Today was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Got myself up and prepared for an outing to Yellowstone Park.
I decided on the US 191 route as it received several recommendations from the locals for its beautiful scenery. I started out around 10:15 and headed through town to 191 south. It starts out rather mundane... strip malls and some more strip malls. Then there's a left followed by a right turn and then it starts to get interesting!
The drive along 191 is breathtaking and fortunately, there are numerous spots to pull over and take pictures. I did this a LOT! The drive is fun with lots of curves and S turns along the way.
I finally arrived in West Yellowstone and found my way to the West Gate entry into the park. The entry fee is a little steep for a one day tour... $25... but I have to say... it was all worth it at the end of the day.
The park is enormous and my plan was to head down to Old Faithful and see what there was to see along the way. The answer to that is... a lot.
Scenery aside... my first adventure was a wildlife encounter with a small grouping of Elk. There was a male... several females... and some little ones still nursing. I took a lot of pictures. Moving on, I encountered a traffic stoppage... and strangely enough, the reason for the stoppage was a buffalo just walking down the road... not bothered by the cars or people... I had to laugh... at first look I thought it might be Sasquatch lol!
Moving on from there, I stopped at several of the parking areas near the parks numerous geothermal features. The pools are amazingly clear and deep blue in color... steam rising off their surfaces. The minerals in the water leave some very interestingly colored deposits. Then there's the geysers... little ones and medium ones... spouting up on their own schedule. The painted pot hot mud deposit was very cool... a viscous liquid boiling and popping. Then there's all of the others... some just a little puddle or a steam vent.
Back in the car and found another parking area... this time, a trail head! I have no idea what that means but a lot of people were stopping and hiking up this trail and disappearing into the distance. I figured it might be worth a short walk to see what there was to see.
Well... I found some fly fishermen, some more hot pools, a herd of buffalo and this enormous field of steaming, bubbling water. At times, the steam looked almost pink in color and then blue. I think it was the sun interacting with the steam and the ground color but it looked really cool.
I walked a little further trying to find how the people really close to the steaming pools got there. I asked another group of hikers and they told me that there was a parking area by the road that led to those pools. I was ready to turn around when they mentioned they had just returned from Fairy Falls. When I asked how far they told me 2 miles... I asked... how good is the waterfall... they said, worth the walk.
Soooooo... I continued on for what seemed like forever and finally found the waterfall... it was definitely worth the walk. The water dropped 197 (Correction from 75 - 100 thanks to Jim MacDonald) feet into a waiting pool at the bottom. Very impressive. There were a couple of crows just hanging out and they let me get close enough to take some nice pics.
Unfortunately... there was the walk back and that was a looooooonnnnnggg way to go. I finally reached the car and devoured a granola bar. I pledged... "no more walking"... car only. Then I found another parking are with more pools and geysers... I'm such a pushover. I stopped for a short walk around and then back to the car and on to Old Faithful... my original destination.
It wasn't a long drive and I pulled right in and parked. By far, it drew the most visitors. Once parked, I headed toward the geyser area... lots of people were hanging around so I assumed it was about to go. Not 5 minutes from my arrival, Old Faithful lived up to its name and shot off maybe 75 feet into the air. Very impressive.
Once done there, I headed into the old Yellowstone Lodge and found their cafeteria. I was famished from the day and that long hike. I devoured a croissant club sandwich and an excellent "Old Faithful Ale". I sat and finished the last of my ale and then decided it was time for the return trip to Bozeman.
On the way out of the park there were several other animal sightings... a buffalo and that same herd of Elk. Slowed traffic to a crawl but finally got past it and headed north to my destination for the night... the Days Inn, Bozeman.
Till tomorrow....
I decided on the US 191 route as it received several recommendations from the locals for its beautiful scenery. I started out around 10:15 and headed through town to 191 south. It starts out rather mundane... strip malls and some more strip malls. Then there's a left followed by a right turn and then it starts to get interesting!
