yellowstone, sep 03 

 

 

Here's our trip to Yellowstone National Park in early September 2003. We decided to drive so we could have our trusty jeep with us. It was great fun. The round-trip drive totalled 1854 miles: two days out, and a grueling one day return (just over 12 hours, ending in a nasty thunderstorm in the Cascade Mountains).


After 12 hours on the road, we finally arrive at the North EntranceDon't play with the animals!Yellowstone has an area of 3,472 square miles! Lots of ground to cover in a week!Our first stop is the famous Mammoth Hot Springs! Hey... who turned off the water?Ahhh! This is more like it!The terraces are constantly changing shape and colorSprings which were active one to five years ago may be dry and lifeless now, yet activity may later resume. Who really knows?
The hot water carries dissolved calcium and bicarbonate to the surface of the terraces where pressure lessensCarbon dioxide then escapes as gas and the carbonate combines with calcium to precipitate as travertineNo CaptionYou never know what is going to cause a traffic jam!We probably saw more bison than any other animal in the parkOn to the Geyser Basin!Subsurface temperatures can reach up to 401 degrees F
Those colors are derived from mineral oxidesIt's that time of year again. These bull Elk were rutting in the woods.more bisonThe last time I was in Yellowstone, it was the year after the 1988 fires, where 793,880 acres, 36%, of the park burnedFifteen years after the fires, lodgepole pine seedlings and saplings; Englelmann spruce, subalpine fir and Douglas-fir have begun to emerge Our home for the next week... Old Faithful InnThe Inn was built in 1903-04, just west of an old pine tree where President Arthur had camped in 1883
The front door (red being a universal sign of welcome), has a caged peep hole and a heavy iron latch and hinges. I didn't know red was the universal sign of welcome...No CaptionFive hundred tons of stone were quarried from a nearby hillside to build the fireplaceNo CaptionFor after dinner entertainment, a group of musicians used to climb to an area called the Crow's Nest near the top of the high-pitched ceiling of the lobbyOn August 17, 1959 a 5.9 earthquake hit Yellowstone Park. The trembler twisted some of the support members of the Crow's Nest, making it unsafe for present day visitors of the Inn.No Caption
No CaptionThe Dining RoomWe Seattlites always will find time for a latte!No CaptionOf the estimated 10,000 thermal features in Yellowstone, like steaming pools, hissing fumaroles, bubbling mud pots and warm seeps, only 3% are geysersThe most famous geyser, of course, is Old Faithful. Here's some Old Faithful Trivia: it erupts once approximately every 45 to 90 minutes; its height ranges from 106 feet to more than 180 feet, averaging 130 feet, and......3,700 to 8,400 gallons of water are expelled per eruption, depending on the length of eruption
More thermal pictures (with some really odd names)...Punch Bowl SpringCastle GeyserGiant GeyserSawmill GeyserGrand Geyser...and Daisy Geyser (there are many more, but I can hear you snoring out there...)
...onto the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone!The canyon varies from 800 to 1200 feet in depth and from 1500 to 4000 feet in widthIts length is about 24 milesNo CaptionLower Falls (308 feet)No CaptionUpper Falls (115 feet)
Churning Caldron (part of the Mud Volcano trail) . One of the most acidic features in the park.No CaptionOne of the most spectacular volcanic eruptions occurred here 640,000 years ago at the Mud Volcano. This area is close to one of the major vents from which lava flowed.CoyotePeregrine FalconFountain Paint PotsHeading south to find moose and the Tetons (and the first snow of the season)
Grand Teton National Park (485 square miles) is famous for spectacular mountain scenery (Grand Teton is 13,770 feet and 8 peaks are over 12,000 feet) and wildlife, especially mooseToday Rich had a quick sighting of a bull moose's horn and behind (you win a prize if you can find him in the picture!)Check out the view of the Tetons at Jenny Lake. NOT!This is the best view of the peaks all day (I bet there's some moose in there too!)Back to Yellowstone!Lewis FallsOn our last day, we finally discovered elk near the West Entrance
Down the valley we came across another bull with his herdHe bugled at everyone......even a trucker!On the road back to Washington StateNo Caption