Yellowstone #6 - The Big Hike

Today I want to show you the big hike we went on, about 5 miles, while we were in Yellowstone. The hike starts out following along the side of a big hill and the backside of Prism Spring. It's a huge spring and when the sun shines through the steam rising from the surface it's like a moving rainbow cloud. Of course my picture doesn't really show that part, but use your imagination.

After about a mile it turns and follows a trail through a new growth forest. After the big forest fires of 88 it took awhile for the trees to grow. They are now at the perfect Christmas Tree height so it was like walking through a Christmas Tree Farm. The main downside to this is that there wasn't a lot of shade.Next you come out into an area where you can see mostly burned trees. I don't think this is still from 88, it's probably a more recent fire. We followed along the base of this cliff for another mile and a half...with significantly less shade.Then, we were there! And this small stream of water just drops off the edge of the cliff several hundred feet. Between the shade of the cliff and the mist from the water, it's actually pretty cool under there. If you were brave enough to get wet, you probably could have swam right up to where the water falls.I love how the water shoots over the edge and doesn't even get the rock wet until almost halfway down.We rested there a little while, then headed back out, watching the beautiful views of the valley. One thing to say for the lack of trees is it makes for great views!

(This is the stream that flows out of the bottom of the falls. That's all the water there is!)I loved this hike and would love to do it again in another five years or so and see how much more the trees have grown. There wasn't a whole lot of up and down, especially compared to what I've done before, but it's still a nice challenging length, especially in the sun. But then again, give me another month or so and I'll be begging for some sun!

Yellowstone #5 - Old Faithful Part 2

I am posting two parts to this today, so if you haven't seen the first part, you may want to read that one that comes after this first...does that make sense?

OK, So, after watching castle geyser erupt, we all split up. My dad went out to Morning Glory, my mom went to the gift shop, and I went to see the smaller loops on the map.

This one's called Chinese Spring, and I just like the picture with the river in the background. :)

One of the reasons I wanted to take the smaller loop was because of this smaller geyser called Anenome. It starts out completley empty of water (like on the left) and then every 20 minutes or so it fills up completley with water, starts erupting, and then all the water drains back out of it and it's completley dry again. The whole eruption takes like 30 seconds. Very cool!

Right next to Anenome, were some benches where you could watch Old Faithful go off. (It goes about every 90 min.) I could see that there were tons of people waiting down at the main viewing area, so I knew it must be about time and I waited. Old Faithful started and then immediatley behind me this one, Plume Geyser, started going. This one shoots a good 10 feet in the air and scared all of us that were sitting there. Everyone was taking pictures on one side and then the other. Here's Old Faithful:The plan was to meet dad back at Grand to watch it go. We were going to be there early. We were NOT going to miss it! So I met him there on the one bench with any shade and we waited, and waited, and waited...
We waited through a wind storm and hot sun. We waited for hours. This geyser called West Triplet went while we were sitting there at least twice.Then it happened (you can see some of the storm clouds in the back) and it was VERY cool. It's hard to comprehed just how much water that really is. (Notice Triplet Geyser in the front, completely empty of water.)When it was done, Dad and I headed back, but I made him stop at the Inn so I could take pictures. The Inn has been around for almost as long as the Park has, well officially anyway. It's very cool

The Inn is huge. This picture shows the nest which is 5 stories up. They used to bring in choirs to sing up there for Christmas in August, but they can't anymore because it's not structurally sound. It really is breathtaking. Whew! That's it for Old Faithful! Just one or two posts to go!

Yellowstone #4 - Old Faithful

This will be the largest post by far. It's taken me several days to get the pictures ready for you, about 25 in all. Plus you get a free science lesson. All for free!

Old Faithful is, of course the most famous part of Yellowstone, and sees the most visitors every year. (Although, why you'd come all that way, and just see Old Faithful is beyond me.) The best thing about Old Faithful, is that is also the place where you can see the most thermological activity all at once. The map shows most of the named vents (springs, geysers, etc.) (not that you could actually tell what any of those words are). The entire route is about three miles. OK, here we go.

