The obligatory picture by the sign
One of the hot springs we saw
Old Faithful in all its glory
Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River
The stunning Lower Falls surrounded by the beautiful canyon walls that gave this park its name
Okay, first
of all, I just have to say that this lyric has always kind of annoyed me
because hot springs don’t really “blow”. Geysers do. But, anyway, it fit for
today’s post. Yesterday I mentioned that I had an activity planned out for
today that I was pretty excited about. Well, I finally got on the bus tour up
to Yellowstone for the day! I’d been meaning to do it all season, and finally
got to go today. It was me and fifteen other guests on the bus, plus the
driver/guide.
We left from
the lodge at about 8:30 this morning. The first quick stop we made was at Flagg
Ranch, just below the south border of Yellowstone, to pick up a couple more
people. We also made a quick stop at the entrance of the park. Warren, the
driver, took pictures of all of us in front of the Yellowstone sign. Early on
the drive he told us that he’s originally from Oregon, and this is his seventh
season leading the bus tours here. His wife works in the reservations
department. They both work here in the summer, Colorado in the winter, and they
travel in between. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Our next
stop was at an area that had several hot springs and mud pots. Yellowstone is
home to the greatest concentration of geothermal features (mud pots, hot
springs, and geysers) in the world, and they’re the main reason that it became
the first national park in 1872. The hot springs especially are very beautiful,
since they have such crazy colors. They’re also the reason that Yellowstone is
one of the more dangerous of the national parks. There are cases every year of
people illegally stepping off of the boardwalks around the hot springs and
getting too close to take pictures. The boardwalks are there because the ground
near the hot springs is often very thin, and usually when people walk on it,
they break through, fall into the hot spring, and literally boil to death. And
that, ladies and gentlemen, is called natural selection.
We walked
around that area for a while, getting pictures and enjoying the beauty of the
hot springs. Our next stop was at the most famous geyser in the world, Old
Faithful (or Old Slightly Irregular, as the employees call it). The beautiful
Old Faithful Inn is, appropriately, very close to it, and most of us ate lunch
on their upper balcony, which has a great view of the geyser. It went off about
twenty minutes after we arrived. The eruption lasted about three minutes, with
water shooting up to about 150 feet into the air. It was definitely an
impressive spectacle.
After the
eruption finished, I explored the inside of the beautiful inn until it was time
to return to the bus. It had a very rustic feel inside, with nearly everything
made of wood, a large fireplace in the center of the lobby, and some rocking
chairs placed around it.
The next
stop after Old Faithful was to see the largest hot spring in the park, Grand
Prismatic. It’s considered the third largest hot spring in the world, with the
water in it getting up to 200 degrees. The colors in this spring are really
amazing, with deep blue water in middle, turning yellow, then orange, then
brown around the edges. It was drizzling a little when we got out, so I decided
not to bring my camera. I knew this wouldn’t be my only chance to see it
anyway.
We spent
about twenty minutes walking around the boardwalk the surrounded the beautiful
hot spring, before the cold, wet air drove us back to the shelter of the bus.
It was a lot colder in Yellowstone than it was at the lodge, which I wasn’t too
surprised about. The elevation throughout Yellowstone is about a thousand feet
more than the lower park, so naturally it was colder there.
After the
hot springs, our next stop was to see Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone
River. Both are beautiful, but Lower Falls is more impressive just due to its
size. It’s a little over a 300 foot waterfall, and is considered to be one of
the most scenic waterfalls in the world. It drops the Yellowstone River into a
huge canyon with bright colored rock walls that gave the park its name. It
wasn’t raining there, thankfully, since it was a perfect picture spot.
We returned
through Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley, which are some of the top wildlife
viewing spots in the park. We saw bison, elk, deer, moose, foxes, a coyote, and
even a grizzly bear and a few wolves. It was a great trip back. As we drove by
part of Yellowstone Lake (which is absolutely HUGE!!), I saw some cormorants
playing in the water, and it reminded me of the cormorants that hang around the
river by the zoo back home. They’re one of my favorite species of birds.
I got back
to the lodge just in time to meet Tanner and Cristina for dinner at the EDR.
The weather’s a little rainy here tonight; I like the sound of the rain outside
my back door here in the dorm. I have tomorrow off as well, and don’t have any
plans so far. Tanner’s off as well, so maybe he and I will do something. I don’t
expect to do anything big though.
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