Yellowstone, our nation’s first national park, is known for its geysers and wildlife and we were treated to both within the first few hours of arriving. Oh, and if you have not been here, Yellowstone is a massive park! Almost 3,500 square miles in area, 63 miles north to south and 54 miles west to east. We entered in the west entrance and still had a 1 hr 30 min to drive to our campground, 55 miles away. It is larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware. Here is a picture of the park and roadways.
Not long into our drive, an Elk was grazing on the side of the road. Next, a Bison (Buffalo) was chomping on some grass along the side of the road. And then, a bit further done the road, another Bison was walking alongside the road. After we passed it, it decided to take a left turn and walk across the road, right in front of Greg & Helen. It couldn’t go all the way across due to a stone wall, so it just meandered down the middle of the lane, as the cars coming the opposite direction were slowing down, but not stopping. Greg & Helen said it must have been 10 to 15 minutes they drove slowly behind the Bison. Finally, with a break in the cars, the Bison moved to the left and they were able to scoot on by. Helen got some great shots of both Bison, shown below.
After quickly dropping off our RV’s (we were delayed 30 minutes by road construction), the four of us headed over the Old Faithful Inn for dinner (a mere 41 miles away which was an hour drive if no traffic; with traffic, 2 hours!) What a neat lodge. It was built in 1903-1904 with local logs and stone. It is considered to be the largest log structure in the world.
After a delicious dinner and walking around the unique Inn, we noted Old Faithful was going to erupt within the next 30 minutes so we headed over. I found this interesting short YouTube Video from the National Park Service on how they determine the eruption times, roughly every 89 minutes (+/- 10 minutes).
Old Faithful isn’t the tallest or largest geyser in the park, but the one with the most consistent eruptions; hence its name. And on our drive back to the campground, Helen spotted an Elk off to the side of the road and a fox ran across in front of us as we entered the campground. Pretty good wildlife sightings on our arrival day!
On the next morning’s Murphy walk (it was a chilly 38°), Helen spotted a Bison just a row over from our campsites. We saw a man walking his beagle in the direction of the Bison, so we told him about it. He said, “Oh, he was at my campsite yesterday morning”. When we got back from our morning adventure (next paragraph), there was fresh Bison poop next to our truck. “Billy” the Bison (as we have named him) was definitely walking around our campground. We saw Billie again returning from an afternoon hike and snapped a photo.
For the first of our 4 full days here, we stayed in the vicinity of our campground at Fishing Bridge and visited the mud volcano, mud pots, the sulphur caldron, and other unique features in that area of the park. Although the geysers and hot springs typically capture the most attention, the mud volcano, mud pots, and caldrons were quite fascinating. From this visit, I learned Yellowstone has two magma (hot, molten rock) reservoirs, one shallow and one deep. The shallow or upper reservoir is located 3 to 10 miles underneath and the deep or lower reservoir is located 12 to 30 miles beneath the surface, spanning about 45 miles across. No wonder there are over 10,000 hydrothermal features in the enormous park.
Dave joined us as we walked around the mud volcano and caldron areas, but his ankle was quite sore after, so Greg, Helen and I did a hike to Storm Point, on Yellowstone Lake, near our campground. We were commenting that although it was an “easy” hike, we seemed to be breathing harder with just a little elevation change. Then we found out Yellowstone Lake sits at 7,733 ft. Oh my! It is the largest high-elevation lake in North America, spanning 20 miles from north to south and 14 miles from east to west, for a total of 141 miles of shoreline. It is deep and cold; the maximum depth at 390 feet, an average depth of 138 feet and with an average temperature of 41°. Brrr. The lake continues to change its shape with hundreds of hydrothermal vents, craters, and fissures below it.
Greg & Helen set off for a sunset search for wildlife in nearby Hayden Valley. And they were in luck! They spotted a herd of Elk, probably close to 20 female Elks with one bull watching over them. It is rutting (mating) season, so that Elk is going to be quite busy!
Fun fact: Yellowstone got its name from the Yellowstone River which flows through it. And, the Yellowstone River was so named as one of the first explorers noted yellow sandstones along the river bank.
Thanks for following along. Stay tuned for more Yellowstone adventures.
On the lookout for Yogi Bear Brenda, Yellowstone is massive Dave, and not another park I can’t hike in Murphy
The wild animals are a real treat. I’m surprised you didn’t see a moose. They are quite common in the park. Not as abundant as the bison.
You came in from the west and Beartooth Pass is north east from the park . If you are interested you might be better off going over the pass without your RV’s in tow. Just a suggestion.
The super ponds are interesting. One doesn’t want yo inhale too deep.
If you look to the south, sometimes you can see the Grand Tetons. Another sure worth viewing. The Hiway goes right by them. Not sure if there is anything to experience, I was thinking of a cinnamon roll !