We got to Old Faithful early enough to see Grand geyser erupt. There are only 5-6 geysers that are regular enough for the rangers to bother predicting, and even then it's not exact. Grand is predicted, give or take a couple hours. So basically, you get there early and can wait up to four hours for it to go off. But, it is quite a thing to see. It is the largest predictable geyser in the world. (Yes, bigger than Old Faithful itself) and goes off about twice a day. That's a lot of pressure, and a lot of water! So, we got there to hit the first one, only to find out it just finished as we got there. So we decided to do the loop, wait for Castle to go off, and come back for the afternoon eruption.

This is called Pump Geyser. It's one of the ones that pretty much just goes all the time, so it obviously doesn't go very high.

This is called Doublet Pool. It's a hot spring. OK, science lesson time. Basically, it goes like this: water from rain, snow and things seeps down into the ground. Because Yellowstone is a volcano, you don't have to go down very far to get to heat, so the water heats up and comes back up to the surface. If it comes up without any drama, it's just a hot spring. If a lot of water is trying to come up where there is a little hole then the pressure builds up until it erupts as a geyser. (Just like when you put your finger over the nozzle of the hose.) And that's just the beginning!

This is Ear Spring (because it looks like an ear, those rangers are so creative!). The water coming out of different springs aren't all the same temperature. You can tell because the spring is almost white. I'll explain more about this later.

These are called the Lion Group. They are mostly just steam vents, but the steam comes out with such force that it sounds like roaring.

This is Sawmill Geyser. It goes off for like 20 minutes every hour or so, so there's a good chance of seeing it. It's incredibly noisy, just like a sawmill, and erupts about 6 feet in the air.

This is Beauty Pool. I personally think there are prettier pools in the park, but whatever.

This is Chromatic Pool and a good place to talk about the heat in hot springs. See, different kinds of algae grow in different temperatures of water. In the hottest springs (blue and white) no algae can grow. So, you can see in most springs including this one how the water gets cooler as it goes out from the center leaving vivid rainbow patterns.

This is Giant Geyser (next to Bijou and Mastiff) Giant is one of the largest geysers in the world...when it goes off which is measured in years. A lot of times there is more than one geyser/spring on the same underground vent and they effect each other. Giantess Geyser was in an eruption cycle while we were there and you could tell when she was going to go off by the other geysers around her.

Riverside Geyser is one I really wanted to see but didn't get to this time. The geyser actually shoots out at an angle over the river.

Morning Glory is one of the more famous springs. It used to be blue in the center and more white towards the outside, but over years and years of people throwing coins and other things into the spring, it actually cooled the water and destroyed the beauty of the pool.

After walking the "big loop" I met my parents at Castle Geyser to wait for it to go off. We waited a couple hours (we were early, but we got a good spot in the shade) and then got to watch it. The "castle" part is built up over hundreds, maybe thousands of years of eruptions. Overwhelming to think about, huh!

OK, I'll stop this post for now and continue later!

Yellowstone #3 - Artist Paintpots

So, after the falls we drove over to Artist Paintpots which is a little trail (like 2/3 mile out and back) that goes around an area of thermal features, the most notable being the paintpots. The trail really isn't that long, but it does get really steep. You can see the trail down at the bottom from where we just climbed up (and I'm not even to the top yet.) The lower part of the trail is mostly hot springs where the ground water gets heated up by the fact that we're in a volcano and rises to the surface.

The different colored algae tells you how hot the water is (which is more evident in some of the Old Faithful pictures). The algae is everywhere that the water runs off, but it does make for some interesting features.

After climbing to the top you finally get to the Paintpots (otherwise known as mud pots). This is where there are springs coming up, but there is more loose dirt than rock and it mixes to make boiling mud. I have to admit that watching these things bubble and burp has got to be one of my favorites.

When you've finished being entertained, you come down the other side and try to enjoy the view while watching your footing.

