Leaving Canada for Yellowstone NP

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I left Medicine Hat on August 10th after a great time with family and friends. We spent a long weekend in Banff National Park. The girls went zip-lining and we had time to visit Lake Louise. Its always good to spend time with the girls, they are growing and becoming lovely young women. I look forward to next summer when Sarah graduates. Jayne and Kevin are more than good to me, I’ll be eating food from their table for about three weeks. My next stop was to be Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone had been on our “bucket list” since the 1980s. I didn’t know much about Yellowstone just that I had wanted to come here to see the scenery; including Old Faithful; and the abundant wildlife. I have been surprised by what is here.
Some of the things I didn’t know was that a good portion of Yellowstone is sitting on an active volcano, or that there are more geysers here than anywhere else in the world. In fact 2/3 of the world’s geysers are here in Yellowstone. I had never even heard of a “caldera” until I visited Crater Lake last year. I still don’t know what makes the difference between a caldera and a crater; but at Crater Lake you could actually see where the eruption of the volcano took place. Here in Yellowstone the eruption that created the caldera about 600,000 years ago was so big that ashes spewed out over thousands of square miles. Although it is impossible to see the rim of the caldera it is 30 miles wide and 40 miles long. Magna is still pushing underground altering the landscape daily. There are more than 2000 earth quakes recorded in Yellowstone each year.

On March 2nd, 1872 the U.S. Congress set aside Yellowstone as the first national park in the world. The parks land area is 2.2 million acres of forests, meadows and water. The lowest and highest elevations range from 5282” to 11,358.”

I made my way into the Park through the Roosevelt Arch and to a dry-camping park know as Indian Springs—may I say the supposedly sites that were set aside for big RVs were TIGHT! However, I took the opportunity of being as close to Old Faithful as I was going to be and drove the 40 miles to take that in. My first call was to the Information Center and was pleasantly surprised to hear that not only was Old Faithful going to “blow” but its neighbor” Beehive” would blow within the next 30 minutes. There were thousands of people there all enjoying the sites.

My second day I moved to Fishing Bridge which is an anomaly itself. The RV Park there has full-hook up sites and I was certainly glad of that because the temperature at 7800' took a drastic dip! I spent the day getting set up and visiting the Information Center. I was determined not to sit indoors so on Saturday I went to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The trip there is just amazing and the canyon is beyond words. Sunday was even colder but I wanted to visit the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake and was happy to see the sun come out for my pictures while I was there. Monday morning the sun was shining and the sky was clear, although it was still really cool—in fact cold! I wanted to go into Grand Teton National Park and decided that this was the day to do that if I was going to go to Grand Teton this trip. The Grand Tetons are known for their majesty and they are beautiful… but I have been fortunate enough to see the Alberta Rockies!!

I was going to stay Tuesday night in the campground at Mammoth Hot Springs, but they were forecasting rain and I got there by 11 a.m. so decided to go on to Butte, Montana. I have finally decided to get a puppy and was to meet a lady in Basin, Montana to see her Yorkshire Terriers. Unfortunately, they were just too small for me; I want a dog that can accompany me on a walk under its own steam. There is a doggy out there somewhere just waiting to be my travelling companion.

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Photos

Girls at Lake Louise
Beautiful looking group!

Jayne and Kev at Kicking Horse River
Waiting for the girls to come zipping along!

Roosevelt Arch
Teddy Roosevelt was very big on preservation of natural beauty.

Old Faithful
Old Faithful erupts more frequently than any of the other big geysers although not the biggest in the park. It expels between 3,700 and 8,400 gallons of boiling water and reaches a height of 106-184'

Beehive Geyser
This geyser is irregular. When it is active it typically erupts twice a day and lasts 4-5 minutes. The water column projects to 130-180'.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
What a site, it almost looks like a painting. I took this picture from an observation platform that was 100' further out before the earthquake of June 30th, 1975.

Yellowstone River
It is thought that the Yellowstone Lake was once more than 22 miles longer, but an earthquake or eruption about 6000 years ago caused the land to tilt and the volume of water created the canyon in about 3 months.

Canyon Colours
The mineral stains that mark the walls are the sites of hot springs and steam vents. For thousands of years upward percolating fluids have altered the chemistry of the rocks.

Sulphur Caldron
The smell here was really pungent. The acid in these pools is more corrosive than battery acid, and were bubbling like a pot of boiling water.

Mud Caldron
This collection of geysers and pools was just across the road from the sulphur caldrons. I made a video but unfortunately I think it's too big. The mud here just glooped and bubbled at boiling point.

Dragon's Mouth
The boiling action in this pool actually creates a wave. The hydrogen sulfide gas is present deep in the earth. Some microoranisms use this gas as an energy source. They help covert the gas to sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock to wet clay mud.

Lake
This large circular bay of West Thumb is an example of a volcanic caldera. A powerful volcanic explosion about 180,000 years ago caused the earth's crust to collapse, creating the West Thumb caldera. The depression produced by the volcano filled with water to become this large bay of Yellowstone Lake.

West Thumb Geyser and Basin
There is a folk tale that told of mountain men who would catch a trout, swing the pole around, dip it into the boiling pool, and cook the fish without taking it off the line. They called it "Chowder Pot." The temperature of this cone's water is about 93 degrees C or 199 degrees Fahrenheit.

White Mud
There is evidence that Native Americans have been in and around this area for about 11,000 years. They would harvest the mud from these hot pools to cover their bison hide tee pee.

Abyss Pool
One of the deeper hot springs in the park, this pool descents to 53'. It is easy to think that the lake is warmer here than anywhere else. The geyser basin pours and average of 3,100 gallons of hot water into the lake every day. But even here, the lake's average summer temperature is 45 degrees Fahrenheit. (7 C)

Terraces
Limestone is the underlying rock here instead of rhyolite, which is dominant in Yellowstone NP's other hydrothermal area. This area is one of the world's best examples of travertine-depositing hot spirngs.

Mammoth Hot Springs
Colourless and yellow thermophiles grown in the hottest water. Orange brown and green thermophiles thrive in cooler waters.

Yellowstone Lake
The lake is the largest at high altitude in North America.

Bison
There are lots of bison roaming through the park particularly in the valley areas. This bull was just strolling up the road not at all concerned that he was creating a traffic jam. I was just lucky to catch him perfectly as I drove s-l-o-w-l-y past.

Comments

[anne bray]

Lyn, We realy like your travelogue. We were there a few years ago and your pictures really bring it back in full color! We would really like to see you. Let us know when you will be back in our courtry. Anne