Where to start? We had an incredible 4 days in Yellowstone park. The park certainly hits the G spots, it is wonderful for geography. geology, geothermal and coming next post some fabulous wildlife...Massive huge thunder storm first night. We were hoping to lie on the picnic table and observe the Perseid meteor showers but instead we realised a different kind of insignificance, huddled in our four seasons sleeping bags hoping it was the good will season - in a very small blue tent – in the middle of a very large forest surrounded by massive pine trees and lots of sky!!
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| Mammoth Springs |
It was fantastic we were only sorry we couldn’t see more then the tent lighting up every 5 seconds as the thunder rolled and thudded around right above the trees. The rain was tremendous but our little tent held up and we were warm and snug right through to the morning. The actual storm only lasted about 30 minutes moving around but never very far away – there was more rain but not as bad - I just didn’t let myself think about falling trees and we survived.
In the morning everything looked fresh and the air was clear for
about an hour and then more clouds rolled in.
We decided to investigate the Mammoth Hot Springs. Seemed a good idea for a damp almost chilly
day. The springs were pretty amazing, lots of
steam and sulphur water vapour – not sure if that’s the same thing… the lakes
were icy blue and golden oranges and different shades of white and very
lovely. They bubbled and dripped over the
edges making stunning formations – as Fred observed a little like stalagmites but
quicker - all the vegetation was mostly dead, the trees bleached stark and
leafless, strangely beautiful. Some of
the pools had varied depths and in some of them it looked like little forests
had sprung up, miniature orange and ochre like trees and boulders, exquisite
only as nature can.
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| beautiful patterns made by crystals and algae |
Next we had a day of looking at geysers after a night of constant rainfall. The tent held out just!!! There was leakage
onto the inner tent but it didn’t actually come through and wet us. It did rain
hard all night and the camp ground had a lot of water on it several very large
puddles all around the tent and the car.
Fred braved the drizzle as it slowed down in the morning and made a cup
of tea and we lay in bed listening to the rain almost stop and then start up
again until mid-morning. We decided to
move and get on with the day and head down the road to see some thermal springs
and geysers.
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| Mammoth springs |
We stopped first at a
small but impressive thermal steaming lake and then carried on to the Norris
Geyser Basin and after queueing for ages, the system for parking was non
existent but we did eventually get parked and set off around the
boardwalk. The walks are well laid out
and there are some notices along the way with information but the signage is
generally poor – both on the road and once you are near the geysers. The first major point in the Norris basin is
the Steamboat Geyser – which bubbled constantly underground sounding just like
a steam boat and erupted quite pleasantly – it blew to about 20 foot, it has
been known to go much higher and is in fact the worlds tallest measured one.–
the colours are quite amazing. The
sulphur just makes for lovely coloured algae and rocks.
As we walked round the boards there was
lovely variation pool colour from turquoise blue to creamy white – some were
incredibly clear and others more opaque like opals. There was one called the vixen that we saw
erupting form a distance but when we got there it was very quiet, we stood for
a few minutes wondering if it would go again or if we had just been lucky and
to our delight it started again.
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| Steamboat Geyser erupting |
Some
were very muddy and most of them made bubbling and plopping noises. There were about 2 and half miles of varied
geysers so after we had walked round those we took off for the worlds most
consistant largest geyser Old Faithfull further down the park. The traffic was bedlam – the roads weren’t
bad, as we drove passed a large plain area we saw two bison ambling along, the
first one was quite close so we pulled in and took some photographs – the
second one was further away so we left him in peace and carried on becoming part
of the madness at Old Faithful. Which
was mad, again there seemed to be no system in parking and we were lucky in
finding a spot straight away. Almost dead on time the geyser
blew. It was very spectacular at least
35 foot high pure white plume of water and steam. There must have been at least a 1000 people
watching and taking photos. A grand sight!
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| Old Faithful |
Our next stop was the Grand Prismatic Spring, a place Fred particularly
wanted to see so we parked on the side of the road as the traffic even after
5.30 was quite manic and walked down the riverside which was pretty with all
the overflow hot springs gushing into it leaving orange and ochre and white
trails. The boardwalks were still busy –
quite a few oriental coach loads so once again very China like the colour were
beautiful, bright greens and oranges and lovely turquoise blues – we passed the
Prismatic lake, and took a quick photo, you could see how it was turquoise with
a orange outer rim which spiral off into lovely colourful strand but we could
also see some people on an overlook above the spring so we headed to get better
picture from there. But…. The boardwalk
was circular… there was no indication of how to get to the overlook, we walked back to the carpark and walked
through hoping there was another path and a bridge across the river but the
wasn’t. we went back to the car
disappointed but thought we will drive on a bit and find the way. So we drove on and saw a sign for the mid
basin geysers and grand Prismatic spring – great we thought we’ve found it, but
the queue to get in to car park was once again ridiculous so we parked by the
road and walked back, it wasn’t unto we got right into the car park we realised
it was just the other end to where we had just been and still no access to the
overlook. Once again disappointed we
left and after checking the map again to no avail we decided to go on towards
home.
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| lovely colours -microorganisms growing |
Our last stop was the Artists Paint pots, a little drive off the road,
and it wasn’t too busy, it was getting late by this time and the clouds, which
never really cleared all day, were looking black so we hurried down the track
and onto the boardwalk and up to the viewing point where you could see all the
area of geysers and springs and all the lovely colours the water, rocks and
vegetation made – you could see why it was called paint pots. At eh top near the lookout was a great mud
geyser. It was quite large and very
ploppy, great bubbling mass surrounded by white clay next to a small white clay
pool also bubbling. There were some
lovely shapes coming out of the bubbles it looked like a heaving cyberman
making mess. Definitely something off Dr Who….
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| Artists paint pots from the over look |
That was enough geysers for the day, we were now suffering from geyser
leg, the rain was coming in and it was time for a beer. We went back to camp to see if our old
faithful tent had dried out and hopefully would last us another potentially
rainy night!
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