Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Road Trip Days 12-14 (June 24 - 26): Yellowstone National Park, WY

Flickr Pictures: Will be added soon!

Songs of the Day: 

Completely exhausted from my long day of travel, I planned to get right to bed once I checked in and received the key for my cabin. However, as luck would have it, the front desk personnel were done for the night, and I had to get my key from the bartender, instead. As soon as I reached the bar, I was greeted heartily by Jack, the 64-year old gift shop manager at Yellowstone Lake, who introduced me to some of his friends: Ellen, a middle-aged violin player in the orchestra, Tom, another park employee who was about my age, and Roger and Beth, a Floridian couple who were tourists, as well. Jack encouraged me to take a load off and try the Moose Drool Brown Ale, a Montana beer, and asked me what I was doing in the park and how long I'd be here for. I tried the beer, which was phenomenal, and told him about my trip and that I would be in Yellowstone for just a day and a half. After chastising me for not budgeting enough time to explore Yellowstone's natural beauty, the group told me everything I needed to see. If you take a look at a map of the park, the Lake Lodge, where I was staying (I got lucky getting a spot here, considering I booked it just a couple days before -- Roger and Beth booked their spot a year in advance), is centrally located, so my plan was to drive south along Yellowstone Lake, the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 feet, and check out the Lower Geyser Basin, including Old Faithful, in the morning. Then, I would basically do a loop, checking out the Fountain Paint Pots, Gibbon Falls, the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, and Hayden Valley, before getting back to Lake Yellowstone. Then, I planned to drive up past Tower Falls and through the Lamar Valley out of the park, where I would pick up the Beartooth Highway. 

The mindblowing thing about Yellowstone is that the unique geothermal features of the park (geyser basins, hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles) are due to an ancient and active caldera. There have been numerous volcanic eruptions with outpourings of lava during the area's history, and a massive reservoir of magma is capped by its caldera today. It's fascinating and terrifying to think that a super eruption of the Yellowstone caldera could drastically alter our lives as we know them, although thankfully, there are no signs of any eminent super eruption (-->)

I think to fully appreciate Yellowstone, you have to understand why it's so unique. You can read more about it here: history, Yellowstone supervolcano, and wiki (these were my sources for the information above).

Needless to say, I was amazed by Yellowstone and I want to come back and visit when I have more time. The geysers were fantastic and their beauty did overcome their overpowering sulfur stench. I particularly enjoyed Old Faithful, which I actually saw erupt twice (it happens approximately every 91 minutes). The first time, I climbed up about 500 feet for a nice view (-->)

, whereas the second time I watched it up close. I've gotta recommend that if you've never seen Old Faithful erupt, you MUST watch it up close first. It was nice to see it from up high, but to truly comprehend how high the water shoots upwards and with what force, you have to be right in front of it. Of course, the hot springs, canyon, waterfalls, and valleys, which provided opportunities to see local wildlife, were great, too. I was sad to have to leave so soon, but I was really, really excited to drive on the Beartooth Highway!

A few more photos:

 

Yellowstone on Dwellable