Month: October 2012

I’ve been on the road so much in the last two weeks that it’s hard to even remember my trip to Yellowstone, but I want to tie things together before moving on to my later experiences in Colorado, Utah, and Oregon. I saw far fewer animals on this trip than I did on my early summer trip to Yellowstone, but it’s always exciting to see elk and buffalo in the wild.

This large bull elk seemed supremely confident as he kept watch over

his harem.

It seemed strange that on my first trip the elk were off by themselves and the bison were in large herds, but on this trip just the opposite was true. Almost all the buffalo I saw were alone

and widely dispersed, like this one that had obviously spent time laying in the dust surrounding the geysers.

Other than a few Canada Geese and mallards, the only interesting birds I saw were these cormorants, which seemed strangely out-of-place here,

and two Ravens

that seemed intent on attacking the pack on top of my car, perhaps because they’d seen me eating earlier and suspected I stored the food there. They were so persistent I ended up leaving the site early because they kept attacking the bag when I walked away.

Except for the Geysers, I don’t think the scenery is nearly as impressive going from the West Entrance to Grand Teton as it is from the Northeast Entrance to The Grand Tetons. However, the Yellowstone River is beautiful and the road follows it much of the time.

There are also a number of pullouts where you can stop and see spectacular places like this one for the Kepler Cascades.

In my mind, though, some of the prettiest scenery was actually outside the park heading east on Togwotee Pass, though I suspect it might actually have looked back on parts of Yellowstone.

I ended up driving much of the way to Laramie in the dark, but I did enjoy scenery like this along the Wind River.

I don’t remember even noticing the various geyserite patterns at Yellowstone on my first visit there many years ago, but this visit I spent more time trying to capture some of the amazing patterns I saw than I did taking pictures of the geysers erupting, though none of the shots quite captured the beauty I saw in my head.

Still, I could easily see using some of these shots for screen savers or textures when I get home. I’m particularly fond of the browns and greys, like this one,

and this one,

but this bright orange one reminded me of petroglyphs, and I like petroglyphs a lot.

It almost felt like an alien life-form was trying to communicate with us, probably “Keep off the patterns, stupid!” Despite innumerable signs, you could still see footprints on the areas surrounding the geysers.

This wasn’t caused by archaea like the above patterns, but it also struck me as forming an unusual pattern,

as did grey, black, and yellow lichen growing on nearby rocks.

With only a day to spend in Yellowstone, I decided to focus on the part of the park I’d missed on my June trip, the geysers. When I was there in June it was so crowded that I decided to focus on the Grand Tetons instead. Originally I’d planned on returning through the park on this trip, but the haze in the park and the smoke-filled skies in Montana and Idaho have changed those plans, and I’ll probably go back through Utah instead.

I didn’t count on the high number of retirees in the park, though. I’m not sure it was any less crowded than it was in June. It was so crowded that I refused to visit the most famous geyser of all, Old Faithful, and focused on the side trips where buses and RV’s were banned. For me, it was a good trade-off.

It has been over 30 years since my first visit to Yellowstone, and I’d forgotten how magical they seem as you first approach them. No wonder the Indians considered these sacred grounds; it would be sacrilegious to think otherwise.

A closer look,however, makes it clear why the Indians were also awed by this land. It shouldn’t take warning signs to make visitors realize the dangers here, the dead trees greeting you as you approach the geysers should tell you danger lies here.

The areas surrounding the geysers may appear bleak from a distance,

but some pools have a strangely silent beauty

while others have a more dynamic beauty.