Yellowstone – Canyon

Watching Yogi and Boo-Boo’s adventures in Jellystone was probably my very first introduction to an American National Park. Most storylines involved Yogi, who thought he was smarter than the average bear, stealing picnics from visitors to the park and Boo-Boo trying to stop him getting in trouble with the ranger.

Yellowstone was the first National Park in America and was established in 1872 to protect the wildlife and natural beauty for all and in 1916 the National Park Service was created, so is celebrating its centennial this year.

In the early days, visitors were allowed to feed the bears and no trip was complete without a photo taken with the bears, who had learned to beg for food. This was changed in 1970 after numerous injuries caused by close contact, and visitors are now told to keep their distance making it harder to observe bears but safer for bears and visitors.

We drove straight into the park this morning, showing our pass, only to end up in a bit of a traffic jam for an hour or so, mainly just due to number of visitors. Once further into the park, cars spread out and the only slow patches were where wildlife was spotted. Our first sighting was of some elk grazing, and shortly afterwards, a lone bison close to the road.

Yellowstone has the largest volcanic system in North America and is situated over an active volcano which last erupted around 640,000 years ago leaving the Yellowstone caldera, a volcanic basin some 30 by 45 miles across in the centre of the park. There is hydrothermal activity all over the park, including hot springs, geysers, fumaroles and mud pots, all of which are unpredictable, with new features appearing and others becoming dormant. There are also quite sulphurous, so there is often a bit of a whiff in the air.

We continued along the Madison River till we reached Beryl Spring, one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone, just below boiling point.

A little further, and we followed a boardwalk circuit for a mile …

… through lodge pole pines …

… then on to the Artist Paint Pots, where the red colour is due to iron deposits.

Norris Geyser Basin is home to the hottest and most acidic of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas and we walked round the Back Basin first …

… and then the Porcelain Basin named for the milky blue pools saturated with silica …

… and Emerald Spring and Cistern Spring.

We found a peachy lunch stop just near the Virginia Cascades …

… then continued to the huge Hayden Valley …

with the Yellowstone River running through it…

… in search of wildlife and came across several groups of bison …

… one of which stopped the traffic while they crossed the road.

The river runs into the Yellowstone lake, 136sq miles, in fact it looked a bit like the sea!

Exhausted, we called it a day and checked to our huge western cabin at Canyon Lodge, with a view of the forest beyond.

We were just bringing our luggage in when Chris noticed movement, and we went and watched a group of elks grazing and the bull elk come and check up on his females.

We later heard him calling an eerie call staking his claim on the herd. We ate in the dining room at the lodge which was disappointing and slow, so we’ll see if we can find an alternative for tomorrow.

We awoke early to a bright chilly morning with ice on the car and after a great breakfast of pancakes and omelette in the Soda Fountain we were off to explore.

Everywhere there was mist rising and we went to look at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, some 20 miles long and 1200ft deep in places. Along the South Rim Drive to Artists Point we saw one of the most famous view of the upper falls which drop 109ft over a lip of volcanic rock.

We hiked along the rim towards Point Sublime and saw some great views of the canyon.

We met Keith and Julie from Wisconsin at one of the viewpoints and chatted about, hiking, hols, and life … as you do, had another look at Upper Falls with more sun on them before stopping at Uncle Tom’s Point to see Lower Falls.

Having had a bit of exercise, we now headed north over the Dunraven Pass at 8895ft and came across another wildlife traffic jam, this time caused by people stopping by the side of the road where there wasn’t space, hoping to see a family of bears. We were disappointed that so many people ignored park rules which say you can only stop in pullouts and mustn’t block traffic, as much as anything as we felt it wasn’t really fair on the bears! We didn’t stop, and didn’t see a bear (although when we came back in the afternoon, we glimpsed the sight of a bear bottom disappearing into the trees!)

Next up is Tower with some amazing rock formations and with eager eyes, you can spot hikers on the opposite side.

Mammoth Hot Springs is the National Park Headquarters and home to terraces formed by travertine depositing hot springs.

The colours in the water are caused by thermophile micro-organisms that thrive here and the formations have names such as Liberty Cap …

… and Palette Spring.

We took a drive into the Lamar Valley on the way back in search of wildlife and did see some Bighorn sheep by the road, but the bison were too far away to photograph. We got back and found a bison in the back field, right on our doorstep!

We returned to the Soda Fountain for supper, and actually had a better meal than in the dining room.

Another early start to check out the lookouts along the Northern Rim Drive with the best view of the lower falls and the canyon at Look Out Point.

Then we continued to the base of Mount Washburn to do the ‘must do’ hike to the top, an ascent of 1,400ft over 3 miles, so nice and steady.

The views were fabulous from the start, including one of the summit with the fire look-out station on top …

… then we met up with Jan and Bob from Colorado on one of the switchbacks and continued together. Bob was telling us about the can of bear spray he was carrying on the advise of a motel they had stayed at, and we were kind of thinking the chance of seeing a bear when this was one of the most hiked routes in the park was remote, when round the next bend we saw a bear, a black bear, on the path, snuffling around for pine cones for breakfast!

We couldn’t believe our luck and while we approached further than we should have, he seemed quite chilled and preoccupied and we followed him along the path.

We took photos, and after around 15 minutes, he decided to leave the path and head down into the woods so we waited for him to go and walked on.

Needless to say, it made our day! While the views at the top were stunning, the bear definitely was the highlight of our hike.

Afterwards we headed to the southern part of the park, stopping to see Gibbons Falls and Firehole Falls …

hen turning off down Fountain Flat Drive to see some bison quite close to the road. As we watched, a huge bull herded the group towards Nez Perce Creek and encouraged them to cross … just like a scene from a Western movie!

Next Stop Old Faithful …