Yellowstone 2007: A Photographic Adventure - Additional Pics and Stories

Apr 21, 2008

From the Archives

Current mood:satisfied

Almost a year has passed, and we are actually planning another trip to Yellowstone in May. We're hoping to see more animals this time, less with the geothermal features.

I will start with the additional pictures.

In day 1 and 2 I mentioned the forest fires of Yellowstone which burned thousands of acres of land. My previous post mentioned an upcoming photo. including original text for reference.

Thursday morning we woke up and headed towards the lower loop of Yellowstone. Passed through the newly growing forest of Madison. In 1988 there was a huge fire that devastated much of Yellowstone. Last time I was there, there were solid hills, mountain sides, and fields of nothing but black earth. 5 years later all the new trees have started coming in, and yes, it is actually very fascinating to see the re-growth of the forest. Some places the trees are 2 feet tall, some they have gotten as high as 10 feet. I have no explanation for the difference of height. Yellowstone being the great experiment of determining how best to let nature do it's thing, while letting humans roam about as well, decided in 1970 to let fires put themselves out. Well, the great fire of 88 they had to step in because it was out of control. Anyway, long story short, it really is fascinating to see such a large portion of forests start from scratch. My mom is really upsetthey let this fire go as long as it did, I feel they did the right thing of letting mother nature do what it does best. The fire was naturally caused, and actually one of the species of trees cannot reproduce without fire. (really cool useless fact) I think it is a perfectly natural process of a forest to burn, recycle the materials and start over.

 
As you can see this forest is rapidly... well it seems that way, really slowly, recovering from the fire. Here the trees are about 6 feet tall, and you can make out a few of the trees that remain standing after the original fire. Not black earth anymore, in fact a vibrant beautiful landscape of young lodgepole pines.

Also in the day 1 and 2 blog, for the life of me I could not get my darn photo of Fishing Bridge to post, I don't know what the deal was so here is the original picture I tempted...

 
and, one from my dads camera.

 
Really cool bridge isn't it?

The infamous Moose story (with better pictures)

We we're mostly through Dunraven pass when we got stuck in one of the all too common animal jams along Yellowstones roads. Due to the area, and the size of the jam we all thought it was a bear of some sort. So we pulled over, I hopped out with my camera, and walked down the road quite a ways to find this moose.

 
I snapped a few pictures and went back towards the car. Almost there My mom is ambling down the hill with my dads camera. She hollers down the road (we are about 50-100 feet apart at this point)

"WAS IT A BEAR???" (She’s shouting so the caps is appropriate.)
"NO, MOOSE!" I shout back
"TWO?"
"NO MOM, MOOSE, MOOSE!!!!"
"TWO BEAR?!?!?"
"NO! MOOSE!!!" I put my thumbs against my head fingers up to represent the antlers of a moose "MOOSE!!! MOOSE!!!!"
"THERES TWO OF EM!???!?!?!" At this point we're about 10-15 feet apart, I shake my head and keep walking.
"Moose mom. Its a moose. Big rack though"
"OOOOH,” she exclaims. “I thought you said two of em. Big rack you say?" Handing me the camera "Dad wants a picture of a Moose with a rack, last moose we saw didn't have one." Great. So I grab the camera and head back DOWN the hill to snap more pictures of a moose chewing its cud. This is where I managed to get the rangers ear for a minute to ask about Fossil Ridge so that at least was good. Upon returning to the car I look at my mom, put my thumbs against my head and say:
"Mom. MOOOOOOOOOSEEEEE" while waiving my fingers wildly back and forth.
"Well I can't see you that far away!" We have a good laugh the rest of the way down Dunraven Pass. My mom has since had the at the time unknown cataracts fixed and can see quite clearly now. In fact no longer requires the glasses. All the better to give her grief about the (thumbs against head, fingers in the air) MOOOOOSEEE story. hehe. I love my Mom.

And here are a few pictures of us infront of some of the sites.

 
Landis, Mom, Myself, and some random kid in front of Dragons Cauldron

Landis and I at Mammoth Hot Springs

 
Mom, Myself and Landis again at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Large Buffalo on the road.

Towards the end of my vacation I was starting to think this was the same buffalo every time. This is where we passed the First buffalo ambling down the road, like it is his own personal path. Then there was the one we almost hit, heading strait down the road. Then there was one crossing fishing bridge, and of course the one in mammoth. All 4 instances the buffalo was heading down the road, not across it. The above picture my dad leaned out the window and snapped as he idled by. Seriously I don't think the car stopped moving, luckily neither had traffic.

