Yellowstone and Grand Teton

We had a WONDERFUL time in Yellowstone. First of all, the animals were extremely cooperative. Sandeep had been saying throughout South Dakota and Wyoming that he wanted to see a buffalo. He kept seeing herds of cows in the distance, and saying, "Are those buffalo?" So, I promised him that he would see a buffalo when we got to Yellowstone. We drove up the entrance road to the park Monday morning, and two buffalo were grazing outside the ranger booth. Official park greeters, apparently... A few miles into the park, traffic slowed to a stop. Looking ahead, we saw a herd of buffalo ambling along the road amidst the vehicles. We drove within a few feet of them. In a field with even more buffalo, a coyote was hunting small animals.

We drove around the spectacular northern loop of the park's Grand Loop Road, which goes over high mountains and looks down, in spots, on the Yellowstone River valley (photograph above). We saw deer in the forest area bordering the road, and elk standing in fields and woods. Another traffic stoppage was due to a mother grizzly bear and her three cubs, walking along the top of a very steep embankment overlooking the road. She and the cubs scrambled along the steep slope, looking for a way down to cross the road and climb down in to the valley below to drink from the stream (according to the park ranger). Luckily for all the people standing in the road taking photos, Mrs. Grizzly didn't find a path to her liking and so kept walking along the ridge - very photogenically! We saw a black bear down in a valley, grazing along the ground like a round black cow, and pronghorn antelope in the trees along a hillside. We were looking at the "wildlife in Yellowstone" illustration on the back of the park map, and saying, "Buffalo: check! Coyote: check! Grizzly bear: check!" I was a little disappointed not to see a yellow-bellied marmot, pictured in the illustration like a little groundhog standing on his hind feet and stroking his yellow-ish belly proudly, and Sandeep and I were both hoping for a pack of wolves, but I guess you can't ask for TOO much in just one afternoon...and maybe the wolves had the day off.

We stopped along the northern loop at the Mud Volcano area, which is so "active" that, after a recent earthquake, the ground heated up to 200 degrees F, killing all the trees and grass. It was a cool day, and buffalo were laying on the bare, still warm ground, looking cozy. There are roiling pools of muddy, sulphurous-smelling water, and fumeroles that hiss steam. The Mud Volcano once erupted in a high fountain of mud, but now just bubbles gently. My favorite feature was the Dragon's Mouth Spring, the steamy cave in the photo above. Steam hisses from it constantly, as water flows out in a hot stream, and deep inside there are muffled explosions every few seconds: gases exploding in the water, according to the sign.

We visited other thermal areas, the lovely Tower Waterfall, and also Mammoth Hot Springs (the orange-y hillside pictured above), where hot water pouring down from the springs has created huge terraces of multi-colored mineral deposits and heat-loving, colorful bacteria.

We stayed in the park Monday night, and drove around the southern loop in the morning.

We had seen several huge bull elk, standing far off in the trees for just a moment or crossing the road too quickly to be photographed, and they are so huge and graceful they look like something from a fairy tale. Tuesday morning, the kind elk in the photo above stood just by the side of the road, turning in different directions to be photographed from all angles. Thank you, mythical beast!

We stopped at the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake, where the thermal pools are right along the lakeshore and the hot streams run into the lake. You can see, in the beautiful, tranquil lake photo above, a jet of steam rising from the shore. The round formation in the other lake photo is called Fishing Cone; it is filled with boiling water, and early visitors to the park used to catch fish in the lake, and then drop them, still on the hook, into the hot water to boil.

We did go to see Old Faithful, and watched it erupt right on schedule. We walked through several other thermal areas, and saw smaller geysers, multi-colored pools, bubbling mud pots, and two newly-opened steam vents that bang away deep inside like the Dragon's Mouth. What a strange and amazing place Yellowstone is, as I am sure people have been saying for a hundred years.

Leaving the park, we were able to see some of the fall colors we will be missing in New Hampshire, and a beautiful little waterfall. We drove straight into wonderful Grand Teton National Park, where the mountains look like they belong to another country.

Now we're in Idaho!