On the way back to Grant at the end we drove past Gibbon Falls. I submit to you, is this a cascade or a waterfall? (I say it's a waterfall. I don't claim to know better than the rangers!)

We also made a quick stop at Old Faithful this day, but I will save all the Old Faithful stuff for next time.

Yellowstone #2 -- The Falls

Stage 2 -- Here we go.

We entered the park from the South entrance and drove up along this canyon toward Grant Village where we would be staying while in the park.

The canyon really is pretty amazing, but also probably the most bland thing we saw in the park. (You'll see what I mean soon enough!) We stopped at a small falls (well, small for the park) called Franklin Falls and my dad and I argued over whether this really was a falls or a cascade. (Does anyone know?) And then checked into our rooms at Grant, ate dinner, and heard a ranger talk (Thanks, Ranger Kevin!)

The next day was the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" and the Upper and Lower Falls. Although there are literally hundreds of waterfalls in the park, if someone is talking about "the falls" this is what they are talking about. The falls are probably the second most popular thing in the park with Old Faithful being the first. We wanted to do a hike on the South Rim, but they had the trail closed off for remodeling some of the overlooks. How weird is it to remodel nature? Anyway, with that option now closed, we drove around to the North side to some of the more popular overlooks. First we went down to the brink of the Upper Falls (the smaller of the two.) The ground vibrates underneath you from the power of the water going by.
This is the falls from further down the river. You really don't realize just how far that water drops standing on top of it. (The point that sticks out on the right side of the falls is where the previous picture was taken.)
After the Upper Falls we went further down the river to the Upper Falls, the largest one in the park. These things are so amazing! You can hear them from miles away.
In order to get to some of these lookouts, you actually have to go down into the canyon a little ways. This is our resting spot on the way back out. Hi mom and dad!

My dad and I still wanted to get a hike in that day, so we decided to hike along the North rim. There is a creek that comes out between the falls, and on that creek there is a smaller waterfall. We decided we wanted to go see it. So we sent mom off with the car to the other end of the trail, and started out. Going down some switchbacks, my feet slid out from under me and I fell pretty hard. I think I must have tweeked my back out pretty good because I was in pain for two weeks! My tailbone still gets sore if I sit on it for too long. (This will be an important factor in a later hike!) Anyway, we got down to the creek where a little bridge crossed it and found this little falls. It was a cute little spot that made you want to go swimming, but we were kinda shocked they actually marked this falls on a Yellowstone map.

Then we turned the corner.

So the first one wasn't actully the falls, this one was further down. The hike was pretty short, but it was a lot of fun (pain and all). And we rewarded ourselves with a picnic lunch and ice cream from Canyon Village. That wasn't the end of our day, but I will tell you all about Artist Paintpots next time!

The Tetons

I realized that I'd better get going on the rest of these blogs before I forget all the fun details of the trip! It's just so hard to find enough time all in one spot to edit the pictures and write the blog. I could split it up, but then I forget what I was thinking and lose my place, and...well, you understand. Anyway, this is for the Teton part of our trip.

(the back of the Tetons)

After spending the night in Idaho Falls we drove south along the backside of the Tetons to Jackson Hole. We stopped there for lunch and a little shopping and ate at this burger place that ended up being quite the adventure. The seating was all up at a bar and the restaraunt had a sort of 50's dinner feel. There were two cooks who thought they were hilarious and made fun of all their customers and flirted with all the girls. One of them, as part of the "show" finished off an entire glass of beer at once. The burgers were good though and huge. If you're in town I would recomend them, but bring your Tums, and get them to go!

(coming into the Jackson Hole valley)

Anyway, after stopping for fudge and taffy, we made our way up through the Tetons stopping in a few different places for pictures. The pictures, of course, cannot do the mountains justice, and I have never gotten over how you drive through Wyoming desert plains and the mountains just appear to jut up out of nowhere. They are truly breathtaking. So here are the pictures from the Tetons, I hope you like them!

P.S. I have decided to name the Sebring Ariel. It's a long story.