elk – Meanderings & Mind Munchies

On Wednesday, we headed to the Lamar Valley, where a lot of wildlife at Yellowstone National Park hangs out.

I don’t feel a strong need to see animals in their natural habitat, but Greg enjoys it. I was basically along for the ride and to see the scenery.

And look at the scenery!

I did not edit this photo other than to crop it. Aren’t those mountains gorgeous?

This photo is quite representative of the Lamar Valley.

Pronghorn. We saw them a couple of different times.

Since Greg was driving and my eyesight is not good enough to pick out tiny little animals far in the distance, we relied on crowds of parked cars to identify where the wildlife was.

This crowd of folks standing on a hill were looking at a herd of bison and a family of wolves.

I don’t have good pictures of the bison or the wolves because they were too far away to capture on camera. One really needed a high-powered set of binoculars to see them, which we did not have. However, some of the folks who did were kind enough to let us look through theirs.

I often have to take my photos through the windshield of the car because Greg is so focused on his driving that he doesn’t hear me express interest in pulling over to take a picture until it is too late. But I got lucky with this photo (above).

Greg had turned off the car so that he could get out and take a photo of a herd of bison across the street. Unfortunately, he left the windows open and this mother bison with her calf started wandering in my direction. At one point, she got so close I was afraid she’d stick her head in the window. I was scrunching down and trying to make myself look as invisible as possible!

Over the course of the day, we got to see black bears, pronghorn, bison, elk, and wolves.

After Lamar Valley, we headed back to Tower Roosevelt. The plan had been to eat lunch at the lodge there. Greg’s fishing captain had recommended it. Unfortunately, they were closed for the season.

The photo below is of Petrified Tree (a short detour from Tower Roosevelt). It is 50 million years old.

Next, we headed to Calcite Spring. I had been wondering why I was still smelling sulfur since I hadn’t seen any steam rising anywhere. I didn’t wonder any longer after I saw the geyserite on the walls of this gorge.

This photo was taken looking in the other direction from the photo above. Can you see the line of basalt columns near the top of the cliff on the left? Very cool.

Still at Calcite Spring, just further down the trail.

On the way back to Tower Fall, we stopped to take some photos of this basalt cliff. The size of the cars should give you some idea of how massive this thing was.

Our next stop was Tower Fall, where we had lunch and ice cream floats at the general store followed by a walk to the Tower Falls overlook.

Then we took the Tower Falls Trail down to another overlook. Greg stayed there while I followed the trail all the way down to the bottom of the gorge.

Greg (in the light blue shirt), patiently waiting for me to finish taking pictures.

Then looking in the other. Greg told me that while he was watching, this fly fisherman caught two fish.

And another photo taken from around the corner. A storm was moving in. Hence, the dark clouds.

After Tower Fall, we headed back in the direction of the campground.

We detoured to view the Virginia Cascades, but we were unable to stop and take pictures. The road was barely wide enough for the car. One side was a rock cliff, and the other was a steep drop off into the river below. It was edged with temporary cement barriers that wouldn’t have done much to keep us from tumbling over the sides into the river far below. I was terrified.

We did get to see the cascades, which were impressive, but I wasn’t willing to find a spot to pull over and take photos.

On Monday, we headed to Mammoth Hot Springs. Since it is a good distance from where we are staying in West Yellowstone, we had another early start.

That meant I got to enjoy another foggy morning! Who knew I would find fog so enthralling?

I’m pretty sure that this is fog, but it may have been drifting steam from one of the hot springs in the area.

By the time we arrived in Mammoth Hot Springs, the geography had changed dramatically! It was no less beautiful, though.

Our first stop was the visitor center. This bull elk was hanging out on the lawn in front of the visitor center, bugling for his does.

When we first arrived, he was lying down. I think he finally got tired of waiting for the does to show up, so he stood up and started hollering for them.

The photo below shows Mammoth Hot Springs from a distance. All that white is siliceous sinter, otherwise known as geyserite. To me, it looks like a mound of dirty snow.

And this is what it looks like close up.

We started by driving through the Upper Terrace before parking the car and walking the boardwalk of the Lower Terrace.

This pile of geyserite is still venting steam, although it is a little hard to see from this photo.

The formation shown in the photo below is what makes Mammoth Hot Springs unique. These are called travertine terraces.

This is what they look like close up.

And from further away.

After leaving Mammoth Hot Springs

We did so much after leaving Mammoth Hot Springs that I’m going to post the photos with captions and leave it at that.

A hike to Wraith Falls. I enjoyed the 1/2-mile hike significantly more than I enjoyed the falls!

The Golden Gate (the names for things here are really weird)

Obsidian Cliff. I have a close-up of the cliff, but I liked this photo better.

Roaring Mountain. I will never get over geysers and steam vents coming out of mountains.

Terrace Springs. In the morning, the steam rising off the water is an impressive sight.

Firehole Falls, accessed via Firehole Canyon Drive.

Looking in the other direction from Firehole Falls. (Firehole Canyon Drive had some truly impressive views. Unfortunately, there was no place to pull over and take photos.)

Fountain Paintpots. This geyser was the most active one I’ve seen so far.

This is what happens to lodgepole pines when they are immersed in the runoff from geysers.

On our way back to the campground, we experienced our first true bison traffic jam. The park rangers eventually showed up to scare the bison off the road.

There’s always at least one idiot in the crowd…

It was a great day, at least for me.

By the time we arrived back at our campsite, Greg’s normal equanimity was experiencing some tatters around the edges. Between the stress of driving on winding narrow mountain roads, walking thousands of steps, and sightseeing, he was exhausted. (I think he has also had his fill of geysers, hot springs, and steam vents to last a lifetime.)

Tuesday will be a less intense day.