Like Another Planet

Yellowstone National Park

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

September 23^rd, 2018

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” Robert Louis Stevenson

We pulled out of Grand Teton NP and headed north to Yellowstone and the change was like traveling through a wormhole into the pages of science fiction or fantasy book. Yellowstone is a place like no other! With over half of the worlds geothermic features located within the boarders of Yellowstone and most are in a subsection of the parks western side, this is a world that when reported by early explorers was considered fantasy, tales spun by men trying to exploit or trick others to travel here for profit. This discussion was settled by a government survey exposition and a year later President Grant signed the paper making Yellowstone the world’s first National Park.

We camped outside of the parks west entrance in Idaho, not wanting to pour more salt in our dry camping wounds from our stay in Grand Teton NP. The town of West Yellowstone was much like Jackson, WY with all the tourist and souvenir shops but we did find a nice museum which gave us the background on the 1988 Yellowstone fires that burned over half of the parks 2.2 million acres and the efforts of from local farmers to US Military to save historical structures like the Old Faithful Inn and the town of West Yellowstone.

Geyser Basins

The word geyser is the only Icelandic word to make it into the English language and with Yellowstone having ten times more geothermic features than Iceland, this is truly a special place…even if it is sitting on top of a giant super-volcano. The volcano caldera is about one quarter of the entire park with most but not all the geothermic features within its border. There are not only geysers, including the worlds largest geyser Steamboat, but also hot springs, mud pots and steam vents with the distinct smell of sulfur. To us, one of the most unexpected places was the Mammoth Hot Springs with the terraces of calcium carbonate creating a small mountain. The sheer size of this feature is impossible to capture with a camera, there is a road around the upper spring and a half mine trail from the top of the lower spring down the wall of terraces to the ground.

Sunset at Grand Prismatic Spring, Lower Geyser Basin

Water that Shaped Yellowstone

Water and glaciers shaped Yellowstone as in many other parts of the Rockies. With the Continual Divide cutting across the park influenced by the ancient lava flows, moving of water has shaped the park, leaving canyons and waterfalls that are not only breathtaking to see but teaming with trout and other wildlife. The rivers are the lifeblood of Yellowstone’s wildlife, enabling one of the most species diverse places in North America.

Yellowstone River Lower Falls from Artist Point

Wildlife of Yellowstone

Yellowstone is home to one of the largest collections of plants and animals which include 67 species of mammals and over 1100 species of native plants. We got our first chance to observe an osprey, and were lucky enough to see him hunting trout in the Madison River. JoAnn and her camera created our first wildlife jam, when cars pile up to see what we were looking at. We saw a bunch of big lenses and high-end cameras come out to capture the osprey in the tree with a trout.

We also saw elk and bison throughout the park but the bison weren’t in large herds like at Caprock Cannon but in small groups or alone. We enjoyed watching many people fly fishing and hope to break out our rods once JoAnn’s arm has healed enough.

Osprey drying off after a successful fishing trip

Trees in the Firehole Lake area killed by mineral rich water

Living History in Yellowstone

The iconic structure at Yellowstone has to be the Old Faithful Inn, which has the look and feel of a German Alpine Villa from the past. Opened in 1904, it is one of the few remaining log hotels of the Golden Age of rustic western tourism. The wooden structure was spared from the 1988 fire by an army of people whom made their last stand at Old Faithful. After the fire passed, they had saved the Inn and most of the Old Faithful structures. We tried to get dinner reservations at the lodge but weren’t willing to wait the 2 ½ hours for a table so we compromised with drinks from the second-floor bar. It is like stepping back in time when you relax at a place like this with its cavernous main room and four wooden terraces overlooking the main floor where stands a stone fireplace large enough you can walk into. The Lake Yellowstone Lodge is the second largest wooden structure building in North America but we didn’t make it by there.

We did eat dinner at Mammoth Hotel but were disappointed by the food and service (it was the end of the season). What we were not disappointed with was the show that a young bull elk put on trying to round up a haram. He was a bit confused why the ladies were not responding to him.

Roosevelt Lodge had already closed for the season but we want to return and enjoy the less formal setting and maybe enjoy an old fashion cookout after a horseback ride.

Terraces inside the Old Faithful Inn Great Room

Historical bus restored for tours in Yellowstone

What we Learned

-Yellowstone is an amazing place, it takes time to see so plan longer than a week. -All it takes is a big lens to create a wildlife jam. -We learned a lot about the history and how much impact the fires have had on the park, not all negative.

Next Stop: We will head on into Oregon to visit our son who moved there after he finished his time in the Navy. We plan to stop by Portland before heading south to spend some time with him. We have avoided the snow so far and hope to keep it that way so we will be heading south after Oregon.