We entered Yellowstone National Park via the northeast entrance and bison peppered the valley while spectators peppered the road. I’ve seen so many bison lately, I wondered if they were waiting on a bear to run through the herd…it didn’t seem like a very spectacular event to me especially since they were generally far away. Then I saw a line of them cross the river. I guess people were waiting for them to cross the water like people wait for wildebeest to cross the river in Africa.
Soda Butte, a travertine (calcium carbonate) mound, poked up above the grassy valley. It was formed more than a century ago by a hot spring. Only small amounts of hydrothermal water and hydrogen sulfide gas flow from what once was a prolific spring.
The road followed aside beautiful Soda Butte Creek before we reached the Tower-Roosevelt Junction where we stopped nearby to see a petrified tree. The petrified tree is a redwood indistinguishable from the redwoods of California today. It’s hard to believe Yellowstone was once home to a warmer, damper climate. The tree was swallowed by volcanic eruptions and abundant silica in the volcanic flow plugged living cells before the tree could rot.
After visiting the tree, we arrived at Tower Fall a few short miles away. Tower Fall began as a low ledge at a junction of two different bedrocks. The rock at the brink of the fall is harder than the rock downstream. At one time a channel of soft rock around a streambed stood where the Tower Stream now plummets to a pool below.
We left Tower Fall and took the loop 19 miles past Mt. Washburn, through meadows and burnt forest, and by prime grizzly bear country (although I didn’t see one) to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone where the Yellowstone River has carved a magnificent gorge. Trails along the rim lead to the brink of the Lower Falls and the Upper Falls, two intense cascades. The force of the water pouring over the ledge was dizzying. From afar, the view – breathtaking!
From the falls we cruised another 16 miles through the meadows that are supposed to be home to moose and elk (didn’t see any). A bunch of people were pulled over to see an immature bald eagle feasting on a bison carcass, though. It was so far away; however, even with a 300 zoom the bird was about a centimeter in my lens…I kept going. I moved onto LeHardy’s Rapids, spawning grounds for the cutthroat trout.
By midday, we arrived at Grant Village to find a campsite…wanted to make sure I secured one before the weekend. The campsite was right on Yellowstone Lake, the largest, highest mountain lake in North America measuring 14 by 20 miles. A lovely, groomed path follows the perimeter and it is within 100 feet of the pavement, so Petey got to enjoy the scenery too.
After Petey’s walk and dinner, we took an evening game drive in hopes to spot a moose or a bear. On the way, the bison interfered and boy was the big guy snarling…grunting at VANilla, sticking out his tongue. I started to wonder if he could tip VANilla over. I was in a precarious position surrounded by cars and bison! It started to get a bit frustrating driving the pace of a bison walk, but eventually they moved off the road, and I made a short, stinky stop due to the sulphur at Mud Volcano and Dragon’s Mouth Spring. A park visitor around 1912 named Dragon’s Mouth Spring for the water that surges from the mouth of the cave like lashing of a dragon’s tongue. The Mud Volcano blew itself apart around 1872. Now it is a pool of muddy, bubbling water.
We continued further north to the same area, Hayden Valley, known for wildlife where I finally spotted, along with 100 other visitors, a grizzly mama with two cubs across the river. They moved quickly. I sped VANilla up and squeezed in for a parking spot a handful of times, and I hardly ever got a good shot from the front. When I had the angle the sage brush or hills would be in the way. I did get a few of them in the clearing which was very exciting. I only wish it were a bit lighter outside and I was a bit closer…had to resort to Photoshop again. Regardless, I enjoyed watching them lope through the meadow. ETB
so amazing ! Glad you’ve gotten to see so much wildlife !
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