There and Back Again: A Yellowstone Photo Journal

Last week I mentioned I was off on a junket. That was an eight-day trip to Yellowstone National Park (my first!) and a grand tour of the wonderful state of Wyoming. I'm back this week with some photos from my adventure. Did we see geysers? Wildlife? Amazing scenery? Surprises? Yes, yes, yes and yes!

I have tons to share -- though these select images and videos are truly only the tip of the iceberg -- so let's get to it!

YELLOWSTONE!

This was my first visit to the iconic park ever and though I'm familiar with some of the landmarks, it had a lot of wonderful surprises.

We chose to enter via the south entrance of the park and got an amazing bonus of a grand view of the Grand Teton range along the way. There was even a wedding going on at the overlook park where we stopped (which I didn't photograph out of courtesy to the newlyweds) but what a backdrop they had!

Once in the park, we drove through some amazing scenery on the way to our lodge in the Canyon Village area of the park (Yellowstone has it's own version of the Grand Canyon--more on that later). This included a long and scenic highway that wound along the shores of Yellowstone Lake.

We made one stop at a small hot springs area because I was so eager to see a natural thermal phenomenon that the park is famous for. It was fascinating! Here's a short video I took of one feature--Dragonsmouth-- which really lived up to its name!

We arrived at our lodge (Moran Lodge, just one in a whole complex of lodges) after many miles of scenic, winding roads. Though the building was very clean and updated, with natural pine accents and lovely decor, including beautiful wooden shutters in the place of pull blinds or drapes, there was a big trade-off...

The rooms were tiny. They also had no closets, no dressers, no TV, no microwave, no refrigerator, and--horrors!--NO coffeemaker! (Arghhhh!) Depriving me of my coffee in the morning is never pretty, but there was a block of restaurants and cafes just a short distance away that (thankfully!) opened at 6:30 AM. After the first morning, David took pity on me and tracked down housekeeping and they did produce a coffeemaker for our room. (Oh yayyyy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Our group made plans for what we would see and when we would see it. Yellowstone's main roads basically form a very large figure-8, so we decided to do the northern loop first, and follow up with the southern loop which included many of the parks icons. You can see a map of Yellowstone here.

But a few brave souls--myself included--decided to do a wildlife sighting trip in the early morning hours in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley in the northeastern part of the park, quite famous for its viewing opportunities. We were rewarded for our effort with sightings of elk, mule deer, buffalo (bison) herds, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope. Here are a few of the residents I caught...

The fence surrounded a ranger station, though it didn't seem to deter these guys much!

It was the first time I'd been this close to some of these animals outside of a zoo, so it was quite a thrill seeing them in their natural habitat. Though the correct term for these behemoths is "bison," the "buffalo" tag they earned in the pioneer days is what most people still call them.

(During an eight-minute walk through the forest to the restaurant and cafe area from our lodge, we discovered fresh buffalo dung. That meant there was an animal somewhere in the immediate area. That was more than a little intimidating. It was unnerving to see these huge creatures from inside our vehicle or from a safe distance, but I would not want to run into one while on foot!)

We also learned one of our first rules of wildlife viewing in the park -- if you see a herd of cars on the road ahead, chances are there's a herd of something else there to see! That's how I was alerted to snap this photo of a mama black bear and her two cubs foraging in a canyon above the road.

We returned to pick up the rest of our crew in mid-morning and start out on the northern loop. The scenery was spectacular--everything from high, winding mountain roads to huge, expansive grasslands to rivers with trestle bridges. There were also a few burnout areas throughout the park, the majority of which were caused by massive wildfires in 1988.

We stopped for lunch at the Mammoth Hot Springs area, which was one of the park's more congested areas. It's also one of the northerly points in the park, only a short distance from the Montana border. This area had once been an Army post -- Fort Yellowstone -- and many of the historic buildings dated back to the late 1800s. In fact, the US Cavalry had once managed the park and their duty continued until 1918 since the National Park Service wasn't created until 1916.

The area has a number of buildings including a visitors center and general store.

In spite of the throngs of people and automobiles in the area, the wildlife had no problem making themselves right at home.

