Dino country

Garry and I spent our final morning in Yellowstone Park exploring the Upper Geyser Basin. Unfortunately none of its most impressive formations were scheduled to erupt.  Instead we had to content ourselves with a selection of steaming mounds. However, some of the sinter cones we saw were several metres high and the actual geyser's throat frighteningly large.  They must present some awesome geothermal displays when they're active.

As we completed our morning stroll we were lucky enough to see Old Faithful erupt one final time. That's a total of seven eruptions for me.

Our route towards Bozeman took us through the spectacular Gallatin River valley.  The road wound its way through some stunning gorges and wonderfully unspoilt landscape. We eventually reached Bozeman mid-afternoon where we made a very satisfying stop at the Museum of the Rockies.

The museum houses some of the world's rarer dinosaur fossils. It also sits on a state university campus where many of these discoveries are researched and catalogued.  As a result, the museum includes bleeding edge insights on the life and nature of dinosaurs.  It's ideally located as the surrounding region is considerable a scientific lodestone of fossils.

Perhaps one of the university's most extraordinary discoveries was a fossil that actually included preserved tissues and blood vessels.  This one discovery has turned established theories about fossilization completely on its head.  Normally, no natural tissue remains once fossilization occurs.  After millions of years of burial we didn't it was possible for these biological artifacts to survive.

The museum also has a fascinating display of skulls from the same dinosaur species at different stages of development. A row of fossils from juvenile to mature adult show how the skull grows over time before its cranial plates fuse (much as the human skull does).  The line up is very cool.  As is the largest T-Rx skull ever found.

Old Faithful

The world’s largest concentration of geysers can be found in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone Park. The local trail guide lists at least 13 active geysers, plus another four irregular and unpredictable geysers. Yellowstone is one of only five locations worldwide where geysers can be found. Garry and I have previously seen geysers at three of these locations; New Zealand, Chile and Iceland. The fifth location is on the remote Russian peninsular of Kamchatka.

I recall seeing the Pohutu geyser in Rotorua as a young man.  The geyser and its neighbouring hot springs were fascinating. However, I’d never really appreciated just how unique this childhood experience was until recently. Despite our best efforts Garry and I still find it hard not to chuckle every time an American tourist squeals in delight at the sight of bubbling mud or a steaming cliff.

Tonight we’ve based ourselves in Old Faithful Inn, the park’s first modern tourist lodge. It opened in June 1904. The original structure has since been expanded twice; once in 1913 and again in 1927. It’s an extraordinary building. The entire building has been constructed from local pine logs. It’s main lobby rises more than 76 feet, the height of the mature logs that support its roof.

In the middle of the lobby rises an enormous chimney which vents two equally impressive fireplaces. An incredible 500 ton of local volcanic rock was used in its construction. A series of mezzanine floors encircle the lobby, each trimmed with golden pine banisters. Even the roof is constructed from half round pine logs. I’m sure none of our photos will do it justice.

The lodge offers free 30 minute tours of the building throughout the day.  We joined one to learn more about the building's incredible history and its maintenance.  We were fascinated to learn how the entire hotel is closed up for winter.  It's ground floor windows are boarded up and the building is left to it fate while almost five feet of snow falls.

Outside the lodge, a path takes you directly to an arc of seating in front of Old Faithful’s white sinster cone. This geyser is known around the world. It erupts with a high degree of reliability every 90 minutes or so. Each performance lasts up to five minutes, with jets of water shooting as high as 55 metres. The performance attracts a huge crowd who encircle the geyser's white sinter dome up to four people deep.  Since we arrived I’ve watched it erupt three times. It’s a delight to watch.

Garry and I were also fortunate enough to see the White Dome geyser erupt earlier in the day in the Lower Geyser Basin. We arrived minutes before the show began. We noticed water beginning to bubble over its five metre high cone and decided to linger. We weren’t disappointed. In no time at all a white jet of super-heated water was blasting into the sky.

The visitor’s centre at Old Faithful posts predictions for five local geysers in addition to Old Faithful. Some are less accurate than others. For example, the largest of the regular geysers, Grand Geyser, is predicted within 90 minutes of its actual eruption while other predictions have a window of plus or minus two hours or more.

Other highlights today included a quick return visit to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Centre. We wanted to catch the animals being more active after breakfast. They duly obliged. We saw three active wolves and five bears. One bear even caught a live fish from the pond in its enclosure. Garry loved every minute of it.

