I was going to update yesterday's post first, but today was pretty interesting so I'll do it first. But if the internet connection holds up, I'll go back and update yesterday's entry. (I'm assuming someone is actually reading this.)
Yellowstone was the first national park in the world, so it's our oldest and I think one of our biggest. The road system is a large figure 8 with 5 roads leading away from the 8 to outside the park. We're staying at a cabin a Canyon Village, which is about at the middle of the 8. Yesterday we did the southern loop, which included Old Faithful, so today was the day for the nothern loop. You can see maps and things at www.nps.gov/yell.
Steve had a nice chat with a ranger when we first entered the park and we've been following his suggestions. So today we headed toward Roosevelt Lodge, stopping to look at Washburn Hot Springs.
This hot spring area is so unstable that they have given up trying to make it accessible. This is as close as you can get. They warn you about this all the time, but today Steve saw two people step off the path to touch the water. Twelve people have lost their lives doing that and hundreds have been seriously injured over the years.
Yellowstone is continually battling forest fires, some worse than others. In 1988, 36% of the park burned. I've tried to enhance the photo below to show what a burned out hillside looks like.
gray is what burned. As you travel through Yellowstone, lots of mountainsides have two or three shades of trees. The young ones are lighter green and shorter and they may be growing next to a taller tree area that has even taller trees beyond it. The youngest trees are growing on the most recently burned areas. Throughout the shorter trees you see the skeletons of burned trees standing. My guess is that most of Yellowstone has burned at one time or another in the last 50 years.
We continue on to Roosevelt Lodge and go through some roadbuilding, which focuses us on some unique geology.
This undulating stone is not from the contruction work, as I spot the same seam across the canyon.
We reach Roosevelt Lodge, which is very rustic and small, (but does have real bathrooms) and, taking our ranger's advice, take the road leading out of the park through the Lamar Valley. We're only supposed to take it for about 10 miles and then come back and finish the northern loop. But it should be good for spotting wild life.
The way you spot wildlife in Yellowstone is to watch for people pulled over. We saw a couple of cars pulled over that were watching something we couldn't see with the naked eye, but then, at the top of a rise in a wooded patch, a man had set up a telescope focused on an osprey nest. And there were chicks, which aren't so small by this time. Here's the nest:
We traveled on, seeing a single bison or two, and then there's a small herd. And then there is an entire valley filled with bison. We have so many buffalo pictures it's hard to pick just a few. There are way more buffalo than yesterday.
After seeing hundreds of buffalo spread across this valley, we turn around to continue on the northern loop. All along the way, we see people flyfishing and some hiking. There seem to be hundreds of hikes in this park. Back on the northern loop, we are headed for Mammoth Hot Springs, one of the places the ranger said to see. It's also a small town with the park headquarters and as it turns out, is packed. Did I say Yellowstone was a bit crowded? And we've missed high tourist season of July.
Before we hit Mammoth Hot Springs, we stop to see a petrified tree. It turns out to be interesting. It's just a stump, 6 foot tall or so, but it's genetically identical to California Redwoods and was petrified in an erruption 50 million years ago. It's taking too long to load photos to include one here. I'm sure there's one on the web if you google it. We also stop and take a picture of Undine Falls before entering Mammoth Hot Springs. Here is the hot spring it's named after.
That whole mountain side is covered with hot springs. The mineral deposits expand the mountain at the rate of about 3 feet a year. They keep having to move the trails to the viewing areas. It is indeed Mammoth.
It looks like I'm having trouble uploading photos today, too. They will be added as soon as we have better connections.
We take a loop road to look at the top of Mammoth Hot Springs and get some interesting shots.
There is a side road to something called the Virginia Cascade that we decide to take. I'm guessing we're going to see a series of small waterfalls and we do. I'll add a picture when I can.
But the surprise lies ahead.
There is a bison walking down the road toward us. Calmly, like he owns the place, (he does), he heads for us. Steve is taking pictures with his camera out the window. We are stopped. He contiues to walk toward us and walks right by, about 3 feet from Steve, who does not try and touch him. We have had a buffalo encounter! I hope this picture loads!
Well that's enough excitement for the day. We contiune back to Canyon Lodge and our cabin, stopping to pick up a salad and a sandwich for dinner. Pulling up to our cabin, I notice people beside it with their cameras out. We have deer in our back yard!
A great end to a great day!
Now if I could just get more pictures posted!
I managed a few, but it's like pulling teeth, so I'm off for now. We should be back in civilizaion tomorrow, so maybe we'll have more luck.
