Okay I'm finally posting a few pictures that I took at Yellowstone Park a month ago. My camera was starting to die at the time so the pictures just don't compare to the majestic reality that is Yellowstone. We were only there for a few hours as we made our way home, but all I can say is that you can feel the hand of God everywhere you looked there.
We drove through the Grand Teton National Park and then on to the southern gate to Yellowstone. I guess since it was summertime lots of crews were out to do road work. We just wish that they had warned us that there was no road, just dirt and sometimes rocks. Steve took it slowly as we followed the line of vehicles behind the chase car. Now when we see road work ahead signs we call out "Paved, or unpaved?"
Onwards to Yellowstone, the first thing we ran across was some snow. Since this was the absolute first time that Fearghus had seen it we had to stop by a turnout for a few minutes. We also looked down at a beautiful canyon.
And a sideways video of Fearghus dancing and rolling around in the snow.
Once we did that we continued on, just soaking in the beauty of the trees and scenery. We stopped at the center for Old Faithful. It's a very large complex, huge parking lot, a visitor's center, shop, gas station!, clinic and a lovely hotel. The altitude was high, 9000 or more feet, but fortunately the two weeks prior in Cheyenne's 6500 foot altitude gave us enough time to adjust to it so we had no problems at all. We saw other dogs so we got out Fearghus and walked to the benches in front of Old Faithful. This may not be the largest geyser in Yellowstone but it is the most regular one, thus the moniker. Of course the park adds a small leeway when they post the next burst. We sat and waited for quite awhile. It began to lightly snow. Fearghus had no problems with that but the uprights began to get a bit chilly. The clouds had a race and continued to hide and reveal the sun at intervals. When the geyser began it was worth it and the crowd oohed and aahed as one.
I won't post the video I took, yet another sideways video, because there are much better ones on the net. I really have to remember that I have to hold the camera horizontally for videos. LOL
It was starting to get a little late and we wanted to make it out to the west gate so that we could stay at the campground there. As we left the complex we saw smoke ahead and then the mists cleared and there were people standing on a bridge off to the side of the road. Well we had to stop for that. It turns out that it was for the geyser pools. Oh, I truly wish that you could have been there for that. The temperature was cold and the wind was blowing so that every few feet on the boardwalk you'd get blasted by all this mist. But the mist was very warm from the pools so you'd be enveloped in warmth even though you were blinded. The pools would be partially revealed every time the wind blew. We'd see little bits of rainbow color that were the blankets of bacteria and microbial mats - life! The large hot spring pool, named the Grand Prismatic Spring, gave us hints of its beauty but we couldn't see more than peeks in between the mists. It turns out that is the largest hot spring in the park. Oh my, it was a sight to behold and the experience of walking in those warm, hot mists was breathtaking.
After that experience I didn't think that the disappearing day could get better but I was wrong. Just up the road we saw cars stopped at the side of both sides of the road. I glanced out the side window and had Steve stop the RV. When I jumped out I saw a large herd of bison, maybe 100 head or so. The bulls were very large and the calves were so red and lively, jumping around their mamas.
And when we started up the road again a much smaller herd was taking its time crossing the road. When you see a big bull in front of you, well he's the boss and gets to go as slowly as he wishes. It didn't take too long, about fifteen minutes, and then we were on our way out of the park and towards our campground for the night. It was snowing when we arrived and the next morning too. It all was magical, almost like Yellowstone knew that we didn't have days to spend there and wanted to give us a show in a short period of time. I'm thankful to President Grant for having the wisdom to set aside this land as a national park (the first one of its kind in the US and widely held to be the first in the world), a land that's protected for generations to come. We didn't see them, but the wolves that were re-introduced to the park in the 1980's are doing well and along with the bears (grizzly and black) and the coyotes are the natural predators of the herding animals of the park, the bison, elk, deer and sheep. As you may tell, I was smitten by this land and highly recommend that everyone take a trip there if you can.
