The Smiths Take the USA!: The Marvelous Yellowstone

We have officially left the desert and entered wonderland! Idaho was filled with potato farms and wheat fields.

Wyoming, the spirit of nature. First, we did a drive through of Grand Tetons, which would have been awe inspiring if it were overcast and rainy. We could see some snow, but not to the peaks of the mountains. Made a stop at Jenny Lake...

Then to...

A diverse expanse even in 4 days we can not hope to uncover. In a two hour drive this is what we encountered:

The Snake River

Lewis Falls

Elk

Buffalo napping

Buffalo grazing

Mud pools

Volcanic vents, Mmm sulfur! And Inactive geysers.

A cooler climate, but watch out for bears in your campsite! It really is like Jellystone!

Day 2: Geyser Gazing

An early rise for a car ride through patches of dense fog and sun trying to break through, beautiful and worth getting up for! Our reward, a gray wolf. We approached it from behind as it was strolling down the shoulder of the road. We slowly caught up with it and he tilted his head forward us, gorgeous eyes. I mean this wolf was so striking with its gray and brown coloring and intense gaze, but he was afraid, so we pulled right up next to him!

At Old Faithful, we met a trusty park ranger for a 1.5 mile loop around geyser hill. I was seriously mislead about Old Faithful being one of few erupting geysers... They were everywhere, erupting at different levels and times. Some bubbled, some popped, some made waves. The three ingredients, magma, water and cracks under ground that serve as the plumbing. Surrounding each was a bacterial mat of thermophilic microbes and a layer of geyserite rock.

We saw anemone geyser:

Of course we saw the eruption of Old Faithful, the geyser that erupts most predictably about once an hour.

Then we did the geyser gazer wait for Grand Geyser, it had a 90 minute window on both ends of time when it could go off and we got lucky! Waited about a half hour to see a three fold blast of water and steam! It is the largest predictable geyser on earth!

We continued to the the Grand Prismatic Spring, the varying colors depend on temperature (deepest blue is the hottest) and the types of bacteria.

Seeing this from the back allowed a rainbow effect of the steam.

Then to Mud Pots, a type that is disintegrating the rocks around it to form, mud!

On the way back we did see some more buffalo too!

Day 3: The North

Getting up early again allowed us another encounter on the roadside. A coyote!

Learned lots about the lush plants of Wraith Falls trail guided by ranger. These were actually a cascade, not fall.

Mammoth Hot Springs lived up to its name... It could be seen from miles away.

Of course we needed to see the Yellowstone archway over the north entrance because Teddy laid the cornerstone in 1903.

We did a picnic lunch, which is apparently the thing to do here, picnic areas were filled for miles. Then we headed into the Lamar Valley, home to the herds. It was amazing!!! Hundreds of buffalo!

We thought we had a spectacular view from far away, but we traveled down the road to find them even closer!

Taking dirt baths and walking through the creek.

Baby bufs!

And they got a little too close for comfort when two began head butting in front of the car! These 2000 pound animals are not what you want fighting in front of a Prius! Lastly, we got a Yellowstone National Park oil change!

We really wanted to see otters at Trout Creek, so we hiked in a Beary-type place to get there. Now all of Yellowstone is Beary, but especially thickly forested places with trout. The experts actually recommend Bear Spray, yes there is a bear attack repellent, for a mere $45. We have no idea what is in it and we did not see the need, instead I sang loudly about being beat aware, because noise discourages them. Unfortunately, no otters. I did see a small black snake which upped the fear a bit. Sigh.

Last Day: Yellowstone Canyon

This was the are we camped in, saving the closest for last. The other two days it took over an hour to reach the destinations, this place is huge!

We enjoyed a peaceful three hour guided hike though meadows, forest and lastly the upper falls.

Yellowstone river is definitely the greatest force I have ever seen. The amount of water and speed of the fall was just awesome!

We continued our hike to the lower falls which were three times higher and more impressive. We got a close experience climbing down a staircase on the side of the canyon called Uncle Tom's Trail. I couldn't quite make it down all the way with my new fear of heights, but it was a great view anyway.

The second perspective we got was from about two miles away at Artist's Point, wow! Probably the most beautiful site we have experienced so far in the trip. The yellow of the cliffs contrasted with the teal crispness of the river truly was art.