Day 28

Finding a site in Yellowstone

We woke up early in order to get a campsite in Yellowstone. It wasn’t hard waking up this morning with the guy beside us hacking up his lung the way he was. We wanted to get a space in the park because Yellowstone was too big to be going in and out every day. We were planning to stay two nights in Yellowstone.

It rained last night and was still cloudy when we emerged from the tent. The tent was all wet, which really makes it hard putting it away. I didn’t get too much sleep last night, the first time that’s happened in a while. We packed up the stuff and headed for Yellowstone. These lakes surrounding the campgrounds here are artificial, dammed. All the tall grasses surrounding the lakes and around the few houses that are out here sparkle with water on them this morning.

We drove into the park and looked at the camping options we had. We decided to go to Norris. The roads in the park basically form a large figure eight with spurs that exit the park. To get an idea of the size of this park, it is about 50 by 60 miles square, and the two loop roads making up the figure eight are 70 miles for the upper loop and 96 miles for the lower loop. Its 3,472 square miles is larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island put together. This park would take at least two days to see, and really deserves more.

It was 30 miles from the park entrance to the campground. On the way, we passed through many fire-ravaged forests. We got to Madison and turned north for Norris. The road passed through forest then all of a sudden the trees would disappear and we found ourselves in the middle of a giant meadow. It was so early that many of the animals were still feeding, including a large herd of buffalo. We stalked the campers at Norris campground and finally settled on a site surrounded by roads. Not the most scenic, but we were tired of waiting for people to leave and it wasn’t all that bad.

Canyon Village

We set up the tent and were off to Canyon Village to get some breakfast. This was 12 miles away and we were hungry—it was a long 12 miles. We ate at a “fountain” and had Mary Tennessee as our waitress (no that’s not her last name). We poked in the Canyon Village Visitor Center and then saw the canyon part of the park.

They call this the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We took the North Rim Drive which took us to Inspiration Point and the Glacial Boulder, a huge boulder surrounded by pine trees. Then it was Grandview, Lookout Point, then we took the Brink of the Falls trail to the Upper Falls. We skipped the Lower Falls, which are the falls always seen in photos, which we saw from afar.

The canyon has an interesting geologic history as does the entire park. About 600,000 years ago there was a huge volcanic eruption that, like Crater Lake, formed a caldera. This cauldera is 30 miles across and 45 miles wide and was filled with lava. One of these lava flows ended on the west side of the canyon and a thermal basin developed there.

This thermal activity weakened the lava while other lava flows created large lakes that cut through the solidified lava to create the canyon. Further sculpting came from three glacial periods, which filled the canyon with ice then eroded the rock when the glaciers melted. The last glaciers retreated about 10,000 years ago and since that time, water, wind, and earthquakes have kept the erosion process going. One of the signs told us of an earthquake in the 1970s that brought the rim of the canyon in about 100 feet from where it was before the quake.

The canyon is about 20 miles long, 800 to 1,200 feet deep, and 1,500 to 4,000 feet wide. The yellow rock is called Rhyolite. It is a unique canyon among all the canyons we’ve seen on this trip. The walls are yellow and have trees growing wherever they can get a grip in the soil. The elevation here is around 7,700 feet. The park’s elevation ranges from 5,300 feet to 11,358 feet at Eagle Peak. The average elevation on the roads is between 7,500 to 8,000 feet so we’ll remain in the cool weather for a little longer.

Mud Volcano

We continued south on the Lower Loop Drive. We stopped at the Mud Volcano and the Sulfur Cauldron. This was my first chance to get a whiff of the park, and I almost threw up.

It was worse than anything I’ve ever smelled in the swamps of Florida. It was an overpowering sulfur smell which had an intense dullness. We walked the short trail that was actually a boardwalk built to protect people from the scalding hot water and thin crust.

