Yellowstone National Park
- Travel with N & M
- Oct 5, 2022
- 13 min read
Updated: Jul 13, 2023
Yellowstone National Park is the first national park in the United States. It is widely held to be the first national park in the world as well. This year Yellowstone's 150th anniversary was celebrated.
Yellowstone National Park sits on top of a dormant volcano and is home to more geysers and hot springs than any other place on earth. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features like geysers, hot springs and mud-pots.
It is located primarily in Wyoming and extends into parts of Montana and Idaho, spans approximately 2.2 million acres making it one of the largest national parks in the US.
You can explore mountains, forests, canyons, rivers and lakes to watch wildlife including bisons, elks, pronghorns, wolves, bears, coyotes and birds.
We did our Yellowstone trip during the summer. We traveled from Houston. Since we were on budget we flew to Denver as the tickets were much cheaper and we rented a car from Denver and drove to Yellowstone from there.
The park has five entrances from North, North East, East, South and West. The drive inside the park consists of 2 loops. The upper loop and the lower loop.
We entered the park from the Eastern Entrance and it was around 3pm. We were staying that night at the Canyon Village inside the park, so we covered the path from the Eastern Entrance to the Canyon Village that evening.
The Lake Area
This is the beautiful Sylvan Lake.
The volcanic chamber under what is now Yellowstone, collapsed roughly 600,000 years ago. This formed the Yellowstone Caldera. Part of that caldera was filled by water and became what is known as Yellowstone Lake. Originally the lake was 200 feet higher than it is today. It reached up into Hayden Valley and to the base of Mount Washburn.
In the heart of Yellowstone's past, present and future lies volcanism. About 2 million years ago, then 1.3 million years ago, and again 640,000 years ago, huge volcanic eruptions occurred here. The latest spewed out 240 cubic miles of debris, ejecting ash as far away as Nebraska and Texas.
Yellowstone Lake is the largest lake in Yellowstone National Park.
This is the Steam Boat point at the YellowStone Lake. Lake bed thermals are not visible from here in the summer, but there are clues on the shore, like steaming shoreline.
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The Indian Pond. Quiet water disguises the site of a hydrothermal blowout. Imagine the scene: tons of rock, steam, and boiling water exploding into the air, leaving the crater that became Indian Pond.
Fishing Bridge on the Yellowstone River was named after the original bridge in 1902 that was a popular fishing spot in the park. Before Fishing Bridge closed to finishing in 1973, visitors fished here elbow to elbow. Regulations were changed when park managers realized that fishing from this bridge was decimating the trout population.
Wildfires
On our way to Yellowstone Lake, on both sides of the road we could see lots of trees that had been burned down from wildfires.
The Yellowstone fires of 1988 together formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park. These are some of the leftovers from that fire, which destroyed 36% of the park, which is about 794,000 acres.
The Mud Volcano Area of Yellowstone
The mud features found here are some of the most acidic in the park. This acidity plays a part in making them different from most hot springs and geysers.
Hydrogen sulfide gas is present deep in the earth at Mud Volcano. Some microorganisms use this gas as an energy source. They help convert the gas to sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock to wet clay mud. Hydrogen sulfide, steam, carbon dioxide, and other gasses explode through the layers of mud.
The pungent odor of rotten eggs is caused by the hydrogen sulfide gas.
Cooking Hillside
A series of shallow earthquakes associated with the volcanic activity in Yellowstone struck this area in 1978. Soil temperatures increased to nearly 200°F (93°C). This hillside experienced increased heat, causing the vegetation to die. The trees on this hillside are cooked by steam.
The Mud Geyser here used to erupt every few hours in 1800. But by 1927 eruptions no longer occurred.
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Churning Caldron
Frothing and fuming as heat and gas rise from Yellowstone's magma chamber, this muddy pool churns and cooks, Shaken again and again by earthquakes, the temperature beneath it rises and falls, transforming the Churning Caldron.
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Mud Volcano
Microorganisms, or thermophiles, use Hydrogen Sulfide gas as a source of energy, and then help turn the gas into sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid breaks down the rock and soil into mud. Various gasses escape through the wet clay mud, causing it to bubble. When iron mixes with sulphur to form iron sulfide, gray and black swirls sometimes appear in the mud.
