Cody, WY to Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone is a place where you can go a thousand times and
there is always something amazing to see.
We both have been there a number of times, but it is always
special. The morning was total blue sky,
and lovely weather. When we stopped for
Patti’s coffee (an important morning ritual if we are not in a hotel), we saw
that the overnight temperature had been 34 degrees. We both knew if felt a little nippy….but we
were mostly pretty snug in our van.
We took our photo at the Yellowstone National Park sign
(something that we highly recommend to travelers…you HAVE to take a photo of
the park sign, preferable with you in it to show that you were really there).
Not too long after entering the park (which
was the very first of all our national parks, which was dedicated in 1872….)
you drive into the calderda.
This is the
remnants of a huge volcanic eruption,
thousands of years ago.
The
Yellowstone volcano is still there and active, which is what causes so many
geothermal activities to be happening throughout the park.
They think it won’t have a major eruption
again for 10,000 years, so nothing to worry about in the immediate future.
We were able to catch a morning ranger talk (another thing
we always recommend).
This one gave a
lot of background about the park and the features there, as well as putting the
whole area in a historic context.
The
West Thumb area, a bay in Yellowstone Lake, which is where we were, was once
the most famous part of Yellowstone Park, much more famous than Old
Faithful.
This was THE place that all
the rich travelers wanted to be.
There
they had the chance to take fancy boat cruises, and do an activity known as
“hook and cook”.
In this, you catch a
fish in the huge Yellowstone Lake, and then while it is still on your line, you
drop the fish into a geyser where it would cook while you watch.
Sounds pretty amazing….but people got hurt,
they hurt the geysers, and the fish picked up arsenic and mercury from the
geysers.
A lose, lose all the way
around.
But still, sound fun, and we
loved looking at the photos.
Following lunch, it was time for Old Faithful to erupt.
There is nothing like waiting with a couple
thousand other people for Mother Earth to send up boiling hot water into the
air, pretty much on cue.
They are able
to predict when it will come within a twenty-minute window.
So we saw it (and then later saw it a second,
bonus time).
We then walked around the Old Faithful Geyser Basin and saw
many other geysers and mudpots, and fumerals…it is truly amazing that all of
this heat comes rushing out of the ground.
We talked to a volunteer who spends time observing the geysers and
answering questions.
This is quite an
undertaking, having some many curious visitors around.
We walked quite a ways to get to Dick’s favorite,
The Morning Glory Pool.
How glorious it
was, with brilliant colors!
Later afternoon found us needing to go find a campsite for
the night. There were none available in
the park itself, but we were hopeful to find one just outside the park near
West Yellowstone in a National Forrest Campground. The first one we tried was entirely filled,
with over 100 sites all taken. The
helpful camp host suggested that we drive another 5 miles down the road (taking
some very off the beaten path roads.)
There we found a lovely site at Rainbow Point Campground, where we
settled in for the night.
The evening ended with some excitement when the neighbors, a
couple of campsites over, noticed that one of the trees over their campsite
seemed to have a split in it and when the wind blew it created a couple inch
gap.
When they brought this to the camp host’s
attention and moved sites, it was determined that the tree was so rotten it
needed to be taken down tonight…so a couple guys with chainsaws came right over.
The ground shook when it fell, and when they
sawed through the stump, the tree just crumbled.
Luckily it got to be entertainment rather
than tragedy falling on the two small girls, the tent or their car.
Dick spent quite some time watching the
chainsaw action, and talking with the workers who skillfully dealt with this
tree.
Oh the excitement of camping!
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only
one page.”
―
Augustine of Hippo
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