Yellowstone Park Part 2

 Tuesday September 3 We drove to the Norris Geyser field stopping first at the Terrace Spring.  The Norris field is the hottest and most acid of all the places in the park.  There are lots of geysers and pretty colored pools with bubbling water. 
  It was very spectacular.  We then went to the Canyon area which is Northeast and had lunch.  After lunch we drove to the North rim of the Yellowstone “Grand Canyon” and the famous falls.  Wow, great seeing it again. The colors in the canyon were beautiful. We went to several different viewpoints and each gave a special view.  No afternoon thunderstorms as predicted.  Saw buffalo, osprey (two babies on a rock column in the canyon) , a coyote not a wolf,  and a herd of elk along the Madison River.  Judy saw the mother osprey come and feed the babies.  Fun time.  After dinner we went into town for a DQ ice cream and walked around town a bit.  R

   The last time I was here in this unusual place my vocabulary was rather limited, but now I am relearning words like ‘tuft’, and ‘caladara’.  The geological interest here is incredible.  It is also set in some of the most beautiful mountains in our country.  There have been two major events since my last visit, the earth quake of August 1959 and the terrible fire of 1988.   These events have been responsible for huge changes in the park’s superficial and structural look.  The fire burned over 800,000 acres.  That figure is almost unbelievable to me.  I am so hoping to visit the museum here in the canyon area tomorrow.  As we drive along the smooth paved road, a look to the horizon reveals miles of upstanding burned timbers.  They look like stubble on the mountains cheeks.  The most common tree here is a ponderosa pine.  The park ranger described them as a huge stick with a Christmas tree  on top.  The trees that have finally fallen, look like stitches of silver across the forest floor.  This is the new practice of forest management.  Some of these trees have attempted to lay down, but remain held up by there former neighbors.  New growth is a promise for the future.  Several of these giants that were not damaged in the fire display good sized areas of missing bark.  They can be explained by the need of the bison to scratch !    The BEST day.  J

Wednesday September 4
We slept in today.  Walked around town looking at stuff.  We went to the old train station which was turned into a museum.  They had films about the park history and a good ones about the 1959 earth quake and the 1988 fire which burned about 45% of the park.  Had a nice dinner of chicken roll-ups.  R

   Went looking for some water shoes for Richard.  He is anxious to try his luck at fishing.  The sight of the hopeful fishermen standing like tin toys along the river  can only make a real fisherman want to join.  I got my wish… a visit to the place that answered so many questions about the history of this amazing place.  J

Thursday September 5
We drove up to the Mammoth Hot Springs area at the North end of the park.  We stopped at the Artist paint pot area on the way. One of the pots was bubbling white clay.

Passed it up the other day because of the crowds.  We continued to Mammoth and drove the upper plateau road around the springs.

We drove to the Norris Geyser field stopping first at the Terrace Spring.  The Norris field is the hottest and most acid of all the places in the park.  There are lots of geysers and pretty colored pools with bubbling water.

White Elephant

A lot of the features were not very active.  Ate lunch and then went to a ranger talk about the springs.

ants living in terraces

She said that the area spews out the same amount of water every day but sometimes the water goes to different places.  At the moment the Palette springs is the most active and was just beautiful with the white travertine (calcium carbonate, aka, chalk) terraces and running water.  On the way home we stopped at various turnouts.   The obsidian cliffs area was roped off to keep people from taking any of the millions of tons of the stuff.  Saw more buffalo today.  No bears yet. R

Friday September 6
We got up early and headed to Ruby Reservoir which was about 90 miles Northwest of West Yellowstone.  The weather was nice with temperatures in the 80’s.  We dug and sifted and washed and found some garnets.  A few were big and possibly able to be faceted. We continued on the dirt road which eventually goes to Dillon looking for some Montana wonderstone.   We found the spot and got some nice pieces. Leaving there we went and visited the old mining town of Virginia City.  Most of the buildings were closed for the season and not too many people were around. We stopped in Ennis for dinner then drove back to West Yellowstone.  Beautiful sunset. R

Saturday September 7
We went to Norris geyser basin and I took the 1.6 mile loop trip while Judy took a short hike. While we were there we met,(ran into) Linda and Becky from Shelton and are members of the rock club.  Surprise  seeing them.  We left and ate lunch along the Gibbon R.  After that we went South of Madison Junction towards Old Faithful.  Stopped at several geyser basins and enjoyed all the pretty colors from the thermophilic  bacteria and the geysers and hot pools. SWe saw a red fox hunting something.   We got back in town  and checked out a few stores.  During dinner we had a big thunder and lightening storm with lots of wind.  After dinner we invited the neighbors over for a huckleberry sundae.  Nice people.  R

New words… Fumeroles and Ryolite… this is really fun.  Turns out the fox may be a cyote, but I tell you Richard can spot an animal for miles away.  The sunsets have been spectacular.  J

Sunday September 8
We had planned to go to Lamar Valley and look for wolfs.  Instead we slept in really late.  Had omelets for breakfast.  Yumm.  Just goofed around all day.  After dinner watched Sunday night football and did knitting and kumihimo.  R

We weren’t completely shiftless.  We did the laundry.  J.

Monday September 9
We got up really early as in 4 am to go to Lamar valley to look for wolfs.  It was about a two hour drive and was slow because of the ground fog, some from geysers and hot ponds.   Saw a rabbit and some deer on the way. We got to Lamar Valley at dawn, stopping many places to check with our binoculars.   Did not see any and were heading home when we saw a bunch of people looking up a hill.  Sure enough, two wolfs, one black and one grey.  The grey one did not stick around while the black one was just laying there.  Too far away for a picture.  On the way out of Lamar Valley  saw many herds of bison.  Some were doing the “I can stop traffic if I want.” We drove to Mammoth Hot Springs and then decided to go to Gardnier, MT and have breakfast.   After breakfast we went to the Gardnier National Forest office and got a permit to get petrified wood in the Tom Miner basin. Lovely drive into the mountains.  We are allowed 20 cubic inches each.  We got our two pieces and headed home.   Got home, rested and had a nice steak dinner with sweet corn and potatoes.  After dinner I went fishing for a while and caught one small brook trout. R

   We made a quick stop in an old “Trading Post” where I found a blue Pyrex bowl to go with the giant yellow one, found also on this trip.  They will complete the  partial set Richard had in his cupboard when we were married.  I am sure most of your mothers kitchens had the set. 

I must add that we have seen lots of birds too.  Various ducks, a pair of loons, magpies and many mountain bluebirds.  J.