Yellowstone National Park

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maitre2pitza
maitre2pitza
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Too Big for One Day

  • August 5, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by oldscratch from New York, New York
Too Big for One Day

Despite driving on one of the longest day of the year, we soon realized that there was no way we were going to start the day in Bozeman and see all the Yellowstone attractions and still make it through Grand Teton National Park and to Teton Village for dinner. So what follows are a few highlights restricted to just a few hours and slightly hurried drive along the Western edge of the park.

* The drive from Livingston, Montana on highway 89 to the North Entrance of the park was itself really spectacular and included supernaturally green, rolling hills and, of course, miles of big sky.

* The North Entrance is a really evocative structure and instantly takes you back to the park's early days in the 30's and 40's.

* Mammoth Hot Springs made for some some spectacular photographs of what the French call nature morte. See, in particular the photo attached to this review.

* Driving along the road we saw a number of bison and later read that we were probably too close for comfort as several people are injured by bison every year. (We never did figure out the difference between a bison and a buffalo, though.)

* Fountain Paint Pot was a great place to see gurgling, steaming mud bubbling out of the ground.

* Old Faithful is fairly impressive, but be prepared to wait around, both for the Geyser and traffic. It's worth noting that Yellowstone is filled with less famous geysers, some of which were if not more impressive than at least more colorful, so I wouldn't feel awful about skipping this one.

From journal Mountain-West Road Trip

Editor Pick

Thermals

  • November 20, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Wasatch from heber ctity, Utah
Yellowstone is the product of vast volcanic action, but in recorded history, the only volcanic action is the
thermals. The thermals are created by rain and melting snow percolating down into the ground until they
hit hot magma-- rock so hot it has melted into a slow moving liquid– where the water is heated to boiling
temperatures, causing it to return to the surface, either in an occasional explosive outburst– geysers– or in
a continuous flow– Mammoth Hot Springs, the Grand Prismatic Pool, the Mud Volcano, the Fountain
Paint Pots, and Morning Glory Pool.

Almost all the geysers– Old Faithful Basin, Norris Basin, Upper and Lower Basins, and West Thumb
Basin along with a handful of solitary geysers– are located inside the west and south rim oft the vast Y*
caldera.

Old Faithful, which gets its name from regularly erupting every 92 minutes for decades, is the parks’ most
famous geyser. Everybody goes to see Old Faithful blow, and it’s a good show– there are signs around the
area giving the estimated next time of an eruption so you can be on hand, but be 10-15 minutes early
because it is not an exact schedule. Old Faithful used to keep a more faithful schedule, but an earthquake
some years ago knocks its clock a bit out of whack.

Don’t limit your visit to Old Faithful. At least walk through the rest of the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, and
try to find time to see the others. We especially like Norris, where, should you be lucky to see one of the 3-
4 times a year eruptions of Norris’ biggest geysers, you will be impressed. Old Faithful is but a trickle by
comparison.

The star of the other type of thermals, Mammoth Hot Springs is erratic. From 1997-2004, it was running
at a good clip, and was our favorite spot in Yellowstone. Then it largely dried up. The difference between
On and Off is the growth of multi-colored algae in the hot water. When Off, the springs are a series of
terraces of white travertine, the rock formed when mineral laden water evaporates on the surface. When
On, algae growth colors the rock red, yellow, blue and green– spectacular to see.

The other slow flow termals are always running. Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest; the Fountain Paint
Pots; Morning Glory Pool and show a variety of vivid colors. Mud Volcano is a pit of bubbling mud.
Sulfur Caldron is notable for its stinking smell.

The high altitude makes its many lakes too cold for swimming, but you can swim in the Firehole River.
The river, created by runoff from the thermals, is almost warm enough for year round swimming.


From journal Yellowstone is Much More than Old Faithful

Old Faithful Geyser

  • October 28, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by starvingactor from New York, New York
Old Faithful Geyser

Yellowstone National Park is apparently the home of over 50% of the known geothermal features on this planet. I know a geyser when I see one, but I could not tell you accurately what triggers this natural phenomenon or why they are in such abundance at this park. It all has something to do with volcanic activity and abundant surface water.

