Day 13 - YELLOWSTONE, (second day)

We decided to do the upper loop today so we decided to register for another night at Mammoth.  Our neighbors who had worked at Yellowstone all summer gave us pointers of some must see places.  Waterfalls are the highlights of the upper loop.  Stops at the Upper Falls, Lower Falls and Artists Point will provide magnificent views of the falls of the Yellowstone River.  Following views of the falls and lots of hikes on the pathways, we would head to Norris Geyser.  Of course, we are always on the lookout for animals, too.

The road to Tower Falls has several pull-outs with views of the Yellowstone river.  The smoke comes from fires in Idaho and three small files in Yellowstone.

The 132-foot Tower Falls was our first stop.  These falls first came to the world’s attention in 1869 when an exploratory crew came upon them, naming them ‘Tower Falls’ because of all the sharp volcanic peaks on both sides of the drop.

The flow must be spectacular during the spring melt?

The path got a little narrow at times.

Downstream from Tower Falls

We were off to the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone", but I stopped along the way to take this picture of the new growth of pines that are replacing the trees that were burned in the 1988 fires. The new trees are about 6 feet tall. Growth is slow in this climate and altitude.

The "Grand View"

The walk to the falls didn't seem too steep but we would learn otherwise on the trip back to the parking lot.

 

"Upper Falls"



Brink of Lower Falls

Ranger talking to park visitors about wolves in Yellowstone.



We had spent the past few hours exploring the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  The sights were great and we certainly got our exercise.  Some of the paths turned out to be pretty steep and we weren't used to the thin air at 7000 feet altitude, but we learned quickly to pace ourselves. 

After a bit of souvenir shopping at the Canyon gift shop, we bought a couple sandwiches to eat in the Roadtrek while working our way toward the Norris Geyser.



 The Norris Geyser Basin is the most concentrated area of geysers in Yellowstone.  These aren't the biggest nor most famous, but there is boiling water and steam spewing out all over the area.  You can hear the hissing and smell sulfur from almost anyplace on the hiking trails.   



The hiking trails

The museum is located in the center of the hiking trails - Porcelain Basin is to the north and Back Basin to the south.

"Porcelain Basin" 203 degrees F


The western side of Yellowstone has the worlds largest collection of geysers.  They are quite incredible to watch. After all, they are steam or boiling water being shewed from the earth.  Sometimes, they are just bubbling mud.  There are signs that warn everyone to stay on the boardwalk when walking through the area. 

Most of the geysers have temperatures close to 200 degrees F.

Here are a few pictures. 

Here is some video of the hot springs.  It's interesting to watch and listen to the earth burp, boil and hiss a bit. Turn your volume up and listen.

 Of course, Old Faithful is the "big dog" of the Yellowstone geysers, but these were pretty cool to watch.  As a word of caution, protect your camera lens if you plan to visit geysers.  We were told the acids and the sulfur will pit the glass.  Oh ya, the sulfur odor is pretty strong too.  For that reason, we were glad to be camping at Mammoth and not the Norris Campground.

It was time to make the 25 mile drive back to Mammoth Campground.  On the way, we talked to some people who had just come from the Mammoth area and learned there was a herd of elk just north of our campground.  We had not seen elk so we high-tailed it north to see if we could catch them.  Sure enough, only a few miles from our campground, there was a herd of a couple dozen elk.  Unfortunately, almost all were cows.  The only males were young and did not have big antlers that we associate with prize bull elk.

There was a male with larger antlers than this one but he was hiding in the bush and wouldn't come out. Notice the cow with the perked up ears.  The BIG bull was hiding somewhere over the hill and "bugling" his head off.  This was "rut" time and he was calling his girls.

As you can see by the elk pictures, it was getting dark and time to head home after another great day at Yellowstone.