Including this cow elk, who I was able to get close enough to to snap this photo. She also had two youngsters with her, her current year baby and a yearling. (By the way, with elk, the terms are "bull" for male and "cow" for female, just like cattle. Some of my group snickered when I called this girl a doe.)

A short time after this was taken, a bull elk wandered into the area and began pursuing her -- bugling loudly -- across the busy road and through crowds of people in a parking lot. Unfortunately, I was in the wrong place to get photographs of the chase. Thankfully, no one was gored in all the excitement, because the bulls can get very belligerent during rutting season--which it was.

Our next stop was just up the road at the feature the area was named for, the Mammoth Hot Springs. They were breathtaking.

Massive formations at Mammoth Hot Springs 

Mound Springs

Then we traveled on to Norris Geyser Basin, where we encountered the beautiful Emerald Spring.

Norris Geyser Basin is a huge expanse of thermal features that can be traveled on foot via an extensive boardwalk network.

It also features Steamboat Geyser, which is the tallest active geyser in the world at over 300 feet.  Steamboat's activity has been picking up and it has erupted at least 20 times in 2018. Unfortunately, its timing is unpredictable and it didn't go off during our visit. There was a large crowd on the viewing deck, many who looked like they were camped out until it was ready to once again put on a show.

But we did catch this much smaller geyser.

Our last stop before dinner was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, in close proximity to our lodge at Canyon Village. This picturesque canyon sported colorful cliffs and a series of spectacular falls and rapids.

The miles of trails and constructed overlooks allowed for some great sightseeing and photos.

The next leg of our Yellowstone adventure was a very full day cruising the lower loop, which has some of Yellowstone's most iconic features.

This is Beryl Springs in the Gibbon area.

The White Dome Geyser...

And finally, we arrived at the Must See stop on my list, the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is one of the most famous sights at Yellowstone and features both ground level viewing via a one-way boardwalk circuit, and a separate parking area with a steep climb to an upper viewing area. There are expansive flats around the spring with rippled formations and the spring itself sports rainbow-colored bands.

Sadly, brisk winds created problems with photography from the lower viewing area, since all that could be seen was blowing steam, but a very nice couple from China offered to take a photo of us at the bottom of the falls that flow off the spring. We returned the favor for them.

After moving on to the parking lot for the upper viewing area trail, we hiked up the long, steep path to get some amazing elevated shots, like these two--with and without yours truly.

We also made a stop to see the park's most famous geyser--Old Faithful. It has a large seating area that can accommodate hundreds (or possibly thousands) and its eruptions are so regular that the visitors' center announces the next time--give or take 10 minutes. While we were there, Old Faithful was scheduled to go off at 2:07 PM, and it finally blew at 2:16, exactly nine minutes late. While we were waiting, the geyser behind it erupted in a show to keep the crowd entertained. I caught Old Faithful on video, but sadly the file is so large I couldn't transfer it from my phone, so instead I'll insert this video from YouTube.

This area--like Mammoth Hot Springs--is also quite built up and often very busy, with an old lodge constructed of Lodgepole Pines, a visitors center, gift shop, indoor viewing area, museum and more.

Our final stop of the day was at the gorgeous Lake Lodge on Yellowstone Lake for a sumptuous gourmet dinner. Some of our dishes included quail, rack of lamb, squash noodles and steelhead trout. This was also our Farewell Yellowstone dinner and afterwards was time to say goodbye to the group.

Next morning, we exited the park via the east entrance and the different route provided some unique views, including this guy who was leisurely walking down the side of the road. The first photo was taken without any telephoto whatsoever, from a distance of about five feet! A true "close encounter." (I was inside our vehicle, taking the shot through an open window.)

We also saw coyote and elk that morning.

As well as an interesting tour vehicle or two.

Some of the scenery leaving the park was amazing.

And finally...

This wasn't the end of our adventures, but I think this is probably more than enough for one blog. 

I can only say thanks to President Ulysses S. Grant and all those who had the foresight to recognize that the Yellowstone area was a rare and unique natural treasure that needed to be preserved forever. 

Yellowstone was established in 1872 and was the first national park in the United States, and is also believed to have been the first national park in the world. It covers 3,471 square miles.

Read more about Yellowstone here.

Have a great week.