Yellowstone 2013 Highlights

In July I went on my family annual vacation to Yellowstone.  Sadly, times are changing and many of the extended family doesn’t come due to distance, cost or just other opportunities.  And, while I greatly miss those fun times with cousins, aunts and uncles it’s always great to be in Yellowstone.  Maybe someday I’ll blog about some of the funny standard (and not so standard) things we’ve done over the years.

Alas, back to present times.  I myself haven’t always made it to Yellowstone but that being said I am officially an expert.  Well, not officially but as my friend Jennie said, “I know a heck of a lot more than those rangers.”  It’s true.  Having gone well over 100 times to Yellowstone over 43 years I know a thing or two about the intricacies of Yellowstone.  On the flip side there are several things I haven’t ever done and I was determined to do them this visit.  So, here’s a recap of some new things I did in Yellowstone.

Great Fountain

I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this geyser before (ok, so the rangers have me on this one).  It’s located roadside on the Firehole Lake Drive.  It goes off every 12 hours +/- 2 hours.  That’s the kicker part.  You might end up waiting 4 hours for it to go off.  We were lucky because it went off just 45 minutes after we got there. 

The geyser goes off for almost a full 60 minutes.  It spurts for 5-10 minutes and then rests for 5-10 minutes and does that 3-5 times.  The wind was slightly blowing so we positioned ourselves to not get hit by steam and waited.  Then, the eruptions started and just then the wind switches and we were totally getting hit by geyser mist.  It was kind of neat but, it made for crappy viewing with all the steam in our faces so we had to move around a bit!

While waiting for the next spew we met this Taiwanese couple who worked at the same company my Dad worked for for 30 years.  They had a great time chatting in their limited English.  I jumped in when I found that they were from Taiwan (having recently been there).  They were nice folks.

Great Fountain Taiwanese Friends

 

After the 3^rd fountain spew interestingly everyone left and it was just us.  It was great to sit and watch it alone and wonder why everyone else left – the biggest spews were at the end!  Definitely a cool thing I’ll do again.  It blows Old Faithful away!

Morning Glory Pool
Sad, but true.  When I was young it was always too long of a walk and everyone kept talking about how it didn’t look as pretty as it did long ago so it wasn’t worth the walk.  Well, now it’s been 40+ years and I’m sure it isn’t looking as good as it did back then but I need to see this iconic Yellowstone pool especially since its named after the stupid noxious weed that I can’t get rid of in my yard. 

The walk out was really easy and it didn’t seem like a full 1.4mile as advertised.  Maybe that’s because there are geysers and pools as you go.  On my way I stopped and saw Giant Geyser go off.  I don’t see that one go off very often but is one of the biggest to see and rather neat. 

I got to the pool and it was quite pretty.  Yes, I know there used to be more colors and such but the yellows and oranges are brilliant.  They look a heck of a lot prettier than the white flower weeds in my yard I had to admit!  It was worth the hike and now I can say I saw it before it changes even more!  I had to wait some time because the first guy who took my picture for me cut me in half.  Really?  Anyway, the second picture turned out much better – thanks random guy who took my picture for me!

Actually at Morning Glory - finally!

Riverside Geyser

On my walk back from Morning Glory I stopped and saw the Riverside Geyser go off.  It is supposedly the most predictable geyser going off every 5.1 hours +/- 30 minutes.  Ya, it was outside the 30 minute window and I had to wait the whole time in the hot sun!  But, it did go off and is rather beautiful spewing over the Firehole River.  I didn’t see the rainbow it produced but it was worth the wait.

Riverside Geyser

Fishing Soda Butte Creek

Soda Butte Creek is on the northeastern corner of Yellowstone.  We have recently started going up into that region more often to see grizzly, bear and wolves.  This year it was just too hot for all the animals but the bison.  To try and make the trip a bit more interesting my Dad and I did a short 30 minute fishing expedition on the side of the road.  Success!  I was able to catch 2 pan fry size fish (no, I didn’t keep them).  The biting flies, horse flies, mosquitos, anything else that flies and bites were really tough though so I was glad to have a little success before we took off.  The water was rather muddy due to a previous rainstorm so I’ll count my blessings that I caught something.  Maybe another day I’ll go in and attempt to catch a few more fish.

Definitely a Pan Fryer

So, there you have it.  I found a few new things to do and did them.  I think the only other “major” thing I haven’t done is hiked in and camped at Shoshone.  Maybe someday.   There will be more adventures in Yellowstone and more good memories created for sure.  I have pictures posted from other things I did in Yellowstone HERE.