Advertisement
Published: July 31st 2007
Edit Blog Post
Yesterday, our 3rd day in Yellowstone, we went to the Mud Volcano on the way to Yellowstone Falls. We saw a number of mud pots, mud volcanos and hot springs. I thought the kids would love watching the mud pots sling mud. I was totally wrong. The Mud Volcano area smells so much like sulphur that we had to cover our mouths at a number of points. We ran through the boardwalk trail and decided that we were done with thermo-features at Yellowstone. One of the mud pots slung mud at Joe and it landed on his leg and burned him. Not our best stop on this trip.
Next stop was lunch at a pull-out along the way to the Yellowstone falls. We watched the buffalo move across the Hayden plains while we ate. At one point, we stopped the car to take pictures of the buffalo. I got out of the car on the passenger side, and a buffalo grunted from across the street on the driver’s side. The darned thing was coming right at me. Joe yelled at me to get in the car (which I promptly did) and we got lots of close pictures of the
buffalo. It took a long time for my heart to stop beating so fast.
We got to the falls and hiked along the South Rim Trail to the Uncle Tom’s Trail. Uncle Tom’s trail has a warning at the trail head stating that it is a very strenuous trail. The trail was mainly metal steps that went down the side of the canyon to a viewing point. The view of the falls from the bottom of the trail was worth it, but a long way down. We started back up and Ethan and Elise started complaining. Once again, they rallied and made it up the stairs. Ethan counted 310 steps in total. It was a workout for the adults as well, especially carrying Simone.
Back into the car again. We promised the kids they could go fishing. Joe had asked at the campsite where to fish, and they recommended 2 spots on Yellowstone lake, both of which had sandy bottoms. After much searching (none of the trails seem terribly well marked), we found one of the fishing spots. Ethan, Joe and Elise have to fish with spinners, since there is no live bait allowed in the lake. No
fish seemed to be interested in their spinners. Elise got bored and spelled her name in rocks by the lake. All in all, the fishing time was very relaxing.
Today is our fourth day in Yellowstone. We decided to take it easy, as we have spent so much time in the car. We decided to hike the short Storm point/Indian pond trail. It is only about a mile long, and winds through the fields, woods and to Yellowstone Lake. In addition, it was near Fishing Bridge, which is one of the areas that has the most bear activity. I have been dying to see a bear before we leave the park. In reality, I want to see a bear from my car, not face to face.
This is probably our favorite hike. It was simple, easy, interesting and brought us to a beautirul fishing point on Yellowstone lake. The kids have been reading a book called “Who Pooped in the Park” which is all about tracking animals in Yellowstone. They very excitedly pointed out all the different animal scat. Elise seems to have really taken to pointing out poop. In addition, we found a few trees where there
were grizzly claw marks and grizzly hair caught in the sap. How exciting! We arrived at Storm point and once again, no-one caught anything. Joe saw a family of striped water snakes that were about 6 inches from his foot. In his words, “They scared the &%$#@ out of me”.
We traveled to the West Thumb geyser basin after our hike to attend a ranger program for Ethan and Elise’s Junior Ranger badges. It was on the thermo-features at West Thumb. We learned a ton listening to this Ranger….it was so interesting. We learned about fumeroles, mudpots, geysers and hot springs. We learned that the color of the water in a hot spring is determined by the temperature and the cyanobacteria and algae. We learned that in the mid 1900s, different fish species were introduced to Yellowstone Lake and rivers to increase attractiveness for tourism, and now the foreign fish species are killing off all the cutthroat trout. Joe and I agreed that when we return to Yellowstone, we will attend more ranger programs. There is so much to learn here.
Next, onto the Grant Village visitor center where Ethan and Elise turned in their work to be
a Junior Ranger. It was so cool….the Ranger reviewed their work and then made an announcement to the whole visitor center awarding them their Junior Ranger Badges. Ethan said to me in the car ride home “Mom, I am proud of myself!”.
All in all, we had a fabulous trip to Yellowstone. We would love to return for longer in the future. The park is so large that it would take numerous visits to cover the whole thing. Joe and I agree that Yellowstone is only “idiot resistant”, not “idiot proof”. You can certainly get hurt in Yellowstone by wildlife or by pushing the envelope on the trails. The Ranger told Joe that there is a book called “Death in Yellowstone” which chronicles the deaths of 250 people in Yellowstone, mainly because of human mistakes or negligence. If it wasn’t so morbid, I would buy it for him.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.096s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0476s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb