Photos
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
We noticed when we came in last night that most rooms at the
Snow Lodge had their windows open. Since it was overly warm in the hallways,
when we got to our room we opened our window. We slept with it open all night
and it was comfortably cool in here by morning. Because we had the window open,
we were both awakened by what we think was wolves kind of yipping/howling. It
could have been coyotes, but we have heard no one talk about them here, only
about wolves. Plus we both thought we had heard coyotes and it didn’t sound
like that. It was between 3 and 4 am. I got up about 5:30am and used the
bathroom. Clay was sound asleep, so not wanting to face the day yet I went back
to sleep too. We both got up around 6:30am. We had breakfast in the room and
got dressed and made a plan for the day.
We would go over to the Visitor’s Center to try to find out
the estimated times for geyser eruptions and other than that we planned to hike
the Upper Geyser Basin around Old Faithful. It turned out that we had missed
the first of the 6 geysers that they give estimates for. Two others they did
not have times for yet. The main one that we were shooting for out there was
Riverside and it was scheduled for 2:25pm. Being that it was 9am now, we’d need
to find something else to do with the morning. I was not looking forward to
hiking anyway. It seems that every day my gait changes and I need different
shoes to be able to keep walking. We had to check luggage so I could bring 4
pairs and even that still doesn’t seem to be working.
So, to fill the morning we went and got in the car. We set
off north towards Madison. We stopped at 3 of the geyser features between Old
Faithful and Madison. We walked around Black Sand Basin, Midway Geyser Basin
and Biscuit Basin. There is a video of Cliff Geyser at our first stop. There were some bison between the parking lot and the board-walked area of Black Sand Basin, our first stop. They were near the river, which must have been warm if not hot. One was wading and suddenly came out at us, Clay got video. It seemed scary, but all the bison were too busy eating or resting.
Then we decided to go further north and look for the dead
elk in a meadow from yesterday. (I did have a photo of that, but I thought it
was too gross to post!) Anyway, I thought it was before Madison but we didn’t
find it. And then I was sure it had been before Norris, because I remember that
a long line of pullout parking was nearly filled with people watching. We had
pulled over and I used the binoculars to identify it as a dead elk and we
assumed that the ranger-directed car circus that was going on was people
waiting and watching for scavengers to come and finish it off. Well, we didn’t
drive as far as Norris today, and we never found the dead elk in a meadow. We
turned around and headed back so we would be in plenty of time to see Riverside
Geyser erupt. Now, we know why Firehole River is so named!
After a couple of false starts because I couldn’t get
my shoes laced comfortably and then for Clay to have a huckleberry ice cream cone, we finally
set off. We had wound up buying a 50 cent Old Faithful Area Trail Guide this
morning when asking questions of the ranger at the information desk. Given the
amount they charge for entrance and lodging, I find it obscene that then you
have to pay something to answer every little question. They should be giving
these details out at the entrance gate included with the brochure and newspaper.
It shouldn’t be like pulling teeth to ever get a map with everything on it. And
even when you buy one it is still missing things. You can compare any 3 maps
they provide in some way, free or pay, and every one will have different stuff
on it. It is ridiculous. Anyway, the 50 cent map says that The Morning Glory
Pool trail that we had to take in order to see Riverside Geyser was 2.8 miles
roundtrip from the Visitor’s Center. We combined it with the Geyser Hill trail on
our return and that one was supposed to be 1.3 miles roundtrip. At least one of
the geyser features we drove to in the morning had about a 1 mile hike. So we
spent a lot of time walking today. We are both glad and relieved it is the end
of this National Park vacation. So, we saw eruptions at Riverside, Grand, Anemone,
Lion, and Old Faithful this afternoon. Riverside Geyser was most impressive and
scenic. Clay shot a lot of video of it from several angles because it went off for about 15 to 20 minutes. I think it might have been the longest of any of the geysers we saw too. I also really liked Wave Pool. It
was perfectly round and clear-watered and had a single stream of bubbles coming
up from the bottom center. Three little ones followed by one really big bubble.
The big bubble would set off a series of concentric ripples out to the edge of
the round hole and when the pond had gone still the next big bubble would break
the surface. It was like watching a clockworks of a liquid and gas kind. (Sorry no photo. Clay rushed by to catch Grand Geyser erupting.) Anemone
Geyser was my next favorite. It erupted every 7 to 15 minutes or so and it
would fill up and then flush down and empty out and then start over again. It
was small and entertaining.
We got back from the Old Faithful area trails about 4pm and
walked straight to the cafeteria at Old Faithful Lodge. We had an early dinner
by a window overlooking Old Faithful and it erupted about the time we finished
up eating. It was a civilized way to view it as Clay said. Also, it was a different
angle for us, so that was good. We wandered through Old Faithful Lodge and the
Haynes Photo Shop, which was like a museum of photography in Yellowstone. Then
we made another stop in the General Store. We had planned to get ice cream
cones, but we saw what must have been the last one of the day walking out as we
entered because it was closed when we got inside. Clay wanted a soda and so we went over to the grocery area where he got one and out of a freezer box, I
picked up a single-serve Frosty Chocolate Malted from Wilcoxson’s. We shared it
in the room for our dessert after a walk back to Snow Lodge through a just-started
thunderstorm.
At 6pm Clay got out of the shower and went to bed. By
6:30pm, he was snoring. It doesn’t even get dark here before 10pm! I expect it
will be a very early and difficult morning for me tomorrow. Since he started
showering at night, he just sits and glares at me every morning as I ever so
slowly get myself going each day. Oh well, I expect I’ll only get slower and
he’ll only get more annoyed.
Tomorrow we head for Cody and 1 night in Casper before
driving on to Denver for a night near the airport and flying out on Saturday.
So for all intents and purposes this is basically the end of our big West tour.
Not to shortchange Cody or Casper. I don’t know anything about them and have no
idea what to expect. But, I’ll report here and post some photos. I’ll try to
get this posted to the blog in a timely manner after we return home. (Yeah, I
thought that. Sorry!) That’s it for now.
Photos
