Yellowstone National Park

Waking up at the rest stop near Sheridan, I began the day driving on Wyoming's great plains, before steadily climbing into the abutting Big Horn Mountain Range that rises from the plains.  To everyone back in Houghton who was complaining about snow... yep, still above car height in the mountains and parts of Yellowstone were no better.

After the mountain climb came the plunge to the intermountain Bighorn River Basin.  Hardly had to press the gas pedal at all for probably an hour.  Finally felt like I had moved west.  All the mountains followed by desert plains was pretty cool.

Got a nice welcome to Cody, WY.  They are proud of two things there, their beef and apparently their women ranchers too.  If I was a different person, may have been more interested in both but decided a cattle woman was too much woman for me.  

Moving through Cody, made a stop at Buffalo Bill Dam to the west of town.  One of the first concrete arch type dams built and at 325 feet tall, the highest when it was first completed.  Head to nps.gov for more information on the dam.  In stopping at the visitor center, stumbled upon the credentials of the  Construction Engineer for the project.  Did things a little different back then.

Buffalo Bill Resivoir, which receives water from the
Shoshone River.

With all my stops, made it to the park later in the day and decided to camp just outside the park.  As I was walking back to the self pay kiosk, the camp volunteer asked me if I would be sleeping in my car and I said no.  His response was, "I would prefer it if ya did.  Because of the bears.  Don't want ta find ya, you know..."  I asked if he had seen any bears recently and responded with a no.  Decided to sleep in the car anyway and avoid any trouble and let me head out early in the morning to Yellowstone. 

So, now to the onslaught of photos.  The first batch are from the park's east entrance, views of Yellowstone Lake, and the drive from West Thumb to Old Faithful.  That is a small fraction but entails about 65 miles of roadway.

Looking across the tip of Yellowstone Lake towards active hot springs.

Lone bison munching away on 
grass along the shores of 
Yellowstone Lake.

Low clouds and bank of fog hovering over the shores of Yellowstone Lake.

During the drive, got to check something off my to do list.  Crossed the continental divide by car.  Have done it by plane plenty of times but first time via ground transportation.  So much snow still on Yellowstone's east side.  

 After driving for a while, finaly made it to Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin.  The next group of photos is just a few from my day spent here.  I recomend having a bike with you while you travel around Yellowstone, especially at the Upper Geyser Basin.  Things can be spread out and having the bike allowed me to see multiple geyser eruptions, which I would not have been able to see otherwise.  

All geyser eruption times are listed on a board in the Old Faithful Visitors Center.  That was my first stop to plan my visit.  Watched Old Faithful but my favorite geyser eruption was Grand Geyser, erupting for nearly 15 minutes with water shooting up to 200 ft!

One of the many little pools in the 
Upper Geyser Basin.  

Grand Geyser eruption behind me.

Another deep Upper Geyser Basin Pool.

Grotto Geyser, one of the more interstingly shaped geysers.
Most of it has eroded away.

After a pretty full day at Upper Geyser Basin, continued on to Madison and stopped at Midway Geyser Basin.  Midway Geyser basin was a hotspot for tourist busses shuttling people around.  My favorite being tourist group, named Sea Gull Holiday had neon yellow buses that were hard to miss.

Panorama of Midway Geyser Basin

One of the larger pools at Midway Geyser Basin.  Wind blowing in the
wrong direction to see the pools clearing which is a shame.

The only pool really visible at Midway Geyser Basin. 

Boardwalks guiding you around the basin.  Lots of small children
running around, wich made me a little nervous.

The overlook at Midway Geyser Basin was
one of my favorite views at Yellowstone

Reached Madison campground later in the evening.  Had to wait in line for a while to register as it is one of two campgrounds open in the park at mid May.  Set up camp and went for a walk along Madison River.  Storm clouds began to billow over the mountains so headed back to camp.  The site next to me was occupied by a nice couple who were trekking from Arizona to Montana for internships.  They had done a lot of world travel but not much in the U.S. and we talked for a while before combining our food resources for dinner.  We became pretty absorbed in conversation and didn't notice an elk about 20 feet from our picnic table.  A couple walking their dog stopped and focused their attention in our direction, which prompted us to say hi and ask if they would like to join us.  The couple just pointed behind and said no thank you.

Got up early and had coffee with my neighbors before heading out to Norris Geyser Basin. On the way, stopped at Gibbon Falls, situated about 10 minutes north of the Madison junction.  Don't be fooled by the photo, the falls tumble about 80 feet to the river below.

Norris Basin is really apocalyptic looking, with an overcast skye accentuating the feeling. Got there early and missed the heavy crowds. True to form, Sea Gull Holiday pulled in and clogged the parking lot with tourists right as I was trying to leave. 

View of basin from southern corner.

The colors in and around geysers are from microbial mats.  These
microbes are named extremophiles for their ability to survive in
very extreme conditions.  These microbes contain chlorophyll, resulting
in their green color.

Here is the reason I liked Norris Geyser Basin the most.  You emerge from
the visitor kiosk with a perfect view of the basin from above.

I continued on to Mammoth Hot Springs.  This area was already packed with people but did manage to snap a few photos and find a couple of terrace trails no one else seemed to be interested in.

Following Mammoth, had my fill of the crowds and was ready to head out towards Bozeman Montana.  Made it about as far as Livingstone before a big storm that had been building hit.  Parked under a gas station awning to ride out the storm and headed into McDonalds for some coffee and wifi.  Hear a lot of people talking about hail damage so seems that I was lucky to miss the worst parts of the storm.  After an hour or two, the storm cleared and finished the trip to Bozeman.