First on this trail is the Mud Cauldron. This is a pool of snow and rain water that appears to be boiling. It is not actually boiling; its bubbles are due to steam rising from a source of boiling ground water located several thousand feet below the pool.

The water in Dragon’s Mouth Spring, the next feature on this trail, is around 180°F and can be heard rumbling in the underground caverns.

The Mud Volcano is an active spring surrounded by vertical walls of mud. Next is the Grizzly Fumarole, a place where steam escapes Earth’s crust, but depending on the season its appearance is different. In the early spring it’s a bubbling mud pot, but as summer progresses the water evaporates and it becomes dryer and dryer until it may just be a steam vent with no mud.

Sour Lake and the Black Dragon’s Cauldron are two related thermal features. Black Dragon’s Cauldron burst into existence in 1948, knocking over and scorching trees and covering the area with mud. The creation of this cauldron allowed volcanic gas to rise and water to descend into the Earth’s crust. Once this occurred, Sour Lake, named for the water’s taste, became less active.

The bacteria in this lake thrive on the sulfur. Their byproduct, sulfuric acid, causes the acidic, sour taste. In 1978 and 1979, there were a series of earthquakes in this area. This caused a rejuvenation in these thermal features. The Sizzling Basin was named for its similarity to a frying pan in the 1960s but in the 70s it had cooled down enough to allow plants to grow on its surface. The quakes changed this. The soil nearby rose to 200°F, killing the plants and leaving the area looking like a barren wasteland. The Mud Geyser is not as active as it once was; however, it does have standing dead trees on its banks, indicating the roots of these trees are being cooked.

Yellowstone Lake

We pressed on to the banks of Yellowstone Lake. The lake’s surface is at 7,733 feet elevation and it is 136 miles square. The shoreline is 110 miles and the lake is 390 feet deep. We did not stop here, instead we continued to the Upper Geyser Basin 17 miles away. On the way we crossed the Continental Divide twice at 8,391 and 8,262 feet.

Upper Geyser Basin

The Upper Geyser Basin, where Old Faithful is located, is probably the most popular part of the park. They have a visitor center, a majestic lodge, restaurants, a post office, a photo shop, even a clinic.

Geyser Hill

We walked over to Old Faithful Geyser. It is surrounded by a gallery of benches. The next predicted time of eruption was 2:36 p.m., 50 minutes from now. Instead of waiting, we strolled the boardwalks always keeping the time in mind so that we could look in its direction. Most of the geysers and springs in this area are clustered along the Firehole River. This river runs through the Upper Geyser Basin and the Biscuit Basin. Water from these geysers and springs drain into this river. We walked over to Geyser Hill to kill some time and see other things while waiting for Old Faithful.

What is a geyser?

It would probably be a good idea to define what exactly a geyser is and how it differs from a spring, so I’ll do that here. The origin of the springs and geysers in Yellowstone come from the combination of two ingredients: molten rock, or magma, and the water that falls on Yellowstone as rain or snow. The magma may be as close as 3 to 5 miles beneath the surface (yikes!). When the water seeps several thousand feet into the ground, it is heated. This hot water rises through underground cracks and fissures and makes its way to the surface.

The water will arrive at the surface as a hot spring if the water’s circulation is rapid enough to allow convection to keep the system in equilibrium.

A geyser is a hot spring that erupts periodically. Imagine the hot water rising and filling underground channels that do not reach the surface. The heat in these channels is trapped and builds up, increasing the temperature of the water and the pressure in the channel. Because the pressure in these channels is high, water can exceed the normal boiling point without vaporizing. Once the water does begin to boil, the steam will expand and rise toward the top of the water column. Eventually, these steam bubbles will be too large to pass through the tight parts of the channel upward. At this point the bubbles lift the water above, causing the geyser to overflow. This decreases the pressure in the system and the water will now boil at a lower temperature, producing more steam which, again, forces more water upward.

The eruption will stop when either the water supply is diminished or the pressure decreases enough to allow the steam bubbles to flow freely. While we’re on the subject, a fumarole is just a hot spring which lacks liquid water—a steam vent. A mud pot is a hot spring with a limited supply of water, which allows the sulfuric acid to dissolve clay mud which accumulates on the surface. Now that that’s over with, back to the trip and some facts about Old Faithful.

Old Faithful

Old Faithful’s eruptions are about 75 minutes apart, but this can vary from 45 to 105 minutes. It reaches a height of 100 to 180 feet and lasts for one to five minutes.

Across the Firehole River is Geyser Hill. There are over a dozen springs and geysers here. While we were walking here, it was just about time for Old Faithful to erupt, so we sat in front of these two small geysers. One would spit water about a foot high and the other, about five feet away, had walls around its opening. I thought the steam from this little one was going to get in the way of our pictures of Old Faithful. These two went off continuously as we sat there.

While we waited for Old Faithful, people would stop and ask if it was about to go off. This one guy waited as we did and it wasn’t erupting. It had thrown out some water, but nothing like the pictures and the descriptions. We continued to wait while the skeptics left. It finally did erupt and it was spectacular. We were seeing it from a distance and it still appeared high. It’s funny, as you walk around there are geysers going off all the time catching your attention.

We walked by the Giantess Geyser, the Doublet Pool, Aurum Geyser, and many more. Depending on the underground plumbing, each geyser is different. Some are empty and, before erupting, the water flows in filling the geyser, steam bubbles begin to rise, and the eruption occurs, then the water drains back underground only to be heated again and go through the same process. Some explode in quick bursts. Some are ejected through thin nozzles projecting the water very high. There are also many sounds. Some like the Lion Group sound as if they’re roaring, some cause thumping and vibrations, gurgling sounds, and any other sound imaginable.

Castle-Grand Group

Castle Geyser has the largest cone and is thought to be the oldest geyser in the park. The Crested Pool is a spring whose waters are so hot (199°F) that they do not allow any algae to grow. The result is crystal clear, indigo colored water. Walked by the Liberty Pool, Spasmodic Geyser, named because it erupts continuously, and Sawmill Geyser, which went off as Andy was next to it. He went through the falling water and I had to do the same, luckily it had cooled down by the time it had reached the ground.

Giant-Grotto Group

The next grouping is the Giant-Grotto Group then the Morning Glory-Riverside Group. In these are the Beauty Pool, Chromatic Spring, Giant Geyser, Grotto Geyser, and Morning Glory Pool. Giant Geyser is dormant for the time being and has been since 1955. Grotto Geyser has a cone that has formed around and covers trees that once grew next to the geyser. The Riverside and Vent Geysers were erupting as we passed. The Vent Geyser is angled so the plume goes off at an angle, really a beautiful sight.

Mystic Falls & Fairy Creek Trails

We kept going down the dirt path that leads to the Biscuit Basin and the Mystic Falls Trailhead. The name Biscuit Basin comes from the fact that around the Sapphire Pool there were once biscuit-shaped and biscuit-colored deposits, but they blew apart after an explosive period of activity.

Andy thought it would be nice to hike to the Mystic Falls on the Firehole River. It was a tad over a mile to reach the falls. It was a nice clear day with big puffy clouds moving in the sky. The 1988 fires affected 36% of the park’s forest, by not only burning that part of the forest that we see, but also heating the soil sufficiently to destroy the roots and seeds. It was weird seeing all the trees burned and a green floor with trees beginning to come back. There was no shade in this forest. Along the river were springs creating steam when the hot water leaked out into the cold waters of the Firehole River.

The trail back went up the mountain to the north of the river and was a mile longer. It went up and up through the unshaded forest and brought us to a cliff that overlooked the entire Upper Geyser Basin. Old Faithful was way off in the distance. Once we made our way down the mountain and back in the valley, we had gone over two miles from Biscuit Basin to Old Faithful. This was a shock to my tired, sun burnt body. It didn’t seem this far on the way out.

