, and we took way too many glamour shots of those:

I have very similar pictures of spots in Hawaii,

but those are waves and cliffs and such.

Here's a video of one in action:

There used to be signs telling people not to cook their

fish in these, as that was apparently a common practice at one time.

Speaking of those buffalo chips:

WHAT'S THAT?  YOU WANT MORE GEYSERS?!?!?!  OKAY!

J/K, that's a tree.

Me: "This one reminds me of a coral reef."

Chris: "It should, it's called anemone geyser."

By the time we'd done the full circuit around the Upper Geyser Basin, it was about time for the next OF eruption; we grabbed a good viewing spot and cooled our heels, waiting for nature to entertain us a bit more.  Read all about that in the next blog!

Later!

Amy