The most famous of the geysers is Old Faithful Geyser. This geyser is the star, the demigod, the mack daddy of all geysers in Yellowstone National Park. Just like clockwork, it erupts roughly every 90 minutes or so which equates to about 15 eruptions per day. The geyser is located in the Upper Geyser basin, just outside the Old Faithful Inn.

The eruptions can last from 2 to 5 minutes, projecting hot water up 200 feet. You may have seen the commercial on TV in which a park ranger pours a glass of Metamucil into Old Faithful to help the geyser stay regular. Yeah, we should all be so regular! Ha!

There are benches about 200 feet away around the geyser and there always seemed to be a fairly large gathering in time for the eruptions. I was lucky to catch this natural phenomenon in two occasions.

From journal Yellowstone National Park

Editor Pick

Yellowstone National Park

  • October 8, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by creekland from East Berlin, Pennsylvania
Yellowstone National Park

You're in a place with geysers, paint pots, incredibly colored thermal pools, hot springs, lakes, hiking trails, waterfalls, woods, mountains, valleys, and critters of all sizes. Welcome to Yellowstone National Park - the world's first National Park - and what a park it is. It's huge and truly one of a kind.

You've driven (or flown) for miles to get here and seen some of the most rural areas the US has, yet, despite its ruralness, this park is such a gem that it always has a crowd in summer and fall. So many people want to see it - after seeing it yourself, you can't blame them. The sights are simply incomparable.

Note, it's also mostly about 7500 feet in elevation, so expect a chill at night - even in the dead of summer, yet it's very hot during the day. Prepare for 30's to 90's.

So, where to start? To best see Yellowstone, first, do some research. Seeing it all in one or two days isn't going to happen, so a minimum of a couple nights lodging is recommended. We stayed 4 nights and could have used at least one more. Decide if you want to camp or stay in a lodge/cabin - you'll most likely need reservations well in advance. (Some camping is first come, first served, but you still generally need to get there early.)

If you're on time constraints, you'll have to decide what's most important to you to see. Simply driving from one end of the park to the other will take you 2-3 hours (one way) - without stopping - and if you don't stop, did you see anything? Some stopping (for critter jams) may be required. "Critters" can be anything from buffalo/bison, elk, bears, moose, or anything else others consider worth stopping for.

For quick advice, for thermal features, the south western part of the park is best - for critter watching, the mid-eastern tends to be better (though critters can be seen anywhere, so keep your camera ready!) Waterfalls are (mostly) in the east/northeast. Mountains are everywhere as are hikes.

To allow some space to actually write, all of our Yellowstone experiences are in separate journal entries. This is mainly an overview to "warn" you not to underestimate the time for this park - especially if you want to hike. (This is our second time there after underestimating it the first time...) There are more geysers than Old Faithful, so even that's not a "short stop just to see it" for most folks. The pools are so incredibly beautiful that they too take longer than most anticipate. Then there's the animals and "critter watching" - a whole fun aspect in itself. Read on to see what might interest you!

There's food, gas, and lodging in this park, but expect to pay extra for all of the above... though the cost for camp sites was quite reasonable.

From journal 2006 Trip Pt 2 - WY - Devil's Tower to Yellowstone

Wildlife Watching

  • August 30, 2006
  • Rated 3 of 5 by treebud from Red Bluff, California
Wildlife Watching

We found that the best ways to see wildlife are to hang out in the Hayden Valley or Lamar Valley or to get up and out early in the day.

In the Lamar Valley we saw bison, pronghorn, trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, and coyotes. If you can do so safely, get out of your car and watch the bison for awhile. You can hear their grunts and groans from a long way away.

In the Hayden Valley we saw bison, elk, wolves, and more bison. If you see people out of their cars with scopes, STOP! They are most likely looking at either wolves or grizzly bears.

We also found that being out early (before 10:00 AM) was a good time to see animals. That is when we saw a fox, otters, and deer.

From journal Yellowstone in August

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