Yellowstone National Park

Driving up from Grand Teton I passed through an area that was burned in the 1988 fire. Things were growing and it was green, but the damage was still quite evident.

After a short stop at Grant Village, I went on up to the Old Faithful area. It was easy to see that it is a very popular stopping place. There were hundreds of people sitting out in the hot sun, some of them waiting for over an hour for the next eruption. I spent most of the time in the shade, it was much easier to handle. The eruptions themselves were worth seeing, some more than others. One I saw near sunset was very nice, with some interesting shades of colors form the sun.

I spent the night at a cabin in Canyon Village. It was not at all fancy, but it was clean and quiet, all I really needed. The next day I was up and looking at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The north rim was closed while they are making changes to it, so everyone that wanted to see the sights had to go to the south side. The views were great, but I wish I had time to walk some of the trails to get lower in the canyon.

Then it was driving south through Hayden Valley to see the bison herds and a few of the other sights along the Yellowstone River. Part of the fun of watching the bison was seeing how all the tourists reacted to the bison. Especially when they would wander across the road in front of the cars.

When I stopped at Sulphur Cauldron, I thought I saw a bird flying down on the Yellowstone River. So after taking a few pictures of the cauldron, I went down toward the river to edge of a small cliff and watched. After a few minutes I caught a glimpse of the bird, a bald eagle that was doing some fishing. I was hoping for a picture of him actually striking, but he didn't cooperate. I was just leaving when he finally changed perches, then I waited a bit longer, and was able to get a few pictures of him at a little closer range. But after 40 minutes, I had to head out to see more sights.

I then went north heading for Mammoth Hot Springs by way of Tower Falls. Towers Falls was nice, but the trail was not completely open. There was a lot of nice scenery, especially looking east over the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Mammoth Hot Springs had some interesting sights, and a museum in the Visitor Center dealing with the establishment of the National Park. Unfortunately having to do some traveling meant I did not have time to explore much of the Hot Springs. I just did the driving tour of the Upper Terraces, which adds the Lower Terraces to the list of things I need to do later.



Lewis River
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Lewis River
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Old Faithful
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Old Faithful
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Old Faithful
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Old Faithful
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Old Faithful
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Grand Canyon
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Grand Canyon
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Grand Canyon
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Grand Canyon
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Grand Canyon
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Grand Canyon
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Grand Canyon
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Hayden Valley
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Tower-Roosevelt
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Tower-Roosevelt
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Mammoth Hot Springs
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Mammoth Hot Springs
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Mammoth Hot Springs
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Mammoth Hot Springs
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Created by Tom Brincefield on September 23, 2008