Entering Yellowstone

It was an early rise. I had no idea how big Yellowstone is - it's bigger than I thought, you could say. For one, I was not expecting to be in the car all day! I was also not expecting to see all that I saw, so that was cool. Plenty of pics. I hit the McDonald's in West Yellowstone before heading into the park.

If you think of the park as a figure-8, my safe plan was to head towards Mammoth Hot Springs, Roosevelt Tower, then the Canyon Village. At that point, I would take stock and see if I should cut directly west and head back, or continue on a southern loop back to Madison. Later, I would realize that Old Faithful was on the southern drive, which impacted my decision.

Vapor lifting off hot pools of the Earth

This was stark. Seeing these in the distance was humbling, in a sense.

The previous 5 photos were taken within 30 minutes of stop-and-go driving. This landscape is wild and consistently changing.

Steamboat Geyser was a sight to see. It would tease onlookers with energized bubbles and hisses, but would not climax past a brief period of excitement. What I could do without (then, and through the entire park) is the horrid smell of these geysers and sulfur pools. Rotten cheese, old eggs, anything you might call it - it is without a doubt, 100% unenjoyable.

More sulfur pools. There were parking areas littered up and down the road, allowing guests to get out, walk around, and snap a few pictures. No doubt, Yellowstone is an RV's dream.

What's that, ahead?

I can't quite make it out yet...

OH

Driving down the road, wildlife will not hesitate to make your path, theirs. National Parks are designed to protect wildlife, so cars and persons must yield to live animals, even on roads. These bison... or buffalo.... were just stretching their legs!

Waterfalls would be around random bends and corners

It looked like snow in person, too.

I wanted to run up this, if only the acid wouldn't have melted my feet.

This tree was one of 3 trees that survived the most recent
volcanic activity at Yellowstone, 650,000 years ago.
The other two trees were stripped out by token-treasure hunters;
this last one remains enclosed and protected by the park.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Honestly, more enjoyable
than the North Rim of the real one.

GC of Yellowstone

These actively bubbled, attracting oo's and ah's from the travelers abound.

In Canyon Village, I could either head due west back to camp (perhaps another floating session), or continue south to West Thumb. Seeing Old Faithful on the map, I was curious to know when she was predicted to release today. I think I must have been born lucky, because I had 4 hours to get there before the next eruption - perfect! I continued south to West Thumb.

Wildlife wasn't always easy to capture

Looking east, off Yellowstone Lake

I was getting tired. I was guessing that the afternoon performance of the storied geyser would be a myriad of crowds, families, and cars. I took special care in finding a spot that would provide an easy exit, and made my way to the geyser.

The presentation is really something. The parks constructed a wooden walking platform and benches around a half-moon circumference of the spout, leaving about 75 yards(?) of space in every direction.

A close up of the geyser.

Old Faithful rang just a minute past her predicted time. I was impressed. I sprinted to my car, and made my way north.

At this time, I was beat. There was a bit more to see down by Lewis Lake, but I needed to pass through the park in the morning anyway, as the next day I was moving forward to Grand Teton. I settled on a few morning stops, and made my way back to camp for the night.