Posts tagged Yellowstone National Park

Miles traveled: 1,464
States: 6 (Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois)
Camp: N/A

What a long haul.

I had planned on getting an early start, as I wanted to take the Beartooth Highway out of the park and the drive was going to take more than 24 hours even if I drove straight through. I woke up at around 4:30 AM to the sound of intense thunderstorms over the park. Figuring I’d rather tear down my camp in the rain than set up the rainfly and then pack up wet gear in a few hours, I rushed to pack everything up as quickly as possible. I figured I may as well get on the road and see if I couldn’t make it to the Beartooth Highway for sunrise.

I had only gotten a few hours of sleep and it was still hours until sunrise, so the drive was very slow and cautious. The road wound through the darkness for miles and my heavy eyelids kept threatening to drop. Rather than risk my safety to be on the Beartooth for sunrise, I decided to stop in Lamar Valley and wait for first light. This provided me with the opportunity to have a quick breakfast and take some great sunrise photos.

Once the sun was up, I headed out for the northeast entrance and the Beartooth Highway. It was so beautiful. Just miles and miles climbing the mountains past lakes, streams, valleys, and even snow, despite the 60+ degree temperature. Near the top of the mountain, I even saw a couple of falcons soaring around the peak.

On the way down from the mountain peak was Rock Creek Vista Point, a scenic overlook and rest area. I stopped for a bit to take in the sights and noticed a bunch of chipmunks running around the area, begging people for food. I got down on a knee to see if the chipmunks would approach me, and one climbed up on my lap. I was able to get a couple of good shots.

I wanted to make it to Badlands to stay for the night, but I was running far too late. Instead, I stopped at Mt. Rushmore just as night was falling, and then decided to try to make it to Sioux Falls before stopping for the night.

The rest of the night’s drive was in complete darkness, with only a big electrical storm to the south to provide any light. I was so exhausted that I started thinking I was seeing mountains around me on the horizon, so it seemed like it was time to get some sleep. I ended up falling asleep in my car in the parking lot of the Highland Travel Plaza in Mitchell, SD.

The morning’s drive was pretty straightforward. No real stops, just a rush to get to Chicago. I arrived around 5 PM and met up with my friends in the hotel bar. We went to a karaoke bar where I ate delicious mac and cheese bites and did a completely awful rendition of Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen.” (Turns out the Save Ferris cover version is a bit different from the original.)

Miles: N/A
States: 1 (Wyoming)
Camp: Bridge Bay Campground, Yellowstone National Park

I had originally planned to leave early in the day and head for Badlands, but the size of Yellowstone had made it difficult to see everything I wanted to. Instead, I extended my camp reservation at Yellowstone for an extra day.

My first full day in the park, I purchased a fishing license. I had initially hoped to learn to fly fish while at the park, but the only guided fly fishing tour was upwards of $400 for one person. Looks like I’ll have to wait to learn. Rather than sulk over the expense of fly fishing, I drove out to Gull Point to fish from shore. The whole experience was rather nerve wracking, as I was out away from my car and a bit worried about running into a bear, but I tried to ignore that fear. Fishing was a total failure, without even a single bite. I wasn’t terribly disappointed, because that’s pretty much what I expected. Without knowing the area and without any sort of guide, I couldn’t expect much success in such a short time.

From Gull Point I continued around the south end of Grand Loop Road, crossing the Continental Divide twice. Shortly after, I stopped at Scaup Lake to take a few more photos. The water was very calm and there was a beautiful reflection of the trees on the water. It wasn’t quite as impressive as Sprague Lake at Rocky Mountain, but it was pretty nonetheless.

Just past Scaup Lake is Old Faithful, which was one of two main attractions I wanted to see that day. When I arrived, Old Faithful was about an hour and a half from erupting. I listened to a short presentation about the mechanics of the geyser, and took some time to walk through the rest of the nearby geyser basin. It’s truly stunning to see so many geothermal features in one area. It really brought to reality the fact that I was standing in the caldera of an active supervolcano. Beyond that, it also made me very grateful at the realization that half of the geothermal features and two-thirds of the geysers in the world are in Yellowstone for us to view and enjoy.

I managed to get a good seat to watch Old Faithful erupt. While it was very cool to see, and even cooler to see that they had predicted the eruption down to the minute, I wasn’t as impressed as I had hoped I would be. Maybe I’d just been spoiled by the rest of my trip, but I didn’t feel the sense of awe I was expecting to.

I took a break for lunch in the cafe at Old Faithful before heading out for what I was most excited to see - Grand Prismatic Spring. More than any of the other geothermal features, Grand Prismatic Spring captivated me. The tremendous size and the vivid colors are just breathtaking. I walked the boardwalk through the area and around the spring to get a good look.

Getting photos was difficult. First, it’s hard to capture such a large feature from ground-level. Second, every now and then a gust of wind would blow steam into my lens and cloud everything up.

As I was getting ready to leave the area, another photographer approached me and told me there was a trail that led to the hilltop just across the spring. According to him and another visitor who joined the conversation, it was a relatively easy hike and gave an unobstructed view of the entire feature. Though my knee was feeling pretty sore from a fall I took on the South Rim Trail the day before, I decided to go for it.

The trail was short, but relatively steep. Fortunately, though, the climb was aided by a number of logs and fallen trees on the way up the slope. Part-way up the climb, someone on their way down commented in passing, “It only gets better the further you go up.” So I climbed the entire way. What a view. Where on the ground you could see some of the color and steam, from the top of the hill you could see everything. All of the colors, the way the deposited minerals create brilliant orange tendrils reaching out from the main pool, the heated water bubbling up from below, all of it. So wonderful.

I spent at least an hour at the top of the hill before continuing on my way. On the road back to camp, a large bird swooped over top of my car, so I stopped to see if I could get some pictures. As the bird circled overhead, thermal soaring above the road, I managed to get a few good shots and feed my “bird nerd” side.

Closer to camp, I was once again stopped by a herd of bison on the road, then by a crowd gathered to watch for the wolves in Hayden Valley. Though we didn’t spot any wolves, I stayed for a couple of hours and talked with some other park visitors. We had a great time talking and watching the other wildlife in the valley.

After that I returned to camp for the night to get some sleep, as I was planning to leave early in the morning to start on the 24 hour drive back to Chicago.

Miles traveled: N/A
States: 1 (Wyoming)
Camp: Bridge Bay Campground, Yellowstone National Park

Woke up just after sunrise and made my way to Yellowstone Lake to take a couple of sunrise shots. Came back to camp for breakfast and then set about deciding what to see during the day.

I decided it would be best to visit the Fishing Bridge area and pick up some supplies at the gift shop before heading up to the northeast section of the main park area. This would take me past the Mud Volcano/Sulphur Cauldron area and up to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Upper and Lower Falls.

The Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron areas were quite cool. I had seen a bit of geothermal feature areas the night before at Beryl Spring, but to see such an expansive field with so many different features was pretty impressive. There were bubbling mudpots, splashing hot springs, and the large, steaming Dragon’s Mouth Spring.

From there I crossed Hayden Valley toward the Canyon and the Yellowstone Falls, but my path was temporarily blocked by a massive herd of bison. Before arriving at the park, I told myself I wasn’t going to be one of those people who stopped his car on the side of the road and freaked out over the bison. 112 photos later I had to admit to myself that I just might be one of those people. It’s hard to comprehend just how huge the bison are until one is walking within a foot of your car. The way I’ve described it to most people as being like the “Welcome to Jurassic Park” scene. It’s almost hard to believe these massive creatures exist.

Once I finally got over the awe of seeing the bison for the first time, I went out to the falls. I walked along the South Rim Trail to Uncle Tom’s Trail. On the way, I slipped and hurt my knee, but decided to go for the 300+ stair walk down to the base of the Lower Falls anyway. It was a great walk and gave a very beautiful view through the Canyon. The climb back up, however, was quite a struggle. 300+ steps climbing 500+ feet is a lot of work on a bad knee.

I checked out the brink and the base of each of the falls before going back to camp. On the way, I stopped again to see the herd of buffalo again. I passed a crowd gathered in Hayden Valley, who were apparently watching the wolves. From what I had heard, they were a long way off and I didn’t figure I would get a good picture, so I decided to pass it by. Shortly after that, a bear was spotted walking in the woods, which I managed to catch for a couple of quick photos. Frighteningly, it was walking in the direction of my campground.

Despite that, I managed to get a decent night of sleep.

Miles traveled: 673
States: 4 (Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming)
Camp: Bridge Bay Campground, Yellowstone National Park

Woke up early to catch the sunrise at Mesa Arch. I was a little slow in getting ready, so I pretty much had to run the trail out to the arch to make it in time. Once out there, I hung out and talked with a couple of other photographers and waited for the sun to make its appearance.

When the sun finally came up, it was a truly beautiful sight. It rose right through the arch, bathing the arch and the canyon below in so many different colors of light. I’m so glad I made the decision to hike out there for the sunrise. It delivered where the sunset definitely did not.

The rest of the day was mostly just driving. One highlight of the trip was noticing “Hillside Letters” on the mountainsides around me through the entire route.

I made it to Yellowstone around 8PM. Before getting to my campsite, I stopped to check out Beryl Spring along the way. It was nice to get a look at the geothermal features on my first day in the park. After that, I spent some time editing photos and checking out the stars before going to sleep.