The Grand Prismatic Springs were another memorable sight. This is Yellowstone’s largest hot spring and easily its most dramatic. An array of temperature tolerant thermophile bacteria live along the edge of its steaming pool. Their colonies create vivid rings of yellow, green and orange that constant perfectly with the pool’s deep blue depths. It’s easy to see why the spring has become Yellowstone’s iconic poster image.

UPDATE: 7 September
The moon is almost full at the moment.  This meant Garry and I were able to venture out after sunset to watch old Faithful erupt in the moonlight.  We witnessed one eruption before going for dinner, then returned shortly after dinner to watch a second.  It's simply mesmerizing to watch this geyser do its thing; again and again.
 

Hot stuff!

Yellowstone National Park sits atop a dormant volcano. Almost half the park’s surface area consists of a giant volcanic caldera almost 75kms across. It last erupted in an earth-shattering explosion more than 640,000 years ago. Its ash fell across half of the continental USA, while in the park itself the ash fell so thickly massive cliffs were created.

Today, geothermal activity can be found throughout the park. Perhaps the most famous of these hotspots is Old Faithful geyser. Garry and I are off to see this wonder tomorrow. Today we had to content ourselves with the less impressive Norris geyser basin.

It’s home to the park’s largest geyser, the Steamboat geyser. It erupts infrequently. When it does, its plume rises more than 91 metres into the air. It last erupted in 2005. That is, until two nights ago when it erupted again in a massive blast. When we arrived this morning, the vent was still blasting jets of superheated steam.

Nearby we also witnessed the Constant geyser in action. It erupted twice while we were there, albeit for 10-15 seconds at a time. We waited for some of its larger neighbours to burst into life. However, we were out of luck. The remained stubbornly silent. Although in a distant corner we did manage to see a small venting geyser roaring away.

While the geysers were a bit of a disappointment, our first sight of the day wasn’t. We visited the Grand Canyon’s north rim where you can walk right up to the rim of its iconic falls. We were lucky enough to have the brink of Upper Falls to ourselves for almost ten minutes. Without a doubt though, the highlight of the day was Lookout Point. This overlook offered a truly postcard-perfect view of Lower Falls in all its splendour.

Return of the wild kingdom

Last night we ventured out at dusk for some wildlife spotting in nearby Hayden Valley. All the guide books tell you this is when animals are most active around Yellowstone - especially at dawn and dusk. We weren’t disappointed. Within minutes of reaching the valley's broad grassy flats we spotted a roving herd of Bison and almost transformed a bounding Chipmunk into road kill.

However the highlight of the evening occured when the herds of Elk came down to the water’s edge to drink and graze. Garry and I were thrilled to see a couple of bucks with their characteristic crown of antlers. Unfortunately, the light was fading and our photos have turned out rather pixilated.

This afternoon we were rewarded with yet another memorable wildlife encounter. Garry spotted a couple of Mule deer standing in roadside bushes. As we pulled over for a closer look the deer decided it was now safe to cross the road. Much to our delight they gingerly stepped on the asphalt and crossed directly in front of us.

This means we’ve now seen Pronghorn (an antelope-like deer), Elk and Mule deer in the park since Wednesday. We’re still hoping to see some bighorn sheep before our vacation ends.

Earlier in the day we enjoyed another unexpected encounter. While visiting the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we spotted an Ospery nest precariously perched atop a narrow rock pillar. We were thrilled as its owner held vigil while we watched.

We spent the remainder of our afternoon in West Yellowstone, just outside the park, at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Centre. The centre is a refuge for injured and orphaned animals no longer able to fend for themselves in the wild. It also houses several bears and wolves conditioned to humans. These animals have lost their fear of humans and persistently venture into towns, campgrounds and the like. The centre takes these animals into captivity to prevent them being shot.

We saw four magnificent Grizzly bears, including Sam, a 450kg bear from Alaska. They show him alone as he’s become rather territorial. He was really was huge, with enormous paws and rather deadly looking claws. As I said to Garry, “I have no idea if bears shit in the woods – but – if I ran into that thing in the wild I certainly would.”

One week gone already?

It's now Friday in the USA.  That means we're approaching the halfway mark of our vacation.  Garry and I cannot believe that a week has already passed.

Our trip is unfolding as planned.  Every day has brought new highlights; some anticipated and some you could never plan for. We've also been blessed with wonderful weather.  It's rained twice since we arrived but on each occasion we were either in transit (and thus didn't care much about the weather) or finishing up for the day.

I've dropped a few photos into this post that didn't make it into the blog on Day Two.  Enjoy.