Steamy, Smelly, and Spectacular (Prismatic and Norris Geyser Basin)

Yellowstone National Park (68 degrees, beautiful blue skies)

The weather continued to be beautiful and our friends Bob and Patsy wanted to go to Yellowstone and offered to drive. Sold!  It’s an all day journey to Yellowstone from Moose and additional time now is needed due to a bridge being replaced near Old Faithful (road between West Thumb and Old Faithful is closed until July 2015).  It’s such a fascinating place and being able to spend time with our friends made the time go by quickly.  

We tried to stop at Norris Geyser; however, the parking lot was full.  So, we traveled further to Grand Prismatic Spring.  This is the largest hot spring in the U.S. and measures 250 feet by 300 feet with a depth of 160 feet.  It’s a kaleidoscope of color; however, you cannot really see its beauty from the boardwalk.   So your best opportunity to view it is to either fly over it or climb up a hill and view from an elevated height.  Climbing was our option.  Be sure to park at the Fairy Falls parking lot and visit on a clear warm day. If to much steam is developing from low temperatures the spring will not be very visible

We saw some pretty smaller hot springs at the beginning of the trail.  Runoff from the Prismatic could also be seen draining down the stream.   

John, Patsy, and Bob heading down the tail (Prismatic in the distance)

In the distance there was no mistaking where the Prismatic Spring was located due to a blue cloud hovering above it.  The hot spring was much larger than I expected.  Patsy remembered a good place to climb up the hill  There is not a trail of any sort and it is a very steep climb.  A photography guide I have suggested not looking back until reached the vantage point.  It wasn't a very easy climb for me but I was determined.  It was worth all the effort.  Such a rainbow of colors can be seen from this vantage point. 

Over 560 gallons of water is discharged every minute and the run off could be seen which looked like rays of sunshine.  It is a spectacular sight.  The wide variety of colors is due to the algae which grow at different temperatures (called bacteria mats).OK, get ready to a feast your eyes on this beauty.

John and Bob

Going back down the hill was even more difficult but I managed not to fall or slide or do anything embarrassing at a high rate of speed.  Whew!

We then drove by an area called Fire Canyon Drive.  It is a very scenic drive with areas where you can swim.  The water is warmer due to some thermal springs. When our nephew Ben visited us this summer it was his favorite place in the park.  Part of the road was closed early in the spring due to melting.  Yellowstone is an ever shifting landscape.  Did I mention you are traveling in a supervolcano

Our next stop was Firehole Lake Drive. There were some bubbling and boiling rivers here which were amazing. I love the name of this little one - Young Hopeful Geyser

Young Hopeful Geyser

HOT Cascade

This is the first time I've ever seen a boiling river.  

We then headed to Old Faithful Hotel to have lunch on the second floor porch.  It was a great place to eat and it’s ok to bring a packed lunch.  You can see Old Faithful erupt while you are eating if the timing is right. 

We saw a few fashion statements while visiting today.  People watching can be fun with Patsy. Mustard green seems to be the new " in color" . Well at least for some.

We went back this time and luckily found a shady parking spot at Norris Basin   It is the hottest (459 degrees) and most changeable landscape in the park. There are two main trails.  The first one overlooks the Porcelain Basin.  It’s easy to see how it go this name.  The overlook spans an immense space of steaming and bubbling geysers.  There are no trees in this area, only burnt up remnants.  It is such a stark landscape. 

Massive Steam Vent

Algae mats

Back Basin is a complete contrast from the first trail. There are beautiful pines lining the boardwalk offering a lusher landscape. The Steamboat Geyser (worlds tallest- over 300 feet) recently erupted for the first time in many years on September 3^rd.   We were hoping it would go again, but no such luck.  

Steamboat Geyser

This bubbling green go is called the Cistern Spring and was it ever smelly.  This picture does not quite capture its weirdness.

The hot spring below reminded Patsy of a manatee.She must be missing Ding Darling and Sanibel.

Even our dog Jimmy got to go along today. He loved all the special attention. He wasn't able to go on the trails but took naps while we explored for short periods of time.

John, Jimmy, & Bob

As we were leaving the park we saw a huge bull elk right strutting his stuff along the side of the road. There was a female nearby and suddenly he bugled right beside Bob's truck. Wow!  She wasn't interested but we sure were amazed.  What a great ending to our day. Thanks Bob and Patsy for driving. It's always fun to go on road trips with you.

THE END OF ANOTHER GREAT DAY!

