We are on our way to Yellowstone. The weather is lousy. It was raining when we left Ennis around 10:30. The temperature in Ennis was around the mid-40’s.
About 50 miles outside of Ennis on US287 there is a lake called Quake Lake. This lake was created by an earthquake in 1959 that caused an entire mountainside to come down and block up the Madison River. As you drive along today, you can see how huge this slide was. The only changes made to the landscape since the slide is the recovery of the highway and the opening that was cut to allow the Madison River to flow out. The dead tops of trees stick out of the lake along the sides. They give the area an eerie sort of feeling. Mike says he thinks he read that there was a town that was either covered by the slide or the waters that backed up quickly. I really need to check the internet to see if there is any information out there on Quake Lake. Now that I have seen the slide area and lake, I know it would be an interesting read.
A bit farther along US287, there is a dam and another large lake with several small housing villages along the shore. The weather has changed to snow and there is ice on the lake. There are a few hearty souls out fishing. I like the guy who has his fishing lines in the water and is sitting in his truck watching the lines. I guess it is kind of cold to stand out there on a day like today, but his desire to fish is great.
As we came to the intersection of US 287 and the road to Yellowstone, we had to stop because there was a herd of wild buffalo out in the middle of the road. I was super excited to see them. The ranger had the traffic stopped in three directions. Just when I thought it could not get any better, three rangers rode up on horseback and corralled the buffalo through a gate onto rangeland. It was just like in the old west with cowboys on horses!
We drove on through the small town of West Yellowstone and turned into the park. It was snowing like crazy. The ranger said they are expecting several inches of show today. I guess this was not the best time to visit Yellowstone weather wise, but there not a lot of people here this time of year and that is nice. We only drove a mile or less when we saw our first wild animals inside Yellowstone. There was a heard of buffalo in the road and several elk along the side of the road. Just a bit further, we saw another heard of buffalo with lots of calves.
I should have mentioned that the countryside is still scarred from the forest fire that ravaged this park in either 1988 or 89. New trees are growing, but the massive fire damage can still be seen everywhere. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be here and see the fire raging.
The Gibbon River runs along the road from the west entrance. Water levels are high here and the meadows are saturated. It almost looks like swampland. Our visibility of the landscape was limited by the snowfall. We saw several more buffalo and elk along our way. They are skinny (according to Mike). The winter is hard on them and they are seeking out food in the lower areas. Mike says that by this fall, they will be much fatter as they store up fat to carry them through the harsh winter here in WY.
We had to travel almost 50 miles once inside Yellowstone before we came to Fishing Bridge Campground. The elevation at the campground is right at 8,000 feet. This is the only campground in Yellowstone with electric hookups. With the temperature expected to dip below freezing, we needed electric to run our ceramic heaters. We could use our gas furnace, but we try to save the propane when we can. Besides, I am not much on “true” roughing it. I like my modern conveniences here in the wilderness.
I fixed us a bite of lunch and then we headed off to see Old Faithful. It is 39 miles from Fishing Bridge to Old Faithful. Yellowstone Lake was on our left as we went toward Old Faithful. It is a huge lake. I could not see all the way across the lake for a long ways. I guess the length of the lake is at least 20 miles because it was beside us of most of our way to Old Faithful. The sad thing is that the lake is still frozen over so we won’t get to see the color of the water. I’m sure it is just beautiful in the summer.
Old Faithful only erupts every 90 +/- minutes and we got there with 40 minutes to spare so we went into the Old Faithful lodge and walked around. The lodge is an old log building with rustic fireplaces and tall ceilings. There is a huge sitting room where you can relax while you are waiting to see Old Faithful erupt. They have a cafeteria and a couple of places to get snacks as well as a gift shop off the sitting room. We had time to walk around the gift shop and get cup of hot chocolate before going outside to see the eruption. It was snowing so hard that even with our rain jackets on over our coats, we were cold. We took umbrellas and they helped keep the blowing snow from hitting us in the face.
I’ll have to admit that the eruption of Old Faithful was not what I was expecting. It was actually very un-exciting. I don’t know if some eruptions are better than others or not, but this one was not much. We saw steam come out in puffs, but not anything shooting up high in the air. It might be that the wind was blowing so hard that as the steam came out, it got blown sideways instead of shooting up. I wish we could have seen it erupt again to see if the next eruption was more exciting, but we did not want to wait another 90 minutes for the next eruption.
On the drive back to the campground, we stopped at one of the waterfalls next to the road. They have had a lot of snow this year and the rivers are very high making the waterfalls spectacular. The water crashing down on the rocks below sounds much like rumbling thunder.
