Whenever someone mentions Yellowstone, you immediately think of Old Faithful, right? Don’t be embarrassed. We all do it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But did you know that there is more to Yellowstone than just Old Faithful?
Of course you do!
…but do you really?
Opening weekend at Yellowstone truly is wonderful. Old Faithful opens, most of the snow has melted away, and animals are coming out of hibernation. Being some of the first cars into the Park, Ashley and I made a beeline for Old Faithful. We knew that we wanted to “beat the crowds,” whatever that meant. Not long after we entered the Park, however, we had to slow down, as a line of brake lights obstructed our path.
After about 30 seconds of wondering about the “traffic” we were in, the reason behind the stoppage became pretty clear.
Did you know that the bison population in Yellowstone is closely managed? And when they happen to stroll down the road, a ranger is dispatched to follow the bison and make sure nothing crazy happens? Yup, learned that little tidbit during our trip!
To clarify, Ashley was driving (obviously) when I snapped this picture. Since we were still stopped, she put the car in “park” and I stood up in the sunroof. Apparently this wasn’t cool with the ranger following the bison, and we got a mild lecture about staying buckled. Granted, I didn’t technically get out of the car, I was still far enough away to the point that I didn’t feel nervous, and in no way did I disrupt the bison’s journey. Do I think the ranger was a little over-zealous? Sure, but I also recognize that she was doing her job and wanted to make sure nothing happened to the bison. While I respect that, I didn’t let her scolding ruin my trip!
(I guess now is a good time to point out that during our time in Yellowstone, we didn’t approach any animal, touch any animal, nor try to put one in our car because we thought it was “cold.” We also took care to only exit the vehicle in designated areas, no matter what. Why? Because we have common sense and we respect nature. It’s simple. Don’t be dumb.)
On the way to Old Faithful, we passed literally dozens of other geothermal activity sites and made mental notes to stop by on our way back. Since the weather was so cold and clear, the steam rising from the geysers was wonderfully thick. It looked like we were entering Mordor or something.
We followed the signs to Old Faithful (they really make it idiot-proof) and found the visitor’s center and HUGE parking lot. When we walked into the visitor’s center, the first thing you’ll see is a moniker with the next predicted time that Old Faithful will be erupting. Lucky for us, the next eruption was predicted to be just 15 minutes after our arrival. We quickly exited the other side of the visitor’s center to get a good spot for the eruption.
(Did you know that Old Faithful gets its name based on the predictability of the eruptions? Seems like a “duh” moment, but I guess I didn’t really think about it before!)
Fortunately for us, there weren’t a whole lot of people lined up to witness the eruption; I can only imagine the summer time and holidays where every single viewpoint would be obstructed by selfie-sticks, horribly ugly sun hats, and the smell of sunscreen. We had no such hurdles, thank goodness! We had time to meander around the side of the geyser to take advantage of the sunlight and get a few pictures out of the way.
I read somewhere that Old Faithful erupts for a few minutes, and after listening to the ranger loudly chatting with his group, I learned that to be true. Not only that, but the geyser gurgles and spits a bit before the actual eruption. Awesome.
Translation: instead of having to sit there with our cameras at the ready, we were able to appreciate the eruption and then take our time getting a great shot. Clearly not everyone had the same information, as we saw many selfie sticks at the ready for minutes prior.
After wandering around the visitor’s center and gift shop for the customary postcards and magnets, it was onto the places we passed in the Upper Geyser Basin: Sapphire Pool, Grand Prismatic Spring, and a few others that I can’t remember.
You know how sometimes whenever you see a beautiful picture of food cooking and you wish that you could smell the picture? Well, be thankful that you can’t smell these. Geysers are rank! Right outside of Old Faithful, there are a few geysers that have a lovely bridge running between them, providing easier access to visitors. Ashley and I started to walk on one of them and were instantly hit with the smell of rotten eggs and sweaty gym socks. Like a hockey player’s gym bag that has been sitting over a heating vent in an air-tight closet.
Cue the dry heaving – it was that bad!
Steering clear of the walkways, we wound up close to a little protruding viewing platform…and immediately saw what everyone was gathered around us for.
That’s right…there was a bear just on the other side of the springs! Can you see him? Not just any bear, but a Grizzly. Oh, how grateful I was that there was boiling springs between us. You know, just in case the bear started to charge. Ashley and I had decided to leave the car unlocked…in case we needed to get out of harm’s way in a hurry. I may or may not have been sizing all of the tourists up and down, trying to determine which ones I’d be able to outrun in the event that we’d need to scatter. Pretty sure I would have been just fine!
Our next major stop was the Grand Prismatic Spring. If you type those three words into any search engine, especially Pinterest, you’ll be flooded with vibrantly-colored pictures with rising steam, surrounded by lush mountains and blue sky. Believe me, this is the picture that Ashley and I had in mind as we pulled into the bustling parking lot.
We could tell right away that although the weather was beautiful outside, viewing the Spring was going to be a challenge. The air was brisk and already we could see a ton of steam emanating from the location (and as a side note: there’s a hike you can take to get an optimal vista of the Spring, but it was not only closed for construction, but bears were crawling around). Always keen on having an adventure, we forged ahead!
To be honest, there were more people here than over at Old Faithful. We had to jostle around a few slower-moving groups and avoid even more selfie sticks. Granted, when you visit the Grand Prismatic Spring, you’re confined to walking along the wooden walkways. There’s a few smaller springs on the same plateau as the Grand Prismatic Spring, and they’re beautiful in their own right. Take a few minutes to enjoy them!
They’re so blue, you wish you could dive right in!
DON’T! There’s a reason they’re steaming!
As we got closer to the Grand Prismatic Spring, we had to pass a section of the walkway that was completely engulfed in a thick blanket of steam. I hesitated because it reminded me of a scary scene in Jurassic Park III. You know, the part where the characters are also walking across a foggy bridge…only to have a giant flying dinosaur land on it and carry away the kid?
**shudders**
I’m happy to say that no dinosaurs appeared and I survived. Granted, we were completely soaked after crossing through! And all in all, we were able to grab some awesome shots of the Spring, even though the steam was seasonally thick.
You can sort-of see the rainbow in the steam’s reflection, right? Sometimes the wind would blow hard enough to uncover more of the colors, but not enough for a better picture, unfortunately. But see the orange color all around the Spring? I’ve mentioned on multiple occasions that I just LOVE bright colors and these sections were no exception!
Here’s a bit of science for you: the yellow, orange, and brown colors that encircle the hot springs and line the runoff channels are caused by heat-loving microorganisms called thermophiles.
Get it? Thermo…philes? No? That’s okay. They’re pretty much heat-lovers.
These microbes contain colorful pigments that allow them to make energy from sunlight and thrive in the harsh conditions of hot springs. And since they’re living organisms, they created different patterns in all of the hot springs that we saw.
Isn’t nature gorgeous? And colorful? We were completely in awe the entire time that we were driving and walking around Yellowstone. After visiting the Grand Prismatic Spring and it’s surrounding sister-springs, we wound our way back to the entrance, making sure to stop for enough pictures to fill our cameras. We were sad to go, but were eager to get back to Jackson!
Have you ever been to Yellowstone? What did you enjoy the most?
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