Yellowstone Lake Paddle

Yellowstone Lake, YNP (56 degrees, cold, rainy)

I think more fondly of this trip now as I write this post and review the pictures. At the time it was a very cold day and the kayak trip did not quite live up to our expectations (more about this later). I've always been fascinated by Yellowstone Lake.  It's a huge body of water (covers 136 square miles and has 110 miles of shore). We have stopped many times and viewed it during our trips up to Yellowstone.  We wanted to paddle part of the lake which goes by some of the geysers, however, we had been told it can be a very dangerous lake and waves can quickly rise up to six feet in height in a blink of an eye.  Weather changes are frequent in this area and oftentimes very unpredictable.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

A guided kayak trip seemed like the best option and our friend Karen found a reputable outfitter called O.A.R.S offering a half day trip which promised to view geysers, bubbling pots, and provided all the equipment and a guide.  We signed up for the trip way in advance.  It was advised by the tour company to have a waterproof jacket and pants.  With a little bit of research we purchased a jacket and pants and this turned out to be a very good idea.  The weather was very chilly the day of our trip and it rained most of the way up to Yellowstone.  Cancelling was not really an option due to a step change policy and very few weekends left as an alternative.

Interpretative Range

We met up with Karen and Al and stopped first at West Thumb Geyser Basin and planned to walk along the boardwalk and look at the boiling geysers and hydrothermal activity.  The visitor center told us about a guided ranger tour and the timing was perfect.  Our very experienced ranger told us so much about the area and explained how it was formed.  Her explanation about the temperature of the thermal features was very interesting.  She also told us about a bacteria which was discovered here which made a company very rich. 

Black Pool

This area is constantly changing and is currently a little less active.  Water temperatures vary widely and range from around 135 degrees to over 200 degrees. The ranger explained how the colors designated the temperature of the pool.

The Black Pool is extensive and very alkaline.  It's really a lovely blue color unlike it's name. The ranger actually measured the temperature of the pool with the help of a young volunteer. The yellow and green color on the edges is algae which grows in the higher temperatures.

The ranger is getting ready to measure the temperature of the pool. Warm mist surrounded us along the boardwalk in this area.  It felt rather good on such a cold day.

Yellow color is algae

The empty holes below were fascinating.  The ranger showed us a picture taken by her last year where blue water covered much of the area  According to her the pools suddenly disappeared in February. How weird.  Make you wonder what's going on below.

Thumb Paint Pots were very famous during early explorations of this area.  Tourists came here by stagecoach and steamship to view them.  These are very acidic and almost 200 degrees and slowly bubble and burp.

Thumb Paint Pots

The picture below is of a very famous cone out in the lake where fishermen would cook their catch while still on the line in the cone and eat them right on the spot.  Good eating if you don't mind a few chemical additives. :)

Fish Cone

After our tour with the ranger we had a quick warm lunch at the restaurant.  We had packed lunches but having something warm to ear before the kayak trip seemed like a good idea.  As you can see from the picture below our weather did not improve.

We met up with our two guides and loaded into the tandem kayaks provided.  They gave us each a dry bag and a life jacket.  There was a brief discussion and off we went.  We were a small group of only eight including our guides.

We headed back to the same area we had just toured with the ranger.  This was a little disappointing because we were hoping to see different thermal areas.  Our guides were very friendly and explained more to us about the area.  As far as we could see in both directions was this huge lake and it was only 1/8 of the total lake.

We all got out for a brief stretch mid point.  It was really needed because our kayaks were extremely uncomfortable.  The seats were terrible and no mater how we shifted it was impossible to get comfortable and could not adjustable in any way.  The guides were well aware of the issues with the kayaks and we all felt it really distracted from enjoying the trip.  

After returning to our kayaks we quickly arrived in the West Thumb area.  As we got closer the water the temperature really changed due to the thermal pools draining into the lake.  As you ran your hand in the water you could feel cold and hot pockets of water. 

Karen all bundled up to keep warm

View of the fishing cone from the water

Very HOT water draining into the lake

It was a very interesting day.  Yellowstone National Park is such an amazing park. We were all disappointed with the kayak trip due to the inferior equipment.  We could have easily done this trip on our own and been a lot more comfortable in our own kayaks.  However, was still great fun to be with Karen and Al.  On the way back we had a nice dinner at Flagg Ranch and hope to get together again soon.

We'd like to visit Yellowstone one more time before leaving.  The Old Faithful area is off limits to us for now due to road closures.  There is so much to see in this park.  We'll definitely have to return again for another season.  

Karen loves to take pictures too!