We also stopped at a couple of places to see the mud pits that boil up out of the ground and some places where there is sparkling clear water boiling up. It is funny to go along in all this snow and see steam rising out of the ground. There are quite a few places along the edge of Yellowstone Lake where steam is rising. Mike and I both commented on there being openings under the lake. I bet there are places on the lake that never freeze because of the heat from the vents under the lake. I guess I should ask someone.
We got back to the campground around 6:30pm and it was snowing like crazy. I took the dogs out about 10:30 and I bet we had gotten several inches of snow. Mike stuck a bottle of wine in the snow to chill it. This was a trick we learned in CO the first year we were there skiing.
May 22, 2008 - Continuation of trip to Yellowstone
Today, we started out around 9am for a day of sightseeing. We are limited in where we can go due to the snow. Most of the walkways to the river and lake are not cleared. At least it has stopped snowing and we can see some of the scenery.
Our first stop today was to see several mud volcanoes. It is interesting to see mud boiling up out of the ground or out of the side of the mountain. Mike commented that I could take a mud bath - I think I’ll pass. I don’t know that I could get pass the rotten egg smell of the sulfur. Plus there are signs that say the temp is a bit higher than I would prefer.
Next we stopped to see the upper Yellowstone Falls. Talk about BIG water - these power of these falls is created not only by the sheer drop, but by the narrowing of the river by rocks that cut the width of the river by about half. The upper falls are not the tallest falls we have seen on our trip, but they sure are mighty.
Our next stop was at the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. I did not realize that there was such a place until yesterday. Mike said something about the Yellowstone Grand Canyon and I read about the area in the information we got when get came into the park. This canyon is really something to see. I think the sign at the canyon said that the distance across is up to 4,000 feet and the depth is up to 2,000 feet. You can see and hear the Yellowstone River rumbling along the bottom of the canyon.
A bit further down the road, we stopped and viewed the lower falls of the Yellowstone River. The viewpoint was from way up above the falls, but the sight was magnificent. The lower falls are much taller than the upper falls. Our viewing vantage point of the lower falls gave us an panoramic view of the falls and the into the canyon. We were also able to see an Osprey nest up at the top of one of the finger cliffs in the canyon.
We pulled out onto the main road and immediately saw cars stopped up ahead. Here in Yellowstone, this means that someone has spotted some wildlife. We slowed down and got to see our first wolf. He was just a 100 yards or so up a hill. I’m surprised someone spotted him because he blended in so well with the landscape. While we were taking pictures, he moved across the hillside and onto the snow. He stood out better against the white snow and we got some great pictures. Our next critter was just up the road a few hundred yards. We came around a curve and a coyote was right beside the road. I got a couple of great shots of him as well.
We took a route toward Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance of Yellowstone. We had no idea what a treat was in store for us. The hot springs area is a large land section on the side of a mountain that has large springs of hot water and minerals that have built up over time. The colors are beautiful shades of beige, brownish oranges and turquoise. I believe the tall mounds of these minerals are called plumes. There is a road that allows you to drive around the area and numerous places to park and get out and walk on the boardwalks to get closer looks at these springs. The wind had picked up when we were there and it was too cold for us to walk far. So, we mostly viewed this area by car. We did get some pretty good snapshots to add to the blog.
From Mammoth Hot Springs, we could see what we thought was a village down at the bottom of the mountain. It turned out to be old Fort Yellowstone. The buildings we were seeing were some of the old barracks plus a visitor center and a newer lodge. Our drive down the mountain took us through this fort area and then to the North Entrance gate to Yellowstone. I learned that the North Entrance has historically been the entrance that most people use to come into the park. There is a monument arch here that gives the date of the dedication of the park.
By this time in our tour, it had started to snow pretty hard. As we went back up the mountain, the visibility became more and more limited and the snow began to stick to the windshield and the roads. It was a wet snow and even though it was sticking, we did not have any issue with traction. We saw a couple of buffalo at several different spots along the way. We were surprised to see that the wolf we saw earlier in the day was still sitting in basically the same spot on our return. About a mile or two from where we were to turn into our campground, we saw a number of cars stopped. We knew this meant that there was an animal up ahead. It was a black bear. The bear was back a ways into the woods and was just walking along as if no highway or cars were around. It even pulled some leaves off the branches of a tree. One time, it turned and headed toward the road. We thought it was going to come much closer to us, but it turned again and headed back away from us and up the hill. Mike and I both tried to get some pictures, but they did not come out well. The trees and the distance were an issue.
The only disappointment for me was not seeing a moose. I wanted to see one last year on our trip to Alaska, and I did not. I had hoped to see one here, and I have not. Mike says that there is still tomorrow on our trip out and to Jackson Hole, WY. He has seen them in Jackson Hole in past years. I’m crossing my fingers for good luck for a sighting tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment