Sunday June 30, 2013- Everyone into the Thermal Pool!

Left: Buffalo Bill State Park, Cody, Wy 9:19am MST
Arrived: East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 3pm MST
Arrived: Grant Village Campground, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 8:30pm MST
Total time on road: about 5 ½ hours- some of that was driving from the Eastern Entrance to Old Faithful to the campground. Making the straight trip should take about 4 hours.
Miles driven this leg: 149
Total miles driven: 2581
Our route is marked in purple. Some stops are in green Xes.

Some areas of Yellowstone visited: West Thumb Geyser Basin, Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin

A MUST-HAVE: Yellowstone: The Official Guide published by The Yellowstone Association. There may be better books out there, but this only costs $9.95 and supports the assoc. We purchased it in Cody at the Buffalo Bill Dam Shop. We realized that while we could have done even more strategic planning, between our hectic home life and the enormity of a trip to Yellowstone, you just do the best you can. Not having a true concept of what your destination is like makes strategic planning very difficult.

Take at least one, if not two of the Yellowstone Maps offered at the entrance gates. They are terrific. We used a highlighter to map our course and wrote all over one. That map was such a vital tool that it tore along the edges and we were only there for 3 days.

Grant Village has no water, electrical or sewer hookups. You may run your generator only between 8am and 8pm. Plan blender time accordingly.

Showers: You do receive 2 free shower credits per campsite per night. That gave us 6 showers. You may purchase extra shower credits for $3.21. It’s a good value. The showers are clean with plenty of hot, full-pressure water and a dispenser of liquid soap. If you are a traveler, there are even towels you may rent. We do have a shower in the RV and use it, when necessary.

The Travel: We took a brief stop to see the dam at the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. I saw some exquisite Green-Violet Swallows. I learned that one of the rocks I saw is called Plum Stone and is rose granite mixed with concrete used for building the dam. Nice and worthy stop. Allow 45 minutes to an hour.

The only real plan we had for Yellowstone was that we were going to stay at Grant Village for 3 nights and Pete wanted to accomplish driving the whole Grand Loop. There are many side roads, picnic areas and hiking trails, but Yellowstone’s main road is designed in a figure-8 (see top photo). When we planned our stay, we followed Mike and Donna’s book, but we also depended on a lot of reviews on websites such as tripadvisor. In retrospect, staying at only one campground may have been a mistake because had we flexed, it would have relieved some of the driving we did. We could have traveled part of the loop and then camped at a nearby spot instead of having to drive all the way back to Grant Village.

Bones in a thermal pool at West Thumb Basin

We entered the East Entrance and drove south, around Yellowstone Lake to West Thumb. There were a bunch of photo stops as soon as we entered the park, but our first hiking stop was at West Thumb Geyser Basin. At many of the self-guided trails you will find leaflets available. They ask for a modest donation ($.50) and they are well worth it! In one of the pools, Isaac and I saw and discussed some mammal bones in the pool. We guessed that they were from a marmoset, which is about the size of a groundhog, based on the size of the rib bones. (The photo, left, is of the bones in WATER. It is so clear in this pool.)

Our next stop took us right to Old Faithful. The tourist area is much bigger than I imagined. We parked the RV and just as we approached the geyser, cameras ready, it erupted! Talk about great timing. She goes off about every 90 minutes, give or take 10 minutes each way. The eruption lasts about 5 minutes. The height also varies but is usually about 130 feet.



Heart Geyser

Since Old Faithful is in a thermal area of the park, it is surrounded by other thermal activity. We took the longest loop around Old Faithful to cover the Upper Geyser Basin and stopped at the famous thermal pool called Morning Glory.  One of the most colorful pools in the park, it gets its orange and yellow hues from the bacteria that grows in its water that’s been cooled from natural changes as well as the vent being plugged from visitors tossing stuff in. ¾ of the way down that path, we stopped and waited to see if Grand Geyser would go off since its schedule indicated that it would, give or take 10 minutes (in Yellowstone speak that translates to “any minute now.”
Here’s how the process works: Yellowstone Scientists might say, “Yesterday this quite reliable natural phenomenon shot 425-degree water out of its funnel 150 feet into the air at 5:20pm. We have noticed it erupts every 24 hours, give or take 20 minutes. We will write with China Marker on the plastic board in front of it that it will probably erupt again at 5:20 pm today. You, Geyser Watcher, beginning at 5pm, will in turn tell your family and all other potential Geyser Watchers in front of you, that the geyser will erupt “any minute now”. The Geyser Gods will laugh and take their sweet time. You will tire of waiting by 5:34 pm and walk away, at which time, the Geyser Gods will laugh again and decide “This is the minute!” and send forth steamy spray with which to impress you.”

Thankfully, you will just be on the other side of the bridge, out of the sun, but with a fine view to take photographs, as we were.

Morning Glory Pool

Just as we finished our hike and approached Old Faithful on the flip side, cameras ready, she went off again!! This time Pete got it on video. He always has had great timing. We stopped in at the lodge cafeteria to consider eating there. We decided to go back to our site where we could relax.

Hiking thermal areas is a hot job. Very little shade and, well, bubbling thermal activity. The beauty and miracle of it all is breathtaking. And the geysers, hot springs, mudpots (none at OF) and fumaroles (steam vents) are all different. There’s also the unpredictability involved. Could, at any time, one of these tiny, hissing fumaroles just blow a gasket and shoot like an unhinged pressure cooker full of tomato sauce right in front of me? Yes. Stand back.

Dinner: (too late to run the generator) Hot turkey sandwiches with Can o’ gravy and Krap Macaroni and Cheese on the stove. It uses propane. Macaroni and Cheese makes Millie so happy. Afterwards, I was able to surf with my phone and read all the fine meals my chef friends were preparing for the weekend. We all had a good laugh!

Wildlife sightings: Just after we entered the park, a long line of cars was stopped alongside of the road. Whenever that happens, if you are “hunting” wildlife (as we are, with our camera) you should slow down! Our first Yellowstone sighting was of two huge elk. I got close enough to see the velvet on their racks. It's not as easy as it looks. This was in an area deforested by fire and there are a lot of large tree trunks to climb over/around. This forest (pictured) is not what I would consider dense for Yellowstone. At Old Faithful, we saw what appeared to be grizzly tracks and mountain lion tracks. We definitely saw bison tracks and manure. Pete saw a baby snake. I saw an Osprey.

This was the best day ever because we all made it though a long, hot, stimulating day and were still laughing and enjoying ourselves at bedtime.