1124 September 2, 2024 Yellowstone National Park

I was awake and dressed early this morning but I was very hesitant to go out for a walk.  This campground is in grizzly country and the idea of walking by myself was very disconcerting!  Only hard sided campers are allowed here to “minimize interactions between bears and people.”  Tim finished his workout and he and I both walked a couple of laps around the campground.

We packed food and set off for Yellowstone National Park.  I was impatient to begin our adventure today.  I was excited to see this great park.

We went back through the East Entrance.  It was 61 degrees with no wind.  The wildfire smoke had dissipated and the sky was blue with wispy clouds.  We saw a mule deer grazing roadside as we traveled.

Yellowstone sits on a 30 by 45 mile caldera or basin that is a collapsed volcano.  All of the hydrothermal activity that occurs here is a result of this supervolcano.  We began at Steamboat Point.  Here steam rises from the ground right at the edge of Yellowstone Lake.  We read that if you took all of the water out of this huge lake, the lake bottom would resemble the rest of this area, with geysers and mudpots.  It was a little creepy to realize that we were standing on an ancient volcano that still produces heat and activity.

We passed a steaming pond. 

We passed a few solitary big boy bison.

We took the Grand Loop Road to the north and stopped at Mud Volcano.  Yesterday was another pretty ride but the Yellowstone we saw today was dramatic and powerful.  You can hear the roiling and boiling and churning beneath the earth’s surface.  You can smell and taste the sulfur.  You can feel the rumbling.

We stopped next at Sulphur Cauldron.

We passed through a wide-open area next to the Yellowstone River.  There were bison grazing and looking like they belonged here.

We went to see Upper Falls.

We took Norris Canyon Road through the forest and toward the mountains.

We took a spur to see Virginia Cascade; another waterfall.

The view at Elk Park and the Gibbon River was stunning.

Beryl Spring.

We found a nice spot for our lunch. 

There was a raven in the tree watching to see if we left any crumbs behind.  He found something else to munch on.

I drove after lunch.  We didn’t stop at the geyser basins.  The parking lots were crowded and there were lots of people.  We have another couple of days to explore the park.  Maybe, we will have an opportunity to come back.

We did stop to see Old Faithful.  This parking lot was packed as well.  We did find a spot.  When we got to the viewing area, there were hundreds of people waiting for an eruption.  I checked the website and Old Faithful was predicted to erupt at 1:42 +/- 10 minutes.  We arrived at 1:30. 

A lesser geyser erupted first.

At 1:44, Old Faithful gathered strength and sent plumes of steam high into the air. It lasted for about 4 minutes.  WOW!!!

One last stop along Yellowstone Lake and then we completed the Grand Loop and headed back to the RV. 

We had driven over 100 miles and we saw lots of very cool things!

We had a quiet evening.  We took a short walk after dinner.

Tomorrow, we will move from the campground and drive across Yellowstone Park from the East Entrance to the West Entrance.  We have a site reserved in West Yellowstone had a full hookup campground.  We plan to do more exploring from there.