Showing posts with label geysers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geysers. Show all posts

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Fairy Falls & Grand Prismatic

After camping at Madison, Cathleen and I went to the Old Faithful Snow Lodge EDR for breakfast to fuel up for our big hike. We hiked 3 miles out to Fairy Falls:




Just past the falls was the Imperial Geyser basin. Imperial Geyser put on a show for us!



Once we got back to the main road, we climbed up a hill to get a better view of Grand Prismatic, the largest hot spring in the park.




On our drive back to Mammoth, we stopped at Firehole Canyon to swim in the Firehole River. It was a great way to cool off after a long day of hiking!

Friday, June 26, 2009

James' Visit - Day 5

We drove the Old Road to Gardiner and went to the Town Cafe for breakfast. There were so many wildflowers in bloom.

After breakfast, we headed to the geyser basins near Old Faithful. The first stop was the Fountain Paint Pots:




These were at Black Sand Basin:







We took the Fountain Lake side road and arrived just as this geyser was errupting:

As we headed back north towards Roosevelt, we stopped here at Sheepeater cliff:


On the Mammoth-Roosevelt Rd, this coyote was walking down the road. Both ears had what appeared to be stickers (I guess they were tags). An orange on his right ear and a green one on his left ear.


We checked into our cabin at Roosevelt Lodge and then drove out to Lamar Valley. Near Soda Butte, there was a large crowd of people stopped at the pull-out along the road.

We stopped, too. There were 2 wolves chasing a baby antelope!!! The mama and daddy antelope were chasing the wolves, running into and bumping the wolves a couple of time to try to distract the wolves from the baby. They would come closer to where we were standing, then run far off, then come close again as the crowd would gasp and cheer on both the antelopes and the wolves!!! It seemed as though the wolves gave up on the baby antelope - we thought the baby antelope was safe as they headed off to our right while the wolves were off to our left. But, NO!! There were two coyotes lurking in the sagebrush and attacked and killed the baby antelope.


Thursday, June 25, 2009

James' Visit - Day 4

After breakfast at Canyon Cafeteria, we headed towards Old Faithful. Along the way, we stopped at the Artist Paintpots where the mud is boiling: Then, we drove down a little side road where there was a large bison herd. There were also two flocks of geese playing follow the leader:

We went on to Old Faithful geyser and went into the Inn for a little while. Then, we headed up to Mammoth Hot Springs and checked into the cabin. I showed James where I live and work. We drove the Upper Terrace Drive and viewed the terraces and hotsprings. Then, we went to Subway in Gardiner and got sandwiches for a picnic. Had a picnic at Lava Creek and drove out to Lamar Valley. Along the way, we took a side trip along Blacktail Plateau Drive. I'm glad we did because at the end of it, we saw a black bear:
Also, we drove down to the petrified tree:

We stopped here at Soda Butte in Lamar Valley to watch a couple of wolves out in the meadow.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

James' Visit - Day 3

After breakfast at Granny's Family Diner, we headed back to YNP. Not sure what this building is or was, but it looked cool:
As soon as we entered the park, we saw some big horns:
We drove straight to Canyon and hiked the North Rim Trail. It was gorgeous, but I forgot my camera. Then, we checked into the cabin (what a dump!) and drove thru Hayden Valley. We also stopped at the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Canyon.
Dragon's Mouth was pretty cool, which I had taken a video so you could hear it, but it really does sound like a dragon (what I imagine a dragon would sound like).


Black Cauldron:



Hayden Valley:
Then, we headed towards Dunranven Pass for the sunset:

Then, we got to see another grizzly:

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

James' visit - Day 2

We slept in and went to Wendy's for lunch. Then, we went to the square. I love this square. The antler arches make it very unique.






Then, we headed towards Yellowstone. Along the road, there were some more funny road signs. I didn't get a shot of the first one, but I believe it said something to the effect of :
"Wildlife Ahead"






We entered Yellowstone through the South Entrance and stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin with Yellowstone Lake as a backdrop:





Then, we headed towards Cody, Wy. A little ways past the lake, after we had turned on the East Entrance Rd, we spotted a grizzly bear next to the road. James had never seen a grizzly before!



He's eating dandelions:
Once we exited the park, it took about an hour and a half or so to get to Cody. We stopped at
for a late lunch/early dinner. We were starved and it tasted great!
Then, we went to check into our cabin at Buffalo Bill Village on Main St. in Cody. It was very plain but cozy cabin:



Then, we headed to the Cody Rodeo which takes place every single night during the summer.

This little fella below is only 5 years old, and he rode a steer - didn't quite make it the 6 seconds (for his age bracket) but it was fun to watch him try.



Bronc riding:


I HATE calf roping. Run as fast as you can, calf!!!

The bullfighters just doing their job: