Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is certainly one of the most popular in the system. In July this year over 1,000,000 people visited this park-- that is over 32,000 per day!   It has a wide variety of attractions over an area of about 3500 square miles. Founded in 1872 by president Ulysses S. Grant Yellowstone is recognized as the first national park in the world. It includes an active volcanic area as well as pastoral valleys and rugged mountains.  Herds of bison, elk, moose and deer populate the park. A  unique feature of the park is its own fishing license separate from Wyoming's.

This was park was the worst for traffic. The number of people when added to road repair made travel through and around Yellowstone. As you will see below the animals in the park often contribute to the delays and congestion.

The visitor center is located  so that Old Faithful geyser can be seen from the deck behind

Yellowstone Lodge is the largest hotel in the park and if you look carefully the chimney for the fireplace is surrounded by interlocking logs.

The southern entrance takes you by this canyon view.

Old Faithful geyser spouts on a semi regular schedule. In between it sputters and steams smaller eruptions.

When it does erupt the steam will rise to about 40'.  The eruption we saw lasted for about 8 minutes.

This moose was spotted on the eastern edge of the park. His mate came into view a few minutes after I took this picture.

Hayden Valley, also on the eastern side, is home to herds of bison. This small cluster had 5-6 young calves.

Another herd of Bison were grazing close to the road and thus created a mid range traffic congestion.

This is bison territory.

This big fella was standing off to one side and just watching the confusion of the humans who were trying to get photos of the herd.  It was as if he just could not understand what the fuss was about.

Hayden Valley looking south

The northern entrance takes you by this valley

The inscription says "FOR THE BENEFIT AND ENJOYMENT OF THE PEOPLE".  This arch was the original entrance into the park area.

The geological eras present at Yellowstone can be clearly seen in this cliff. The columnar basalt layers that resulted from volcanic action and lava flows are separated by layers of sandstone which filtered in and compressed into rock following the eruptions.

This herd of elk were at the main park headquarters. Apparently they have a contract with the park service to maintain the lawns around the buildings.

This young buck was imperturbable while eating.

Dinner time for everyone

Mountain Big Horn Sheep are not the most plentiful animal in the park and so catching one close to roads and trails is a rare treat.

Yellowstone has a wide range of streams. from smaller ones like this to mid size as shown in the next frame

This stream was about 12-15" deep

The larger rivers have deep pools and white water rapids. Most were closed to fishing to allow the trout to spawn.

Geysers spew mineral laden water which leaves its own color markings

Mud pots boil up with sporadic bursts of gas that send the water and mud up into crystalline drops. 

 

Beehive like structures are formed of the calcified minerals in the water.

Every eruption adds to the growth of the volcanic cone.

Oxidized minerals leave a colorful trail as they are  carried to pools away from the mud pots.

The mineral coating here have formed a shell over the hot water lake.

The geyser area is accessible by this board walk. Without rails this seems like a disaster waiting to happen, yet no one falls into the boiling pots.

 this shows the density of tourists in this area.

While Old Faithful is the most regular, there are several more dramatic geysers when they erupt.

This is one of the "paint pot" mud pits. while the bubbles are clearly shown this looked like boiling corn mush with the mud bubbling up into iridescent domes before bursting.