Daisy Group

It was around 6 p.m. and there was still more to see today. We walked a path on the opposite side of Firehole River. This took us by the Daisy Group and there was a crowd forming which was a tell-tale sign that one of these things was going to go off.

We debated whether to stay or press on and we sort of did neither. We walked sluggishly, keeping our eyes and ears on the geyser. It did go off and Andy went back to record it forever on film.

We finally made it back to Old Faithful but it was not going to go off for another 20 minutes, so we left. There is a beautiful inn here. It is a huge, old, wooden structure, with intricate architecture. They used all the powers at their disposal to save this in the 1988 fires and it worked. They doused the building with water constantly to lower the risk of it catching fire. It’s really amazing, too, because most of the forest surrounding the entire area burned.

Lower Geyser Basin

We passed up the Midway Geyser Basin. It was getting dark now since clouds had moved in. We continued up the Lower Loop Road and turned on the Firehole Lake Drive, a small two mile side road in the Lower Geyser Basin.

We did not know what we would see on this road, but we got a surprise. The first geyser on this road is the Great Fountain Geyser. There was a large crowd assembled, so we pulled over and got a snack while waiting for this thing to go off. It was predicted to go off at 7:45 and it was now 7:39. Many in the crowd had set up folding chairs on the trail around the giant geyser and were quite comfortable. We were on the other side of the Geyser, somewhat far from it.

As we watched the geyser in the opposite direction, the White Dome Geyser blew behind us. This geyser has a 30 foot cone of built up deposits around it. The eruptions blast 30 feet into the air in a thin stream of water and steam. After this, the one we’d been waiting for went off.

The Great Fountain blew into the air. The wind blew all the water right down onto the gallery of folks with their lawn chairs and RVs. It was perfect. This geyser only erupts every 8 to 12 hours, so we were lucky to have seen it. The water soared to heights of around 100 feet. It was still going and we were at the point where we were wondering how long is it going to go—I mean you’ve seen the geyser go off for over five minutes, how much longer do you need to stand there and watch it?

We were about to jump in the car and keep going when the geyser literally exploded. The noise is what forced me to turn around and when I did I saw this huge bubble that had swelled to immense proportions. It blew apart, creating a massive explosion and eruption of water. This was by far the most exciting geyser today.

We continued up this road, driving by the Steady Geyser (you can probably guess why they call it that). Back on the Lower Loop Road, we stopped briefly at the Lower Geyser Basin and Goose Lake. This gave us a close-up view of the tiny terraced ground that surrounds the springs here—close enough to touch the water as it ran down toward the river. There is a spring on top, then a long, gradual drop-off down to the river. The entire drop-off is covered with little centimeter-high terraces all the way down to the river. All different colors too. Sometimes it’s white, or reddish, orange, or yellow, depending on the temperature of the water. Quite a sight.

Back to camp

The clouds were threatening us with a drop of rain now and then. We got to Madison and the next junction was Norris. Along the way we stopped in a meadow where a crowd had congregated. These guys said they saw coyotes or wolves hunting on the edge of the woods, but I guess they were gone by the time we arrived. There was one buffalo playing games with a herd of mule deer. He was rolling on the ground and staring at one deer that was separated from the herd. I think the buffalo wanted those deer out of there. We walked out into the meadow to the stream and sat and watched the contest.

About 20 minutes later, we headed back to camp and attempted to cook dinner. For some reason everything went wrong tonight. All we wanted to cook were some hamburgers, a Lipton noodle mix, and a veggie. Someone didn’t want us to eat this stuff or something because, first, the wood for the fire would not stay lit, we couldn’t get the fire going. Second, the stove would not stay lit, the noodles boiled over and put out the flame. To add to this, we only had one match left. On and on… We did eventually eat, for better or worse, and we liked it, dammit!