While in West Yellowstone, I did a lot of gift shopping. I picked up several unique shot glasses.

these are the ones I picked up during my trip.

I also got some beer steins I picked up one for me, and a few for friends. Apparently a berry named Huckleberry only grows in this area so after trying the huckleberry ice cream (awesome try it) I picked up some Huckleberry Honey/Jam and Huckleberry Vinaigrette. The honey/jam is awesome on an English muffin. The vinaigrette... not so much on a salad.

Lastly to summarize the vacation it probably rates the highest on my list for several reasons. The nostalgia, and finding those spots I so vaguely, or so strongly remember as a child. The reconnecting with my parents, and my parents connecting with Landis. The awesome luck we had with the geysers, and the all around relaxing good vacation. I'll say it again, everyone should see Yellowstone during their lifetime. There is so much to see and do, you can go several times and still not see everything. I bet there are people who have lived there for years and have not seen everything.

Coming Up: Andrews Guide to the Yellowstone vacation and... Do You Really need to spend 6 hours in the car to view geothermal features?

Yellowstone 2007 A Photo Diary: Day 4

Apr 11, 2008

From The Archives

Current mood:accomplished

I finally managed to get the rest of my pictures from my dad. Unfortunately, the batteries died in my camera the last day as we left the cabin so I had to use my dad's camera for the rest of the day. My dad is not as tech savvy as he used to be, so unfortunately he was unable to send me the picture's despite my unrelenting requests. So I took advantage of easter and just put the pictures onto mu USB drive myself. hehe. So I apologize for the delay, which unfortunately will result in some trip loss. :( but better late than never right?

If you need the refresher: Day 1&2, Day 3

The long awaited, Much anticipated day 4: Saturday

This was checkout day for the cabin. We had a choice of heading down to Jackson Hole, and taking the longer route home, or doing a few more park things and going back home the way we came. I really wanted Landis to get the full Yellowstone experience so I wanted to do more geysers. Well we get up and it is raining again. So we don't think we are going to get to do anything. While we were still in town we decide to take advantage of the 2 day pass we have to the Bear and Grizzly center. Its not much but it's something.

I am very glad we went. Apparently, an unfortunate squirrel had wondered into the wolf pen. So I got to watch the wolves tear apart and eat a squirrel. Not only that, but, I believe, because of the rain I got to watch the entire pack howl. That was astounding.

We then met back up with my parents and spent quality family time shamelessly riding a bear.

I know it should be illegal. After an hour there the rain let up, so we decided to check out the Lower Geyser Basin back in the park.

As we were driving we passed a herd of elk. A very common sighting in Yellowstone, and not all that fascinating, considering you can see these about everywhere you look. However here is a picture. w00t.

24 miles later we arrive at firehole lake drive. This is an awesome one way road that allows you to drive right up to some really cool geysers.  You can park, and walk less than 20 feet, or even watch them from your car. Its really neat. I don't remember if I mentioned this in one of the other posts but Landis, is like the good luck charm of Yellowstone I swear. Not only did we have amazing luck with the weather, but we saw tons of geysers and it was seriously like we would walk up to it, and it would go off.

Firehole Spring - This is a really cool spring that is constantly gushing out of the earth and every oh 1-2 mins would release a giant bubble that would make a big splash. Really pretty color patterns too.

 
This set of geysers doesn't really have a name, rather a number. I believe it is in the White Creek Group. This one erupts every 3 minutes or so (at the time anyway). It went probably 10-15 feet high.

 

 

I finally got to see Great Fountain Geyser erupt, and it was just spectacular. I have wanted to see this geyser go off for some time and it was definitely a sight. I didn't even have to wait, we walked up and it started to go. This geyser, like Grand as its namesake hints at, it is a fountain type geyser. It is named Great Fountain because it has a large pool surrounding it on a raised terrace, and it erupts from the center of this for up to 3 hours! And it is HUGE (100 feet across!!). An added bonus I noticed that I am certain they didn't think about when originally naming it, they way it erupts it is reminiscent of Vegas style fountains. It just goes every which way when it erupted it didn't go up, it swirled up and outwards like the fountains in Vegas. While all the run off washed down the multiple terraced rims. Absolutely amazing.

