We hopped in the car and drove south a short distance to the area known as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (GCY). The name says it all. It is a huge canyon created by erosion from the Yellowstone River. At its maximum it is almost a quarter of a mile deep and three-quarters of a mile wide. There are two large waterfalls, the Upper and the Lower, that are the main attractions at the canyon area. There is a long hiking trail that runs along the rim of the GCY, but we visited by car.
We decided to take the road on the south rim first. Although there are many scenic stops along the way, many were closed for construction and repairs. Along the way, we spotted our first signs of large animals in Yellowstone Park. It was a couple of deer nonchalantly traipsing through a field about a hundred yards away from some construction workers using heavy equipment.
At the end of the road is Artist Point. From there, visitors can best appreciate the magnitude of the GCY and the height of the Lower Falls.
We then drove back down to the brink of the Upper Falls. From that vantage point, visitors can get a front row seat to the immense power of the Yellowstone River as it crashes down on the rocks below.
After finishing on the south rim, we doubled back to visit the north rim. Along the way, The Wife slammed on the brakes and pulled to the side of the road. Right next to us was a single bison just standing in the shade of a tree.
It was the first one The Kids had seen in the wild so far and it was only a few feet away from our car. A couple of other vehicles stopped and pulled over to watch this enormous creature slowly cross the road. Other more-impatient visitors weaved around the animal and the parked cars and sped off to more important destinations. I couldn't fathom why a person wouldn't want to pause for awhile and appreciate this magnificent wild creature. Later that afternoon, I would realize why.
We would make only one stop on the north rim, but we would make it count. We had an option of walking a few feet to Inspiration Point where we could get an elevated view of the Lower Falls. Alternatively, we could take a longer path that led down towards the river and see the Lower Falls from within the depths of the canyon. We decided on the latter which would take us to the Red Rock Overlook. The hike down was very nice. The switchbacks were mainly shaded as they traversed the wooded sides of the canyon.
The view of the Lower Falls was impressive from the Red Rock Overlook. The tiny people far away at the "brink of the Lower Falls" stop provided a perspective on how high this waterfall is.
Unfortunately, we had to make our way up which was much more grueling than going down. When we finally made it back to the top, we went ahead and checked out Inspiration Point as well. The view from there was also impressive, but there was no rainbow effect that we had seen at the Red Rock Overlook.
We continued on our drive along the north rim road until we were magically back at the Canyon Lodge area. We stopped at some of the stores to do some souvenir shopping and to grab some delicious huckleberry ice cream. We had accidentally left our binoculars back home in Tennessee, so we ended up buying another pair in case we had some more animal sightings.
After our break, we drove west to the Norris Geyser Basin. This area boasts the hottest geothermal area in the entire park. It is so hot that only two years before, one tourist accidentally fell into one of the steaming pools and his body completely dissolved after a day. There are so many geysers in the area that it is further divided into the Porcelain Basin and the Back Basin areas. We started along the former first since it is clearly visible from the ranger station. There's a Museum celebrating National Park rangers inside, but we skipped it.
The Porcelain Basin looks like the landscape of a World War I battlefield. Clouds of smoke and steam slowly rise from the barren wasteland littered with water-filled craters. The stench of sulfur was overwhelming in some areas.
We also passed a small geyser named Congress Pool. Although it's name derives from the International Geological Congress of 1891, its muddy, filthy water makes its moniker apropos for the legislative body in Washington.
We next visited the Back Basin area which is located in a more wooded, less open area. There are different loops that can be taken depending on how many geysers a visitor wants to see. Since we had already seen more than our fair share of geysers in the past two days, we chose the shortest loop that still hits the main sites.
The most prominent of all these geothermal spots is Steamboat Geyser. It has the highest eruptions (more than 300 feet) of all the geysers in Yellowstone Park. It is currently also the highest active geyser in the world. Unfortunately, Steamboat is also very unpredictable with interval of eruptions lasting from 4 days to 50 years. According to the sign posted nearby, the last eruption was about a week prior.
