Our two wildlife photographers extraordinaire, aka Greg & Helen, left at sunrise on our third day, headed north to Lamar Valley, hoping for some great wildlife photo ops. They saw a Pronghorn and several large bison herds, some crossing the road right in front of them. Pronghorns look like antelopes and are colloquially known in North American as pronghorn antelopes, but are the only surviving member of their family. They are the fastest land mammals in the Americas, running up to 55 mph. We also saw several when visiting the Badlands earlier this year.
Later that morning, Dave and I drove to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, visiting the north and south rims for great views of the canyon and its two falls. The canyon is about 20 miles long, more than 1,000 feet deep. It was formed by erosion as the Yellowstone River flowed over progressively softer, less resistant rock. The 109-foot Upper Falls and 308-foot Lower Falls were gorgeous. The volume of water flowing over the falls varies from 63,000 gallons/second at peak runoff in the spring to 5,000 gallons/second in autumn. If what we saw was less than a tenth of what it is in Spring, I can’t imagine what it looks like!
Next, Dave and I headed north, over some windy and high elevation roads (meaning steep drop-offs and no guardrails) to see where the canyon ends at the Tower Fall, which plunges 132 feet. The waterfall is named, not for its towing height, but for the “towers” of stone that surround the top of the falls.
Guess who we saw in the parking lot at Tower Fall? Yep, Greg & Helen, on their way back from Lamar Valley. While chatting with them, they were able to shed some light on a very large congregation of photographers in Hayden Valley we saw while heading north. It seems there was a bison carcass and the photographers had already seen wolves at it and now were waiting for more scavengers, who usually come out at dawn & dusk.
After Tower Fall, Greg & Helen headed south, first stopping at Mt Washburn which is popular high elevation hike with gorgeous views. Afterwards, they visited the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone as we had earlier in the day
Our fourth and last full day was spent touring the northwestern part of the park. The four of us (well five including Murphy who had to stay in the car) first visited the Norris Geyser Basin to see more geysers, hot springs, and mud pots. This basin is home to the Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest active geyser, with two vents, erupting up to 300’. Its eruptions are unpredictable, ranging from 3 days to 50 years (between 1911 and 1961). It does have minor eruptions of 10 to 15 feet much more frequently. Since 2018, it has been erupting more often. In 2023, it erupted 9 times and in 2024 it has erupted 4 times, with an average of 49 days between eruptions. Its last eruption was on July 15th, so we were in the window to see it erupt, but no luck. We did see the Ledge Geyser spout a tall column of steam (we may have missed its eruption) and the cute little Vixen geyser did some spitting as we walked by.
Our last stop for the day was Mammoth Hot Springs, in the Parks’s northwest corner. This area of the park has unique travertine terraces caused by hot springs that rise up through limestone, dissolve the calcium carbonate, and deposit the calcium that makes the terraces. Pretty neat!
On our way back from Mammoth Hot Springs, Helen was able to take a photo of a Mountain Goat up on a cliff, near the road. I bet it is very well camouflaged once the snow arrives! But then, it does keep its predators (bears and wolves) at bay by staying up in the higher elevations.
And lastly, here are a few other pictures taken at Yellowstone by Greg & Helen’s awesome camera.
Well, that wraps up our visit to Yellowstone National Park. We easily could have stayed a week or longer, there is so much more we did not see. At least we got to see the highlights of the park. Amazing!
We have arrived at nearby Grand Teton National Park. Thanks for following along.
Those hot springs looked so inviting for a soak Brenda, Yellowstone is massive Dave, and I’m really tired of just hanging out in the backseat Murphy.
All of the photos are so beautiful!
It is by far the most amazing and varied park I’ve seen thus far.
Thanks for sharing!