Only 18 miles separated our campsite in Grand Teton from Yellowstone National Park, yet Yellowstone seems like it is in a completely different world.
As America's (and the world's) first national park, Yellowstone is the site of several of the earth's greatest volcanic episodes (640K - 2 million years ago). Much of the park sits atop magma and as a result, visitors are awed by geysers, thermal pools and vents, mudpots and other rare geological phenomena.
Park ranger Julie humored L & G by answering their many questions at our first stop, West Thumb. She explained that the most beautiful thermal pools - the crystal blue ones - are the most dangerous as they reach 195 degrees and hotter. But then just a few feet away from some of those pools is Lake Yellowstone, formed by glaciers and averaging a chilly 41 degrees. Hot and cold. Living side by side.
We watched Old Faithful erupt. (Though she is not the tallest geyser, her name comes from the fact that scientists can predict her next eruption within 10 minutes). And then we walked along the Upper Geyser Basin. Apparently a lot of people watch Old Faithful and leave this part of the park, which is unfortunate as they are missing out on much coolness.
We set up camp in a wooded spot called Madison to snuggle in for a cold evening.
The next day, we called "Geology Day," as we learned about all kinds of thermal features that we never knew existed. We started at my favorite site on Planet Yellowstone, Grand Prismatic. Various bacteria cause this huge (about 200 feet) thermal pool to exhibit a rainbow of deep blues, greens, yellows and oranges. My husband liked Excelsior, which blew enough hot steam into the air that we felt warm walking by and could barely see through the steam.
We saw mudpots and paintpots at Artist Point. (Think about a can of white or gray paint for your house that needs to be stirred and is bubbling). And then we had to experience for ourselves the smelly geysers at Norris, some of which oozed out enough sulfur to smell like rotten eggs... or as my boys said, farts. (Ranger Julie told us these were her favorites, and with names like Puffin Stuff and Green Dragon, we could see why).
Nature is amazing and constantly changing. For example, Minute Geyser used to erupt every 60 seconds and was one of the park's most-visited sites. But Yellowstone visitors threw rocks into its vents decades ago and it is no longer consistent. Then there is Steamboat, the largest geyser at Yellowstone that erupts every four days to 50 years. We got to see it spew some water up, but not a full eruption.
We checked into a small cabin at Mammoth Hot Springs, where elk walk freely. We watched one cross the street at a cross walk! And the next morning, as we were sitting on our front porch, an elk nibbled on grass nearby, eventually walking right up to our cabin. (Out of respect for the elk, we went inside to give him space.)
That day, we explored Yellowstone's own Grand Canyon. Though it is not as big as "that other canyon," it has views that are just as impressive. And it has two majestic waterfalls, one of which (Lower Falls) is twice as big as Niagara Falls. This is likely where Yellowstone's name came from as Native Americans noticed the color of the canyon, which was formed by a contrasting combination over hundreds of thousands of years of volcanic eruptions and glaciers. We hiked along the South Rim, from the Clearlake Trail to Artist Point and back. (Uncle Tom's Trailhead was closed due to damage, or we would have added that hike down into the canyon). And then we explored the oddities of the Mammoth Hot Springs, where we experienced a hail storm. (G had wanted snow, so that was the closest we could get.)
The next morning, we took one last hike to Wraith Falls and the boys got their Junior Ranger badges before hitting the road to get even further north, toward Glacier.
L says: Yellowstone was really cool because of all of the hot springs and geysers. In particular, I liked Grand Prismatic and its magnificiently vibrant colors.
G says: I liked the elk because they are very majestic creatures. I liked seeing the elk we could see from our porch, because I saw it first and told my mommy and daddy to look outside.
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