White Dome Geyser - Even my parents had never seen this one erupt before. This was my first time as well. This geyser, even when not erupting is cool because the cone is so big the biggest I am aware of. Yet the opening for the water is so small. Pretty nifty little guy.

  
We then arrived at Firehole Lake, which is adjacent to Hot Lake, Hot Rapids, and constant Geyser. Firehole lake is fed by a few Geysers, and has a terra cota/rust color throughout. It fairly large, at least 100 feet across and as my mom randomly decided to check is very hot. Constant geyser is on the edge of a small ledge above hot lake, below firehole lake. I didn't notice if this lake was named. And yes, this Geyser is aptly named it is constantly erupting. Not very tall though, 5 feet max. All of this constant water supply feeds hot rapids which feeds hot lake, again aptly named It was not cold today, but look at all the steam coming off of it. And it is a good sized lake. I'm not sure, but my guess would be probably a good 300 feet across. There is something magical about this area. I don't know what it is, the beauty of the woods, and the creeks and streams, with all the mist completely enveloping, embracing you as you walk.

Of course it could have been because Landis and my mom were completely nerding out and talking about a children's book they want to write together. My mom talking all animated and mysterious like she was reading it to an imaginary audience of children. She is a school teacher after all so I can cut her some slack. This alone was worth the trip, watching the love of my life bond with my mother, my mother bonding with my boyfriend. This is a new experience for me. Since I am writing this almost a year later I can also add that ever since then, they have been really close. We always joke about the moose experience (see next blog) with my mom and have a good laugh. This trip with my parents was a blessing. I know they don't fully understand or necessarily like that I am gay, however they are accepting it, and welcoming my boyfriend into their lives. But I digress.

After Firehole Lake drive we hop across the main road to Fountain Paint pots. (I recommend doing this is the same order as Firehole Lake drive is a one way road, and it lets out right at the entrance for Fountain Paint Pots.

 

Fountain Paint Pot - The feature this trail was named for. Considering how early in the year it was, and how rainy it had been this weekend I was disappointed. I thought it would be more bubbly. Meh.

 
Red Spouter - I am unsure if both of these holes are Red Spouter, or if the only one is and the other has a different name. Either way, they are pretty cool, they make a lot of noise as they hiss and spew.

Dead earth. a bunch of geysers spreading out forever. This part of the rail looks like the end of the world. Nothing grows here. Steam and smoke spew out in all directions. It is humbling. One of the great reminders of staying on the boardwalk.

Cledsydra Geyser. This geyser is constantly going and actually pretty high for a constantly erupting geyser. In fact we passed a smaller geysers eruption to see this. After I realized this one was going to keep going I turned back to the other one to see it had stopped. Oh well. Clepsydra is Greek for water clock named so because it used to erupt every 3 minutes or so until an earthquake in 1959 changed its pattern. I really liked this one because it has several openings and is constantly changing how it comes out, again I reference a Vegas style fountain for the way this looked. Really neat.

The boardwalk eventually looped back to the parking lot. Not much to see after clepsydra, just more dead earth. This trail is still worth going down. It probably takes 30 - 45 minutes and there are a lot of cool things to see.
Another 10 miles or so down the loop we arrived at Midway Geyser Basin.

Midway is a series of very large hot springs all surrounding Excelsior Geyser. Which currently in it's inactive state is also a large hot spring. When Excelsior was active, in the 1800's it was the tallest geyser in the world at over 300 feet. It went through a long dormant period until 1985 when it hit a 45 hour active period again, though not as spectacular, only achieving 30-75 feet during eruptions every 5-90 seconds. Now it is a large spring gushing 4,000 - 4,500 thousands of gallons a minute into the firehole river, sitting in an extraordinarily large crater it must have blasted out when it first erupted.

 
Runoff of Excelsior

Above Excelsior sit several springs including Grand Prismatic Spring, which is the largest hot spring in the park. (3rd largest in the world) It is over 300 feet across releasing 560 gallons per minute.

Grand Prismatic Spring

 
Runoff of Grand Prismatic Spring which has some really cool growth in it, and unfortunately a few drawings and signatures. why do humans feel the need to leave their mark on historical objects, ruining them? There were also 2 hats sitting in the very large runoff path due to the particularly gusty day it was.

