Yellowstone National Park - Mammoth Hot Springs

21 June 2013

Eventually my camper was repaired and it was dime to depart Yellowstone. I could have stayed another week and still not see anything twice. I would love to return someday but alas my funds wouldn't support a longer stay. On my way out I stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs for a quick look.

I believe these are the most beautiful in the park.

Just down the road I came to the Devil's Slide on Cinnabar Mountain. Early prospectors thought the red color was from cinnabar, or mercuric sulfide, but it actually sandstone and shale stained with iron oxide. The wall of the slide are made of quartz sandstone. The layers were created horizontally but were turned up to their present position by the uplift that created the range to the east.

Since I had just spent a great deal of time in the lodge lounge waiting for my camper I had a chance to write down my Camping and Traveling Rules.
1. Ever thing takes longer than you think it should or planned for.
2. Expect nothing except to have fun and see new things.
3. Go slow and look carefully, you may find a snake or mating lizards.
4. Pay it forward and leave books, CDs and DVDs you have finished in the restrooms and laundry rooms for others to enjoy as you did. Be sure to put a note saying "Please take, enjoy and share with others" you don't want people to think they are stealing.
5.You need less things than you thought but it is good to have them anyway.
6. Keep in contact with family and friends.
7. Photos become less and less important.
8. Check the weather and lay low when necessary.
9. Take vitamins, eat right and stay healthy.
10. Be friendly.

Yellowstone National Park - Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

June 19, 2013

The guys at the Canyon Village Service Station were very helpful and said they could fix my camper but they would have to order a metal strap and in the meantime I shouldn't drive too much.  I was within walking distance of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone so I took many trips there before my camper was repaired.

Above is a view from the Artist Point. In fact there were a number of visitors there with their paints and drawing pads.

I hiked the Brink of the Lower Falls Trail and got a good workout. The lower falls is 308 feet.

The white in the lower left side is snow.

My first good photo of a Yellow Bellied Marmot.

The colors of this canyon were very interesting and different from any I had previously seen. It turned out to be one of my favorite locations of my entire journey.

One of the most rewarding moments was watching an Osprey bring in fish to its mate and chicks. The nest was on a pinnacle in the middle of the canyon and you can see him in the direction about 10 o'clock just a short distance away.

I watched him drop off the fish then circle around and fly below me to look for more fish in the Yellowstone River below.

Not as spectacular but very abundant were Violet-Green Swallows.  I had seen them earlier in my trip but here I had my best views. Look to the right in the photo below and you will see one sitting on the ledge just below me.

Many of the overlooks reminded me of Japanese paintings.

Yellowstone National Park - Roosevelt Lodge and Dunraven Pass

June 17, 2013

This was a day of fun and disappointment. My drive over Dunraven Pass was beautiful with the snow covered mountains in the distance. It was cold and windy but I was tough.

The expanse of the view was just breathtaking.

"As I took in the scene, I realized my own littleness, my helplessness, my dread exposure to destruction, my inability to cope with or even comprehend the mighty architecture of nature." --Nathaniel P. Langhorn, 1870.

There was a lot of construction on the road to the Roosevelt Lodge and I paused to take a photo of the basalt columns. I saw several elk and a black bear but with the bumper to bumper traffic caused by road construction it was almost impossible to take a photo. My camper felt like it was coming apart at the seams because it was so bumpy.

Finally I arrived a Roosevelt Lodge and decided to take the short hike to Lost Creek Falls located behind the lodge.  I wanted to stop at Tower Falls but there were no parking spaces open so I had to move on.

One of the nice things about this little trail is that no one was on it and I could take photos without having to move aside for those rushing by.

The falls wasn't grand but it was a wonderful place to stop and contemplate. When I was at Old Faithful I received word that one of my uncles had died and that was weighing heavily on my heart so I welcomed the time outside alone. He was a farmer, hunter and fisherman.

