Wyoming (Yellowstone)  

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Starting on August 14, 2002, 5:01:32 PM

Actually before we arrived at Yellowstone we stopped at a dam just past Cody, WY. The wind blowing through the canyon walls was amazingly strong. At times it almost sounded like a train in the distance as it whistled through the rocks.

We tried to enter the park on the first day but found that all the campgrounds were full so we backtracked about 14 miles to a campground outside of the park. Just a reminder, if you ever plan to visit Yellowstone be sure to call in advance and make reservations if you plan on staying in the park overnight. However, if you begin early enough, you can make it all the way around the park within one day, as we did. But with all thee is to see you could easily spend a whole week there.

In our campground outside the park we made ourselves comfortable and went down to the river to take a dip, and yes, the water was not much warmer than freezing.

 

The canyon walls around us and along the river were pretty impressive. With tall pillars riddled with holes they made a great refuge for birds.

 

Small wild flowers grow all over the place.

   

Finally in the park we quickly found a camp sight for that evening ad began our tour of the park.

The first thing we came to was the huge Yellowstone Lake.  

 

Then we visited a hot springs thermal area. With all the volcanic action in the park there are hot springs, geysers, and  thermal areas everywhere. The whole park seems to be unstable but the fact that it has maintained this state all this time amazes me. Although these pools looked so very comfortable the water was sometimes at boiling point while containing various forms of acid that would, and has, severely burned people in the past.

 

Each pool seemed to have a color all its own. Like many of the rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes, throughout the park, they all had a variety of colors that made for a very impressive display.

 

Around the edges of the pools you could see insects such as this dragonfly here. You could also see quite a number of dead ones that wandered too close to the heat and died.

Some places had raised, wooden, walkways as the ground was sometimes unstable and new boiling sites might pop up at any time.

 

Then, of course, we could miss it and had to see it. Yep, that's right, "Old Faithful". I had forgotten and thought that this geyser blew off "every hour, on the hour." But that isn't quite true. This things actually blows off approximately every 90 minutes. Whatever that case may be it always, does, blow off, faithfully each time.

 

Of course I was a little skeptical about this whole thing and thought that there was something a little fishy about this geyser thing. So I did a little exploring to find out if there was something going on. After a little prying and trespassing I made my way through the woods a little ways and found this guy looking at his watch just before the geyser went off and then al of the sudden he started pumping like crazy.

This was a good treat. This elk was grazing right on he side of the road for a while. I got a few pictures before it crossed the road and ran off into the woods.

The animals in the park obviously see quite a few people and get accustomed to their presence. Much like this bird here. One just like this one cleaned up our campground of all crumbs and pieces of fallen food. Quite bold it came within about a foot of me.

 

More elk out in the distance also attracted many drivers along the highway. So many things out there to see that I just never even captured. So many things I have seen that I never had time to get the camera out. Like driving down the highway and watch an Osprey flying above. Or the quick glimpse of a mule deer as it bounds across the road and off into the deep woods. Or the handful of bison grazing out in the field was after dusk and way too dark for a camera.

Then scenery is always nice, it never runs off. Well, not normally.

On down the park, pushing our time, we barely got to these waterfalls before it got dark.

 

Just like a postcard the images of these two most popular falls in the park, are so awesome they almost don't even look real.

 

Then came the sunset as I enjoyed capturing.

 

A little playing with the camera and a campfire makes for an interesting color combination.

  

Awaking in the next morning we left the chipmunks to take care of the camp site and headed south to the Grand Tetons.

 

 

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