Wild Kingdom and Geysers
Because of wifi issues, I am posting yesterday's recap. After being on the go for many days in a row, we finally had a lazy morning . .. and early afternoon. We didn't leave the condo until around 2:30, but we still had an action-packed day.
As we entered the park from West Yellowstone, we were able to see the beautiful river that had been obscured by darkness as we left the park the night before. The river stretched for miles along the road. It wasn't long before we saw our first elk of the trip - there were several milling around in a field near the river. Thankfully there was a parking area nearby to get photos.
Since we had a late start today, our goal was to view some geysers. We went to the upper geyser basin near Old Faithful. From what we read, this area has the largest largest concentration of geysers in the world. They were everywhere. Some were just pools of water, some constantly bubbled, and others erupted on a regular schedule.
Riverside was one of the erupting geysers. Here is a picture before;
It has a long eruption. Here is the initial stage:
After a few minutes, it seemed to pick up intensity as water or steam shot out:
At the end of the mile and a half path/boardwalk, we came to Morning Glory, a beautiful pool at the end of the trail:
on the way back we passed by Grand as it was about to erupt. Here are some before, during, and after shots . . . afterward the pool is empty:
On the drive back through the park on the way home, we stopped by the Grand Prismatic Geyser area in the Middle Geyser Basin area. These were large pools that have a lot of color, but we caught them after the sun had been blocked by the nearby hills casting shadows over them. They were still magnificent as they were much larger pools than what we had seen before. Grand Prismatic is supposedly the deepest geyser in the Park.
On the drive back to the western exit, we encountered many cars stopped in the road. Knowing it had to be some nearby wildlife, I parked the van on the shoulder and began walking to see what the fuss was about . . . a grizzly just off in the edge of the woods. Apparently it had a cub and had apparently run toward the road trying to intimidate the onlookers before retreating into the woods. I saw it after it had made its way into the woods.
I believe this was the first bear I have ever seen in the wild . . . and a large grizzly at that. It was really cool, even if just for a fleeting moment.
The field we had passed several hours earlier had even more elk, but it was getting dark, so we kept moving. All in all, a great day for viewing natural wonders and wildlife.
As we entered the park from West Yellowstone, we were able to see the beautiful river that had been obscured by darkness as we left the park the night before. The river stretched for miles along the road. It wasn't long before we saw our first elk of the trip - there were several milling around in a field near the river. Thankfully there was a parking area nearby to get photos.
Since we had a late start today, our goal was to view some geysers. We went to the upper geyser basin near Old Faithful. From what we read, this area has the largest largest concentration of geysers in the world. They were everywhere. Some were just pools of water, some constantly bubbled, and others erupted on a regular schedule.
Riverside was one of the erupting geysers. Here is a picture before;
It has a long eruption. Here is the initial stage:
After a few minutes, it seemed to pick up intensity as water or steam shot out:
At the end of the mile and a half path/boardwalk, we came to Morning Glory, a beautiful pool at the end of the trail:
on the way back we passed by Grand as it was about to erupt. Here are some before, during, and after shots . . . afterward the pool is empty:
On the drive back through the park on the way home, we stopped by the Grand Prismatic Geyser area in the Middle Geyser Basin area. These were large pools that have a lot of color, but we caught them after the sun had been blocked by the nearby hills casting shadows over them. They were still magnificent as they were much larger pools than what we had seen before. Grand Prismatic is supposedly the deepest geyser in the Park.
On the drive back to the western exit, we encountered many cars stopped in the road. Knowing it had to be some nearby wildlife, I parked the van on the shoulder and began walking to see what the fuss was about . . . a grizzly just off in the edge of the woods. Apparently it had a cub and had apparently run toward the road trying to intimidate the onlookers before retreating into the woods. I saw it after it had made its way into the woods.
I believe this was the first bear I have ever seen in the wild . . . and a large grizzly at that. It was really cool, even if just for a fleeting moment.
The field we had passed several hours earlier had even more elk, but it was getting dark, so we kept moving. All in all, a great day for viewing natural wonders and wildlife.
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