August 11, 2020 - Yellowstone National Park

Today was a long day, but we saw so much of the park!

We headed off and turned south at Lake Village to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. Located on the south shore, it overlooks Yellowstone Lake which is the largest lake above 8,000 feet elevation in North America. We took both loop trails around the geyser features which was about 1 mile total.

The outer loop takes you along the shore and we could see the Lakeshore Geyser and Fishing Cone. Lakeshore Geyser’s two vents are underwater in the spring and early summer. Once they are exposed, the geyser may splash a couple feet. It has been mostly inactive since 2003.

The picture below is the Fishing Cone. According to legends, mountain men told of a geyser along an alpine lake where one could catch a trout, swing the pole around, dip it into the boiling pool, and cook the fish without taking it off the line!

The cooking on the hook feat became famous after 1870 and visitors to the park often dressed in a cook’s hat and apron to have their pictures taken at the “Chowder Pot”. Anglers often injured themselves while straddling the boiling water and their feet damaged the geyser cone. Fishing is no longer allowed from Fishing Cone. Abyss Pool

The Abyss Pool is one of the deeper hot springs in the park; it descends about 53 feet. It erupted for the first time in recent history in 1987, then was quiet until 1991. The next active period lasted from December 1991 through June 1992. Since then, Abyss has been quiet.

Below is the Black Pool, which, at one time, really was black! Lower water temperatures allowed dark green and brown thermophiles to grow in the pool causing it to appear black. In the summer of 1991, the water temperature rose killing the organisms. Black Pool erupted that summer and several times the following winter. It is now a quiet and beautiful pool!Black Pool

From West Thumb, we headed over to the Old Faithful area with a quick stop at Kepler Cascades. Upon arriving at Old Faithful, we were once again in the minority of people wearing masks throughout the park! Ann and I estimated about 25% of the people wore masks, and there were plenty of people there!We did time it just right – Old Faithful erupted less than ten minutes after we arrived there!We had a picnic lunch after watching Old Faithful then took the Old Faithful Geyser Loop trail, around Geyser Hill, and out to Morning Glory Pool, before swinging back by Daisy Geyser and the Old Faithful parking lot!Doublet PoolDoublet PoolSpasmodic GeyserGrotto GeyserRiverside GeyserRiverside Geyser

Luck was also with us as we approached Riverside Geyser. Its 20-minute eruption is supposed to be one of the most predictable geysers in the park. It started about ten minutes after we got there! The water reaches a height of about 75 feet and arches over the river.

We made it to Morning Glory Pool and just love how beautiful it is.On the way back we took the Daisy Geyser loop and arrived in time to see it spouting!Daisy Geyser

Next stop on the agenda was the Black Sand Basin which you can hike to, but we drove! This basin has the Emerald Pool, Rainbow Pool, and Sunset Lake. Emerald Pool

There was an elk resting in the brush across the field from Emerald Pool. He would NOT turn his head toward the camera – now how rude is that?!!The Sapphire Pool below is in Biscuit Basin and has not erupted since 1991. Gary was most disappointed that we couldn’t soak in it like a hot tub!Jewel Geyser (above), also in Biscuit Basin and erupts every 7-10 minutes!

It was late afternoon by the time we reached Midway Geyser Basin and the Grand Prismatic Spring. You can see the hot water pouring into the Firehole River.I always love seeing the different colors in this spring.

So far we have not seen very many animals in the park which has been disappointing. We spoke with a ranger and he said our best bet to see bison in in the Lamar Valley (very far north and east) or the Hayden Valley. We decided to head toward the Hayden Valley and try out luck. On our way south from Canyon Village we spotted a mountain goat on the hill. And just north of the North Canyon Rim Drive we saw a small herd of elk.We stopped for dinner at one of the pullouts along the Hayden Valley in hopes of spotting bison. Gary brought his camp stove and cooked for us. Dinner was great, but no bison!

Down the road further, we saw more elk along the Yellowstone River.We had our binoculars and were scanning the far hills for bison and saw one lonely bison making his way across the sage. He was too far away to even take pictures of! We did have a good view of these two hawks (I think that’s what they are) in the same tree.We finally spotted a couple bison closer to the river so Ann and I hiked down to see. This guy was lying next to the steam vent on the other side of the river.It wasn’t much of a picture, but we were figuring that beggars can’t be choosers! The sun was starting to set, so back in the truck and heading south we saw one more fellow closer to the road. My feet were definitely tired and Ann’s Fitbit confirmed why – we walked over 9 miles today. It was almost 10pm by the time we got back to our campground. Thank you Gary for driving!