Geysers!

Leaving our Western Cabin in the Canyon area, we spent the day exploring geyser territory.

Norris Basin

Our first stop was the Norris Geyser Basin - the hottest part in the park. Pools as caustic as battery acid, heated to boiling, turned entire valleys into wastelands. The juxtaposition of such alien features nestled in high range pine forest made this all the more interesting and bizarre. This was evidence of earth's magma core finding a thin spot in the crust.

A hot spring at Norris

A geyser in the forest

After Norris, we had a quiet lunch at a wooded stop. Then we drove along the Firehole River to the geyser basins that contain Old Faithful and several other major geysers. We got to witness an Old Faithful eruption before dinner before settling in for the evening.

Although one typically associates Iceland and Scandinavia with geysers and hot springs, more than half the world's geysers are located right here, in Yellowstone.

There is another major thermal area under Lake Yellowstone, completely hidden from view by several hundred feet of water.

Old Faithful

Old Faithful Inn is one of the more interesting buildings I've seen. Several stories of open rafters support it's steep roof. An open staircase provides access to a parapet on its peak. Since it is closed to the public, I can only imagine the view from up there.

Interior of the Old Faithful Inn

Baby Buffalo, Horses, Lava and Travertine

Baby bison

We checked out of the Lake Hotel and drove to the Mammoth Terraces. Along the way, we stopped at Sheepeater Cliffs. Those exposed columns of hexagonal rock was a lava flow from the super volcano that is Yellowstone Park. A marmot lives among those stones, which we got to see.

Further up the road we visited the travertine terraces that are Mammoth Hot Springs. Here, unlike the other thermal areas of Yellowstone, the waters bring up dissolved limestone which precipitates out as travertine. The hot water actually comes from the Norris Geyser Basin, some twenty miles to the south. Mammoth can be thought of as a limestone cavern turned inside out.

Continuing around the upper loop, we stopped at Roosevelt to go on a horseback ride on the range to a steak dinner, and back. As we rode through Pleasant Valley, a thunderstorm passed to our south. The steak dinner was great, complete with cowboy coffee (brewed over an open fire), soda, coleslaw and potato salad, cowboy beans, peach cobbler, NY strip steak, and the like.


Here is the recipe for the beans.


8 oz. ground beef or sausage
8 oz. bacon, dice ¼-in
1 onion, dice ¼-in
1 can pork & beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can lima beans
1 can butter beans
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp spicy brown mustand
½ cup ketchup
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Brown meats in a skillet and drain.
Saute onions with meat.
Stir in remaining ingredients (beans drained and rinsed).
Bake @ 325 F for 45 minutes or simmer for 1 hour.

Once the day was over, we went to Canyon Lodge where we had a Western Cabin reserved. This was, for a family of four, the very best place we stayed. I was figuring the opposite, quite frankly, but we had a quiet cabin (no one in the adjoining unit) with a nice view and a very large room.

Road buffalo

Sheepeater Cliffs

Mammoth Hot Springs

Stop for a drink at Lamar Valley

Jim on Dually

Dinner on the High Plains

Day at Lake Yellowstone

Solitary bison

Our following day, stationed at Lake Yellowstone, was a busy one.

Dragon's Mouth

After breakfast, we headed to the mud volcano area, where we saw both the thermal features and our first bison. We saw several more bison, a herd as well as individuals, in the Lamar Valley.

Just after lunch, we took a boat tour of Lake Yellowstone out of the nearby marina. The ranger talk on board was a little goofy, but we had fun and saw the remains of a sunken ship and a bald eagle.

Lake Hotel from the water

Back on land, we went to the canyon area to enjoy the Yellowstone canyons and waterfalls.

Hot springs, wild animals, and water would continue to be the major themes of this vacation.

Waterfall-induced rainbow

Yellowstone Canyon

Lower Falls

To Lake Yellowstone

At the Tetons

The following morning we set off for Lake Yellowstone, with stops at Mormon Row and the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

At Mormon Row we photographed the most photographed barn in the world with the Tetons in the background. A classic shot. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch, explored the small collection of hot springs at West Thumb, and drove along the lake to the famous Lake Hotel.

Mormon Row

Lake Hotel

The Lake Hotel was built in 1891 and exudes a quiet elegance even today. Its large dining room overlooks the lake, but like the hotels of its day the rooms are small. The nearby Lake Lodge was a mush less formal affair.

Stooling stool

I'll take a quick break from reporting on my vacation to complete a little side project.

My disabled son continues to learn the finer points of using the bathroom, but he is such a little guy that his feet don't touch the ground. Our other stools are too big for this purpose, so I fashioned him a little stool from some left over cherry plywood and stock.

It is held together with pocket screws and glue.