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Dragon’s Mouth Spring
Dragon’s Mouth Spring boils out of a deep cave. Gasses and steam are released deep in the cave, creating pressure bubbles that explode against the roof of the cave. As this occurs, it creates a kind of booming and gurgling noise that is echoed through the cave and can be heard from the boardwalk. The sound resembles the growling of an animal. Due to the high temperature of the water, large amounts of steam rise from the mouth of the cave, giving the impression of smoke billowing from the mouth of a dragon.
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Sulphur Caldron
Sulphur Caldron is one of the most acidic hot springs in Yellowstone. Sulphur Caldron's turbulent waters have a pH of approximately 1-2, which is similar to car battery acid (Ten times more acidic than lemon juice). Sulphur Caldron sits on the edge of one of the most active areas of Yellowstone's buried volcano. Sulphur-rich gasses rise furiously here, filling Sulphur Caldron with sulfuric acid. Incredibly, this muddy pool is teeming with life.
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Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
It's a canyon which is about 1000ft deep and about 20 miles long. This canyon is special due to its different colors like red, yellow, pink and white. The red color is coming from the iron which is rusting. And there are geothermal activities happening underneath the walls.
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Yellowstone Falls
Yellowstone Falls consist of two major waterfalls on the Yellowstone River. As the Yellowstone river flows north from Yellowstone Lake, it leaves the Hayden Valley and plunges first over Upper Yellowstone Falls and then a quarter mile (400 m) downstream over Lower Yellowstone Falls, at which point it then enters the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which is up to 1,000 feet (304 m) deep.
This is the Lower Falls, plunging 308 ft (93 m), framed by canyon walls.
Here, the volcanic and hydrothermal activities have created the 109 feet (33 m) Upper Falls.
We stayed the night at the Canyon village and at sunrise we went to the Washburn hot spring overlook. After that we went to Hayden Valley to watch wildlife in the early morning.
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Hayden Valley
This valley, centrally located in Yellowstone National Park, is the first place to go to see wildlife in Yellowstone. As you drive along this beautiful, broad valley you are likely to see herds of bisons, scattered elks, and the occasional grizzly bears, and also wolves, coyotes and dozens of bird species call Hayden valley home. The best time to see wildlife is in the early mornings or early evenings.
Grizzly bears may be seen in the spring and early summer preying upon newborn bison and elk calves. Bisons are often seen in the spring all the way through the fall rut. Coyotes and foxes are often seen in the valley. Winter is the best time to spot a wolf.
Bison (Bison bison)
As we were passing by the Hayden Valley we could see herds of Bisons. The American bison symbolize the spirit of the West. Hayden Valley, with its broad expanse of grasses and sedges, has been a home to bisons for thousands of years. In August the valley is the scene of the largest free roaming bison rut that occurs in North America.
For months on end their food is buried. Herbivores face the same relentless winter fate : adapt or starve. To reach sedges and dry grass, bison swing their huge heads back and forth, clearing away the drifts.Life in deep snow has selectively shaped bison anatomy. Above neck and shoulders, large muscles attached to bony spinal projections give the dark heads tremendous excavating power.
Also Bison traffic is a common thing in the Yellowstone roads.
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Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana)
Pronghorn, species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. It can run exceptionally fast, being built for maximum predator evasion through running, and is generally accepted to be the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
The top speed is very hard to measure accurately and varies between individuals; it can run 35 mph for 4 mi (56 km/h for 6 km), 42 mph for 1 mi (67 km/h for 1.6 km); and 55 mph for .5 mi (88.5 km/h for .8 km). It is often cited as the second-fastest land animal, second only to the cheetah. It can, however, sustain high speeds longer than cheetahs.
Males have a prominent pair of horns on the top of the head, which are made up of an outer sheath of hairlike substance that grows around a bony core; the outer sheath is shed annually.
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Mule Deer. (Odocoileus hemionus)
Mule Deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. It is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule.
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Elk (Cervus canadensis)
Elks are the most abundant large mammals found in Yellowstone. Elk is one of the largest species of deer family. Male Elk has large antlers which are shed each year.
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Coyote. (Canis latrans).
Also known as American Jackal, brush wolf, prairie wolf. Primarily hunt in pairs. Coyote packs are generally smaller than wolf packs, and associations between individuals are less stable.
Tower Fall
Tower Fall is a scenic waterfall tumbling into the Yellowstone River. The fall plunges a stunning 132 feet. The unusual rock columns north of the fall were created by lava flow that cracked as it cooled.
Midway Geyser Basin
Next we visited the Midway Geyser Basin. It is small but spectacular. The geysers and pools are mostly concentrated around the Firehole River.
Excelsior Geyser
It's been dormant since the 1880s except for one long eruption in 1985 when it spouted water for two days at a height of 20 to 80 feet. Today it’s considered a hot spring and discharges over 4,000 gallons of hot water per minute, right into the Firehole River.
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Turquoise Pool
It was named from the tint of the water, which is the blue of the turquoise. It remains true to its name today.
Opal pool
Though usually active as a hot spring, Opal Pool is considered a fountain-type geyser.
Grand Prismatic Spring
Yellowstone’s largest hot spring, is 200-330 feet in diameter and more than 121 feet deep. The Grand Prismatic Spring is on top of a large mound with step-like terraces around it. It is the largest hot spring in North America. Heat-loving photosynthetic microbes known as Phormidium and Synechococcus live in mats along Grand Prismatic Spring's run off channels.
This area seems to get cloudy with steam in the morning. We recommend going there in the afternoon even though the parking lot can be crowded. If you take the Fairy Fall Trail roughly 1 mile into it, there is a side trail that takes you to Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook. This is the view from there. We went there around 3pm.
You can watch our video on The Old Faithful Geyser for more details
Upper Geyser Basin
Next we visited the Upper Geyser basin. The hydrothermal basin is perhaps most well known in the park due to hosting Yellowstone's iconic geyser: Old Faithful. The highest concentration of geysers in the world exists here.
The Old Faithful Geyser
The Old Faithful Geyser is the world's best known Geyser. It erupts more frequently than any of the other big geysers, although it is not the largest or most regular geyser in Yellowstone National Park.
Its average interval between eruptions is about 90 minutes, varying from 50 to 127 minutes. An eruption lasts 1.5 to 5 minutes and expels 3,700–8,400 gallons (14,000–32,000 l) of boiling water, and reaches a height of 106–184 feet (30–55 m). Elevation : 7,349 feet (2,240 m)
The next predicted eruption is posted in a number of locations around the geyser.
Every geyser has its own unique eruption indicators. For most of the interval, steam gently billows from Old Faithful's cone. A few minutes before an eruption, intermittent jets of spray spurt a few feet above the surface. Unpredictability is the pattern in Yellowstone Geyser basins. Old Faithful's relatively predictable intervals are the exception.
No two eruptions are the same, the height and duration may vary. Because the duration of Old Faithful's last eruption determines the time between eruptions, only the next discharge can be predicted.
You can watch our video on The Old Faithful Geyser for more details.
Black Sand Basin
Black obsidian (volcanic glass) "sand" gives this geyser basin its name. Oranges, greens, and other colors in and around the hot springs come from thermophiles.
Jagged Spring and Ragged Spring
These two small geysers are playing almost constantly. The one closer to the boardwalk is Jagged Spring, which is not only splashing weakly, but sends out single jets of water up to 10 feet (3 m) height from time to time.
Ragged Spring adjoins Jagged Spring on the far side. It splashes approximately 3 feet (1 m ) high.
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Cliff Geyser
The Cliff Geyser erupts every few minutes and can reach heights of 30 feet.
It's a fountain geyser which means it erupts from a pool.
When this crater fills with boiling water, you know an eruption is about to take place.
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Green Spring
Green Spring is the largest spring in Black Sand Basin. On rare occasions it erupts as a geyser up to 12 feet (4 m) high.
Handkerchief Pool
Handkerchief Pool, today nearly forgotten but at the beginning of the 20th century it was one of the most famous attractions of Yellowstone.
Rainbow Pool
View the colors of a rainbow along the edges of this pool. Rainbow Pool rarely erupts, but when it did in 1948, it shot to a height of 25 feet.
Sunset Lake
A large colorful pool, Sunset Lake is deep and blue at the center.
Biscuit Basin
Biscuit Basin is particularly volatile and unpredictable. Biscuit Basin was named for the unusual biscuit-like deposits that used to surround Sapphire Pool.
Avoca Spring
Avoca Spring is a stronger spouter with major eruptions up to 25 feet (7.5 m) high. Recovery after a major eruption lasts half an hour in maximum, then the next minors occur at intervals of 1 minute.
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Mustard Springs
The East Mustard Spring plays as a geyser every few minutes up to 10 feet (3 m) high.
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Black Pearl Geyser
Black Pearl Geyser has been dormant since 1967.
Jewel Geyser
Jewel Geyser's beaded sinter formations are really impressive. Jewel is a very frequent performer, showing an interval of approximately 8 minutes.
Here is the Jewel Geyser Erupting.
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Sapphire Pool
After the 1959 earthquake it erupted up to 125 feet (38 m) high, blasting away almost all of the biscuit shaped sinter aggregations along the rim. It continued playing with decreasing vigor up until 1971. The exceptionally deep blue spring has been dormant since then, a short interrupt occurred only in 1991.
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Shell Spring
The rolling geyserite structure is vaguely reminiscent of a giant clam's shell. The accordingly named Shell Spring is a cyclic geyser with several hours of recovery between the long lasting active phases.
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Lower Geyser Basin
This is the largest geyser basin in Yellowstone, spanning about 11 square miles (29 square kilometers). It consists of a flat plain interspersed with meadows and stands of lodgepole pine, with the Firehole River flowing through the central part of the basin
Firehole Spring
Firehole Spring, one of the most colorful pools of Yellowstone, shows more or less perpetual spouting caused by a combination of superheated boiling and some large, rising steam and gas bubbles
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Surprise Pool
Surprise Pool is served by an own turnout. It is boiling, but has never been seen erupting
Great Fountain Geyser
Eruptions average 100 feet (31 m) high, with some rare “superbursts” of 200 feet (61 m) or more.
White Dome Geyser
White Dome Geyser's beautifully shaped cone is many centuries old, and is still growing with each eruption. For hundreds of years, thermal water has been building the cone, one of the largest in Yellowstone.
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Fountain Paint pot
The Fountain Paint Pot is named for the reds, yellows and browns of the mud in this area.
The differing colors are derived from oxidation states of the iron in the mud.
Since it was getting late we didn't cover that trail.
Gibbon Falls
It drops 84 feet (25.6 m) over a remnant of the Yellowstone caldera rim.
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Norris Geyser Basin
Next we went to the Norris Geyser Basin. It is the hottest, oldest, and most dynamic of Yellowstone's thermal areas.
Steamboat Geyser
Steamboat Geyser is the world’s tallest active geyser. When this erupts, it can rocket a column of scalding water 300 feet (90-120 meters) into the air, which is two to three times the average height of Old Faithful. Major eruptions occur 4 days to 50 years apart.
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Mammoth Hot Springs
We stayed the night at the Mammoth HotSprings Cabins inside the park and then visited the Mammoth Hot Springs next day morning.
It has two terrace boardwalks, the upper and lower. These terraces change constantly, sometimes noticeable within a day.
Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate.
Liberty Cap
Liberty Cap is a Dormant hot spring cone.
It is 37 feet (11 m) tall. It was created by a hot spring that was active in one location for a long time.
Its internal pressure was sufficient to raise the water to a great height, allowing mineral deposits to build slowly and continuously for perhaps hundreds of years.
Palette Hot Spring
This is one of the most colorful and beautiful areas in the Mammoth Hot Springs.
Water flows in crisscrossing patterns down a steep ridge where colorful thermophiles create a changing palette dominated by hues of orange and brown.
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Devils Thumb
The black cone there is the Devils Thumb which is a dormant hot spring cone.
Mound Spring
This is the Mound Spring from top.
Orange Spring Mound
Orange Spring Mound is so named for its color, which is created by bacteria and algae, and shape, which is a result of very slow water flow and mineral deposition.
Tangerine Spring
Tangerine Spring is one of the cones of Orange Spring Mound, but has gotten its own name.
Angel Terrace
Highly unpredictable, Angel Terrace is known for its pure white formations and the colorful microorganisms seen in its active periods.
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Canary Spring
This is the Canary Spring
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That was the last thermal feature of our Yellowstone trip. Then we left the Yellowstone National park at around 9 am in that morning after covering the Mammoth Hot springs. We headed to the Glacier National park from there and we exited the park through the North Entrance where the Roosevelt Arch is built.
Even though we spent less than 2 days there, we recommend spending at least 3 days in the Yellowstone park so you could visit more places and do more trails than we did.
For all the details about the park please visit the National Park Service website.
You can find loads of information there including maps and all the other details and also they update about all the road closures and other conditions we need to be aware of when visiting the park.
Please make sure to follow their instructions about approaching wildlife and about staying on boardwalks when watching the thermal features as both these can be a threat to your life.
Also don’t forget to book your hotels within the park well in advance.
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Reference:
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