Yellowstone - Steam, Streams, Bubbling Mud and Brown Blobs

North America » United States » Montana » West Yellowstone
September 24th 2006

Published: September 27th 2006

WARNING, WARNING: Lots of Pictures in this blog!
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After a night in the camping cabin deluxe—complete with table and 4 chairs and enough room to spread all our stuff around—we opened the door to a beautiful blue sky! It was a little chilly; ok more than a little, there was quite a bit of frost on the ground and on the truck. But the sun had worked its magic by the time we were ready to leave…

Statistics

Starting Destination: West Yellowstone, Montana
Ending Destination: West Yellowstone, Montana
Ending Destination GPS: N: 44° 39.348’ W: 111° 06.390’ Elev: 6704’
Miles Driven: 131.9
Miles Hiked: Tourist hiking only!...

The North Loop - Part One: Geothermal Activity

We started off the day thinking that we would drive the North loop and see all the sights there were to see. We are staying near the West entrance so we drove into the park along the Madison River, taking the time to read some of the information boards along the way. Several dealt with the fires of 1988 as there was plenty of evidence of them all over the park, but it was heartening to see that the trees were coming back - especially for Carl as he was last here in 1989 when things were very black! The North loop follows the Gibbon River for a while past our first major stop--Gibbon Falls, very beautiful, but just not “Yellowstone!”

We had to wait for our second stop for that—the Beryl spring, where there were several steaming vents and a pool of bubbling blue water. The spring is named for the color and it was everywhere—including dying the wooden bridge posts blue. Maria thought that this, more than anything, displayed the subtle power of Nature. It was during this stop that Maria spotted her first “brown blob,” more about brown blobs later!..

Our next stop was the Artists Paint Pots, where after a short walk we were treated to all sorts of delights, pools of water of different colors, scents and level of activity.

We traveled next to the Norris Geyser Basin, one of the most active in the park…

It was very interesting in that some of the pools showed very distinctly the algae that grow in the “toxic to humans” environment. In the “life imitates nature” category, the algae growing in the hot (122-140°F or 40-60°C) water is “red” and the algae growing in the cooler (100-133°F or 38-56°C) water is “green.”

We progressed on to Roaring Mountain and several other features until we reached Mammoth Hot Springs—all variations on the same theme. Maria was rather disappointed with Mammoth Hot Springs, but Carl assured her that they had indeed been “mammoth” when he had visited as a child! On that note, it was interesting to find out that the high level of earthquake activity in the area is constantly changing the features - I guess that is nature’s way of ensuring “repeat business!”

The North Loop - Part Two: Other Features

The trip wasn’t all geothermal activity, there were some exceptions… The Obsidian Cliffs, where Native Americans from all around came to collect obsidian for creating implements and where in later life modern souvenir hunters came too… Sheepeater Cliff (left), where the basalt from one of the eruptions had been exposed—unlike the Obsidian Cliff here the magma cooled forming columns—sort of like a mini Devil’s Tower… The Petrified Tree (left)—one of three original trees… Yes, you guessed it - the other 2 were chopped down and “collected!” Maria had this vision of the descendants of the lucky collector finding and old “log” in the attic and then throwing it away - such a pity that some people can’t share.

Tower Fall, a waterfall at the end of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and of course, the immense vistas—from snow-capped mountains to the smallest tree growing in that really weird location after the fire!

The North Loop - Part Three: The Brown Blobs

Throughout the trip Carl has been pointing out different animals that we would see along the way, so much so that Maria has dubbed all animals “Brown Blobs,” as that is just about what they look like to her from a distance. Well, once we arrived in Yellowstone the probability of finding more interesting brown blobs increased dramatically, but paradoxically the difficulty of finding them decreased… All you have to do is look for the traffic jams—where people have typically parked all over the road, hauled out tons of expensive camera gear and are standing way too close to their subjects—the “wild” animals! Throughout the day we got stuck in many of these “brown blob jams,” most of them having Bison and Elk as their focus. The most interesting of the day was when we encountered a group of Bison coming slowly towards us on a mountain road—steep sides on either side of the road… The cars coming towards us were pushing the Bison in our direction, but there was nowhere for them to go—so they walked past us, totally surrounding the truck… Some of those things are “huge,” the head of one of the big bulls was nearly as tall as the top of the truck!!

Here they come…

Here they are!

There they go…

There were many other Bison blob jams and also quite a few Elk blob jams—it is mating season, so the “big” males are staking out their territory and defending it against all comers—Maria was quite surprised at the “wimpy” nature of their bugle! Soon after the Bison adventure we happened along a huge jam of cars, again on the steep mountain road—this time there were two park rangers directing traffic. We couldn’t see anything from the road, but after consultation with one of the rangers - apparently there was a Grizzly Bear sow and cub in one location and the boar a little further down the road. We didn’t stop to find out more, perhaps a mistake as Bears aren’t all that easy to spot. After all this activity we are proud to say that we didn’t create a blob jam when we sighted our own Elk without the aid of at least 10 other cars!!

Carl’s Travel Trivia

Yesterday’s Answer: Tallgrass Prairie National Park & Dan Glickman
Today’s Question: How many acres (or hectares for the Aussies) in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone - Steam, Streams, Bubbling Mud and Brown Blobs