It started getting late, so we decided to head home after our wonderful vacation. Of course there was a very nasty electrical storm the whole way back. I thought I was going to die several times, particularly when it started raining in sheets, and my dad couldn't see anything... I distinctly remember veering across three lanes of traffic as he tried to get his bearings within the lanes... luckily we made it home safe and sound. The animals survived, my house survived. Ultimately it was a wonderful vacation. Can't wait to go again. If you have not yet, I highly recommend planning a Yellowstone vacation. There is so much to see and do in such a condensed area it is definitely a worthwhile vacation. And nowadays you have your choice, of roughing it in the wilderness with a tent, or staying in a high class hotel still with plenty to do all around you.

Coming up in the next post:

Additional Photos and stories Including the infamous MOOSE story!

My guide to the short Yellowstone Vacation.

Utah Museum Of Natural History

From The Archives

Well, Mother Nature ruined my plans today, so we made alternate plans. We decided to go to The Utah Museum of Natural Sciences... or something to that extent. I am pretty sure all of those words are in the title, but possibly in the wrong order, and I don’t care to look it up. Fine... Okay it’s The Utah Museum Of Natural History. I was pretty darn close.

We met up with Heidi, Monica and Deitrich. After the adventure of parking, we all head towards the doors. We originally imagined this would be a free adventure, well the doors stated 6 bucks per adult. Well, after some deliberation, we can deal with this. So we go in, and the nice lady at the front desk informs us that they will be closing in 45 minutes, and to just go on in, free of charge. w00t. (this short time frame factored into the deliberation so this worked out well.)

We go on upstairs and have two choices. I don’t remember the choices but I believed to the right was Minerals, etc. and the left was Paleontology, etc. With a small window, I elected right. We pass this behemoth of a a pretty rock:

Right into the Dinosaur room. Have you ever had that fracture of a memory, of being somewhere but you’re not sure where? Possibly, has your brain gone on to just place it where you believed it should go? Interestingly enough recently I have been thinking about this place I saw the giant Allosaurus  and woolly mammoth skeletons in real life. I had always just assumed it was a Dinosaur museum of some sort, probably down south, even possibly at Thanksgiving Point. Well....

Apparently I went on a field trip at some point to this museum. These are the things that burned into my memory. Well these and a wall downstairs that I felt weird about taking a picture of, because there was some sort of show going on in front of it. I saw these skeleton replicas and got so excited I ran across the room giggling like a school girl. Probably almost exactly as I did 15 - 20 odd years ago when I originally came here.




We continued down the Dinosaur exhibit gawking at the various fossils, and fossil replicas. Touching all we were aloud to touch (and then some.. cough) all 5 of us were running around this area like little 5 year olds. I know this is entirely nerdy, but it is amazing what a museum will pull out of your brain.

We played around with the seismic area, recreated our own earthquakes, and put on the 3d specs to look at the Wasatch Front in 3d. We played with a geiger-meter. We then skimmed through the minerals and stones etc. Oooh, piddy. Spent some time in the local critters in the area, and all enjoyed the stuffed wolf. My random locker of useless facts plopped out fact: Wolves have been spotted in Utah for the first time since the 30’s. The faceplate in front of the stuffed wolf confirmed the latter half of my story. (if your interested KSL confirms the former half)

We then entered the Native American exhibit. Which was cool. Apparently so cool it covered 2 floors of the building. (I imagine different time frames) anyway, the upper portion had some recreation huts etc. As we we navigating the curvy corridor there was a hut with a person in front of it. We all assumed part of the display.. until it moved. I screamed a little, because well, quiet museum, and something moved that I didn’t think should have. Seriously, do NOT go to the museum wearing a plain colored long cloak. It spooks the other patrons!

We then went downstairs into the extended Native American section. Here are some cool recreations of petroglyphs.








Our journey continued into the History of Birds or wetlands, or something area. This place was not that great. Woooo birds. Then there was a wolf so I looked at that for a while. I turned around and saw THIS.



Okay seriously this time I screamed, and clutched my heart, almost dropped to the floor. WHAT THE HELL??? This thing looks likes some of the scariest things in horror movies. This looks like the stuff of nightmares. This... this just aint right. Apparently it is a goose decoy suit of some sort. Seriously… I had nightmares about it that night.

Memory Grove

Mar 26, 2008

From The Archives

Current mood:adventurous

Part two of my nature day weekend.

After hiking up and down Ensign Peak, and getting all the crap out of my lungs. (side note: seriously, I hacked and coughed and flubbered the whole way up Ensign Peak, but was perfectly fine after resting at the top. I guess it helped to exercise some.) We then decided to take a walk through Memory Grove.