From here I drove to Sough Creek in search of  birds and other wildlife.  When looking at the bear the day before I was told I could find pika here. I didn't but I did see these baby prairie dogs

As I left Slough Creek, the bottom of my camper sounded like it had just fallen off and indeed one of two metal straps holding my water tank on had broken. There was only a gas station in Roosevelt so I had to head back. The sound was horrid as the metal strap scraped and clanged over the rough road. Then it started to snow as I reached the pass, I held tight to the steering wheel and drove very very slow and was actually a bit thankful for a good excuse to slow down because I was already in slow mode because of the condition of my camper. I arrived back to Canyon Village and took my camper into the service station the next day and they said it could be fixed. They would make the part I needed.

Yellowstone National Park - looking for wild life

June 13, 2013

My first stop was Le Hardy's Rapids where I saw four Harlequin Ducks. They were so beautiful and I was  mesmerized watching them navigate up the rapids.

Here is a YouTube video I made of a bit of what I saw.

On my way to Hayden Valley I took some time to hike the Pelican Creek Trail. It begins overlooking wetlands, towards the mountains near Fishing Bridge. The sound of tree frogs were everywhere and very loud. As I entered the pines I saw a pair of Mountain Chickadees flying to and from a hole in a dead stump. I was so tempted to take a peak but knew it was not a good idea to upset them. I saw many white butterflies but could only guess at the species.  As I entered the forest I mentally reviewed my bear defense strategies just in case.

Soon I came to the Yellowstone Lake shore, with its gray sand.  I could hear Canada Geese off in the distance against the gentle lapping of the waves.

Standing there I noticed a storm approaching and could hear the distant thunder. As I walked the shore line I heard a pair of ducks fly off, and it seemed as if my hearing had improved in this quiet setting.

The sky darkened as I came back around to the marsh and the thunder was louder. Soon I could hear the sound of rain falling on my hat. I returned to my camper just in time to avoid being hit by the pounding hail.

When it was all over in a few minutes the frogs sang again and a gray jay paid me a visit, another life bird.

I drove a little further were everyone else was and had a chance to see a young grizzly running across the meadow. One of the other visitors shared a scope, so I had a good look.

Later in the day I saw a coyote. It was a very wildlife thrilling day!

Yellowstone National Park -- Norris Area

June 11, 2013

Yellowstone was one of my “must see” parks so I had made reservations well in advance and ended up staying 10 days and still barely saw everything the park has to offer. I stayed at Canyon Village and had my routes all mapped out into different sections so as to not miss anything and cut down on doubling back to save gas. I began my first day with a hike to Ice Lake. As I walked through the Lodgepole pines I felt as though I was a giant in the Land of Lilliput with new born pines no taller than me. There were a few elders scattered around, a reminder that what was once can become again.

At the lake I found a pair of Barrows Golden Eye Ducks that seemed to be the sole proprietors.  As they swam in my direction I felt welcome.

At Norris I walked the Porcelain trail where I saw my first geyser explode when a killdeer landed in the distance.

Cistern Spring is one of many hot springs here. The brown, orange, and green colors represent species of visible algae and bacteria, each requiring a different temperature.  As water gradually cools—by flowing away from its source—it creates lower temperature environments ideal for these colorful species.

"It is a place where the center of the earth finds and exit and gives us a glimpse of its soul." 

--Ann Coe, painter 1998

"It is probably the greatest laboratory that nature furnishes on the surface of the globe."

--Gustarus C. Doane, military escort to the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doan Expidetion.

In 1829 Joe Meek, a trapper wrote, “—and behold! the whole country beyond was smoking with the vapor from boiling springs, and burning with gasses issuing from small craters, each of which was emitting a sharp whistling sound…Out of craters issued blue flames and molten brimstone.”

Steamboat Geyser

On my way to Steamboat Geyser the wind picked up and I reached to tighten the strap on my cowboy hat when a man coming towards me said, "You need to snug up that stampede strap." I was in a whole new world with new expressions.

Emerald Spring is a 27-foot-deep clear blue pool, where the water is absorbing all the colors of sunlight except one—blue, which is reflected back.  The yellow color from the sulfur combines with the reflected blue light, to make the hot spring appear emerald green.

As I drove on to the Artist Paintpots I passed a small heard of bison with their cinnamon colored caves.

I think the Artist Paintpots site was one of my favorites. It was a little smelly at the top but what a beautiful sight to behold.