There was a relatively large crowd of tourists gathered around it in anticipation of it erupting. Although there was a lot of sputtering from the hole, no eruption was imminent. Since we weren't willing to wait 50 years, we kept moving along. [note: it turns out that it erupted again a week after we visited]
About 300 feet downhill from Steamboat Geyser is the Cistern Spring. This geothermic pool has a connection with the geyser. When Steamboat Geyser has a major eruption, the water levels in the Cistern Spring will often drop, sometimes completely emptying out the crater. The pool was completely full and overfilling on this day. Nearby, the trunks of nearby trees, killed by the overflowing boiling water are evidence of the volatile geothermic activity from this spring.
After leaving the Norris Geyser Basin, we drove north towards the Mammoth Hot Springs area. As opposed to other areas of the park, the limestone rock combined with the geothermal activity has created travertine formations. These manifest as a series of terraces that wind down a hill. We drove to the upper terraces and viewed the different formations there.
Since we had already seen similar travertine formations at Pamukkale, Turkey that were much better, we didn't really spend too much time ogling at those at the Mammoth Hot Springs.
We drove down the hill towards the Mammoth Historic District. From 1886 to 1918, the park was administered by the U.S. Army. This area was the site of Fort Yellowstone. Now, it houses the main administrative offices for Yellowstone Park.
Since we had skipped lunch and it was already mid afternoon, we stopped by one of the concession areas for a quick bite to eat. We all ended up just buying more ice cream. Fortunately, they too had more of the awesome huckleberry ice cream.
On the way back to our car, we spotted an elk who apparently should have taken a left turn in Albuquerque. She trotted straight into town and blocked the main road that leads into the park.
After being surrounded by tourists with cameras and finally figuring out that she wasn't in Kansas anymore, she galloped off further into town. Perhaps she was also hoping to get a few scoops of that huckleberry ice cream.
Back in our car, we drove east on the Grand Loop Road towards the Tower-Roosevelt Area of the park. At this point, we had seen a couple of large animals. But it was nothing compared to what I had expected to see in Yellowstone. On a hunch, I decided that we should turn off onto a small six mile road called the Blacktail Plateau Drive.
We drove slowly for what felt like eternity along this bumpy one-way road kicking up dust and rocks. The scenery was pretty but we didn't spot any large animals. We weren't that surprised as we knew that animals are much less active in the middle of the day. Still, we continued to scan the treeline hoping to see a large animal resting in the shade. We did stop at a large meadow filled with colorful yellow flowers. The Girl had to jump out and do her imitation of the opening scene from The Sound of Music.
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| A pair of prairie dogs stand up to watch a crazy human singing and spinning around in a field. |
Back in the car, we traveled no more than 200 yards around a bend when we saw a large black bear on the side of the road making a meal of some berries. We slowly drove up along side of him. With our windows rolled down, we were no more than 10 to 15 feet away from the bear. He must have been used to automobiles as he paid us very little mind. We sat there for about 15 minutes watching him eat leisurely. It was no grizzly bear, but it was a fortunate and awesome experience.
The Blacktail Plateau Drive eventually merged back with the Grand Loop Road. We made a brief stop to see the petrified tree. We didn't even have to get out of the car to see it.
We arrived at the Tower-Roosevelt Area which is a popular staging area for people to do horseback riding in the park. Since we had no time or interest in that, we decided to take the fork east towards the Lamar Valley. We had planned on visiting this area on the day we would be leaving, but we still had plenty of daylight left.
We soon realized why the drivers earlier in the morning were unimpressed by the bison that we had encountered near the GCY. There are plenty of herds of buffaloes in the Lamar Valley. Some were mere dots far away in the distance. Others congregated just a few feet off the side of the road. There were adult males and females as well as small calves. Although the density of wildlife didn't come close to the Migration that we had seen in Tanzania, there were plenty of bison to see. All we had to do was just pull over to the side of the road and watch these over-sized beasts.
We reached the Soda Butte, a lonely travertine formation that is alien to this area of rolling green hills. Since it would be getting dark soon we decided to head back to the Canyon Lodge, a drive that would take us well over an hour since we had to stop for a couple of buffalo crossings.
Back at our hotel, we used the Instant Pot again to make a meal with chicken, brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes. It was less disgusting than it sounds, but I would hesitate to call it good.
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