Directions: Just below the capital. If you seriously can’t find it, Google map it.
Of course this is never as easy as it appears. The defunct hard wireing in my brain mixed up the two aspects of Memory Grove and I took us towards the entrance to Gravity Hill rather than the entrance to the park itself... so after some adventuring in the avenues, and readjusting my bearings we enter the park.

Of course there is the beginning section, which is basically a War Veteran monument park. Really pretty place to just chill and hang and have a picnic, while being surrounded by monuments that seem to have been stolen from just about every major human era you can think of. Okay that was snarky, true but snarky. They are really cool none the less.

 
Meditation Chapel (greek)

I forget what this is called, but looks Roman.

No Image but there is an Egyptian Pillar as well. :)

On a side note, the park seems to have recovered just fine from the random, out of no where tornado we had back in 99. Not the video I was looking for, but it gets my point across. I know this is a major segue, but its been a topic lately I have been thinking about and discussing, as ridiculous as it seems to non Utahans to have freaked out as much as we did over what was it a class 3 tornado... we don’t get tornado’s in metropolitan areas, and it was just very random and extreme to all of us mountain folk.

Back to the topic at hand. After this area we head down the Memory Grove trail. Past what we used to refer as the alter, which apparently has just been named the Austin Stairs. The erected a giant stone atop the alter/drinking fountain that states Austin Stairs. wooooo.

 
The Austin Stairs (formerly referred to as the alter (see next pic))

One of the 4 Pentagrams that are in each surrounding corner of the Austin Stairs. Still wonder why we referred to it as the alter?

We then traveled further down the trail towards what we have always referred to as the witches hut.

The Witches Hut.

I am certain this was not an actual witches hut. In fact due to all the man made waterfalls and bridges and tubes within City Creek, I personally think this was once a water purification station, or maybe a mill. Of course maybe some degenerate witch lived here. Who knows. I was unable to find ANY information on the web regarding these ruins. I did however run across this... short story.. which while juvenile, is an interesting story and provides more folklore than even I have heard of this place. Also helps to explain the interesting energy vibes that exist during dusk.

One of the cute bridges over City Creek

Back down the trail. Now this trail, this is what I would call an easy trail. You have 2 options. Easy, and SUPER easy. You can take the paved road to the left, or the foot path to the right. Both of which a fairly flat and easy to walk down. Both stay relatively close to City Creek. Random useless act for today's writings: Most of City Creek is in fact located directly BENEATH Salt Lake City. It comes down this canyon, though this park and then disappears underground (manmade) at Brigham Young Park. When the Mormons built the new conference center, the waterfall was their way of bringing City Creek back to the city a little bit anyway. Also interestingly enough, City Creek is the body of water that caused the Salt Lake floods of 83.

Thank you Mr scientific. Moving along the trail, which is far prettier than Ensign Peak trail, as its wooded, and has a creek running next to it. After passing a few bridges and man made waterfalls we pass this pipe.

 
The weird thing about this random pipe is we could hear the sound of the creek emanating from it. it was also a good 50 yards or so from the creek. I just thought it was random.

We continued up the trail and it did begin to incline. Not sure time wise but my guess is maybe 20-30 minutes in depending on how fast you walk. We went uphill a bit and crossed this rickety old bridge?

I don’t know if it is still considered a bridge when it stays against the side of a cliff... which happens to overhang a man made waterfall? Either way. it was a little weird, then directly after, it appears someone needs to ADD to the rickety old bridge because there is a very small ledge you had to side step across that had a short 20 foot drop off into the creek.

The trail continued to... dissipate. Not quite the word I want, it seemed to be less beaten, and had smaller clearances to the trees. My comment was it started to look like a hobbit trail. It then proceeded to arrive to a cliff next to another waterfall. The trail itself started to zigzag up around the cliff, and fork off. This was about the part we decided we were done. So we turned around and went back the way we came.

Final Analysis. Easy Easy Easy hike. Very pretty. Combination of Nature, and man made artistic monuments, strewn not just in the park park, but throughout the trail as well. Downsides: Popular, and also an off leash dog trail. watch for plops, and smells of wet dog in areas.

That was my nature day. What started as a I need to get out of the house and do something in nature day ended in some fun adventuring. We have also decided to attempt to do a hiking day at least once a week. Not only for the nature fix, but we could really use the exercise once in a while too. :)

Didn’t have the squirrel system then, but would go with an 8 out of 10.