The drive along 191 is breathtaking and fortunately, there are numerous spots to pull over and take pictures. I did this a LOT! The drive is fun with lots of curves and S turns along the way.
I finally arrived in West Yellowstone and found my way to the West Gate entry into the park. The entry fee is a little steep for a one day tour... $25... but I have to say... it was all worth it at the end of the day.
The park is enormous and my plan was to head down to Old Faithful and see what there was to see along the way. The answer to that is... a lot.
Scenery aside... my first adventure was a wildlife encounter with a small grouping of Elk. There was a male... several females... and some little ones still nursing. I took a lot of pictures. Moving on, I encountered a traffic stoppage... and strangely enough, the reason for the stoppage was a buffalo just walking down the road... not bothered by the cars or people... I had to laugh... at first look I thought it might be Sasquatch lol!
Moving on from there, I stopped at several of the parking areas near the parks numerous geothermal features. The pools are amazingly clear and deep blue in color... steam rising off their surfaces. The minerals in the water leave some very interestingly colored deposits. Then there's the geysers... little ones and medium ones... spouting up on their own schedule. The painted pot hot mud deposit was very cool... a viscous liquid boiling and popping. Then there's all of the others... some just a little puddle or a steam vent.
Back in the car and found another parking area... this time, a trail head! I have no idea what that means but a lot of people were stopping and hiking up this trail and disappearing into the distance. I figured it might be worth a short walk to see what there was to see.
Well... I found some fly fishermen, some more hot pools, a herd of buffalo and this enormous field of steaming, bubbling water. At times, the steam looked almost pink in color and then blue. I think it was the sun interacting with the steam and the ground color but it looked really cool.
I walked a little further trying to find how the people really close to the steaming pools got there. I asked another group of hikers and they told me that there was a parking area by the road that led to those pools. I was ready to turn around when they mentioned they had just returned from Fairy Falls. When I asked how far they told me 2 miles... I asked... how good is the waterfall... they said, worth the walk.
Soooooo... I continued on for what seemed like forever and finally found the waterfall... it was definitely worth the walk. The water dropped 197 (Correction from 75 - 100 thanks to Jim MacDonald) feet into a waiting pool at the bottom. Very impressive. There were a couple of crows just hanging out and they let me get close enough to take some nice pics.
Unfortunately... there was the walk back and that was a looooooonnnnnggg way to go. I finally reached the car and devoured a granola bar. I pledged... "no more walking"... car only. Then I found another parking are with more pools and geysers... I'm such a pushover. I stopped for a short walk around and then back to the car and on to Old Faithful... my original destination.
It wasn't a long drive and I pulled right in and parked. By far, it drew the most visitors. Once parked, I headed toward the geyser area... lots of people were hanging around so I assumed it was about to go. Not 5 minutes from my arrival, Old Faithful lived up to its name and shot off maybe 75 feet into the air. Very impressive.
Once done there, I headed into the old Yellowstone Lodge and found their cafeteria. I was famished from the day and that long hike. I devoured a croissant club sandwich and an excellent "Old Faithful Ale". I sat and finished the last of my ale and then decided it was time for the return trip to Bozeman.
On the way out of the park there were several other animal sightings... a buffalo and that same herd of Elk. Slowed traffic to a crawl but finally got past it and headed north to my destination for the night... the Days Inn, Bozeman.
Till tomorrow....
1 comment:
Hey, as a Yellowstone enthusiast, I cover blogs and news on Yellowstone as a daily hobby and so discovered this.
I enjoyed it.
Having just been to Fairy Falls, I can say that it is the worth the hike. And, just a little further along (about a half mile), there are two geysers on the trail - Splash and Imperial Geyser - Imperial Geyser is so very beautiful and both are constantly erupting.
One note on Fairy Falls - it's taller than it seemed to you. The drop is actually higher than Niagara Falls, at 197 feet.
Anyhow, wanted to let you know I enjoyed it - it is about to be linked from my "newspaper".
Cheers,
Jim
Post a Comment