Chavonne's Trip to Yellowstone: Day Four

Chavonne's Hike Down the Beach in Yellowstone

Chavonne’s last day in Yellowstone is spent hiking in different areas of the park.  Since she is staying on the shores of Yellowstone Lake she starts her exploring there.

Every time she sees the lake she is amazed at how calm it is and the beautiful clarity of the water.

She walks along the shore in the dark rocky sand, out onto a sandbar that juts out into the lake.

The small rocks give way to larger rocks in the water that quickly fade to deep blue water that looks endlessly deep.

As she walks along the shore Chavonne discovers a small sulfur spring pushing up through the pebbled beach.

It is amazing that there are so many spots that have these hydrothermal springs.  They are in the most random places.  Chavonne touches the water, after putting her hand near the water to make sure it’s not too hot.  The water is warm, but not as hot as the geysers or springs in the basins.

Walking off of the shore and into the forest, Chavonne notices how lush the forest is.  A small path weaves through a streambed that is probably flooded in the spring, but now is dry.

She feels like she is in a tropical forest as she continues on her journey.  The path finally widens and Chavonne can hear running water.  She soon comes upon a cute litte bridge spanning a small stream.

She wonders what waterfall this stream comes from, or maybe it comes from one of the many springs.  Either way it is a beautiful little stream.

Chavonne enjoys her day hiking around on a few of the trails.  Coming back to camp for the last time, people are stopped on the side of the road.  Looking around, she spots what everone is looking at...a grizzly bear is wandering the side of the hill.

He is close enough that Chavonne stays in the car and enjoys seeing him from the safety of the car.  What an awesome way to end her trip!

I hope you enjoyed Chavonne's trip as much as she and I did!

Chavonne's Trip to Yellowstone: Day Three

Chavonne at Fairy Falls and Grand Prismatic Spring

On the third day in Yellowstone, Chavonne decides to go on a hike to see one of the many falls in the park.  Chavonne starts on her trek through the plains of the Midway Geyser Basin, over a stream that comes off of Grand Prismatic Springs.

The smell of the spring permeates the air with sulfur, not nearly as bad as around Old Faithful, but it's still not a pleasant smell.

She gets to a fork in the road and heads up a hill.  A steep climb brings her to an over look of Grand Prismatic Springs.

The spring is the 3rd largest spring in the world, measuring over 300 feet across.  Chavonne marvels at the beautiful colors of the spring, ranging from oranges and reds on the outside to deep blues in the middle.

She finds out the colors are caused by thermophile; bacteria that thrives in the heat of the spring.

After some time Chavonne hikes down the hill and heads towards Fairy Falls.  The three-mile hike through the woods is on a pretty flat, groomed trail. Chavonne passes through a newer forest of Lodgepole pines, only 10 to 15 feet high.

There are charred remains of trees sticking out of the ground or lying burnt and black.  A huge fire spread through Yellowstone in 1988, but since then the park has had anywhere from 1 to 78 fires per year.  It's interesting that Lodgepole pine cones actually need the heat to help open them up and spread the seeds.

So everywhere Chavonne looked, new growth had happened in the midst of the burnt out trees.

Hiking through the forest, Chavonne could finally hear the faint rushing of water.  She sped up, excited to see the falls.  As she walked the path became more narrow and less groomed.

Logs and rocks stuck out at odd angles.  But now she could see the top of the falls.

A skinny ribbon of water plunges 200 feet to a small stream bed.  Chavonne climbs over the rocks and logs to get a better view.

Mist sprays off the falls and into her face.

The single line of the falls is dashed into many mini falls by a large rock outcropping.

Chavonne feels like she could stay there all day, but decides that she should probably head back to the cabin.

She stops along the path back to look at some of the wildflowers.  The different colors and simplicity of them make them gorgeous.

Birds flutter around, singing as though no one can hear them.

She recognizes the robins and the finches but sees a few birds she can not identify.  A very friendly squirrel runs up to Chavonne, examines her from 2 feet away, then runs off about his business.

It is amazing to see all of the animals and plants.

Chavonne is a little disappointed that tomorrow will be her last day in Yellowstone but is also excited for the adventures it will bring.

Chavonne's Trip to Yellowstone: Day Two

Chavonne Visits the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Up early again for the second day, Chavonne was met by fog in the valley and in the plains.  The fog drifted over the prairie, the suns shining from behind.  A lone buffalo walked in view, but Chavonne was sure there were more looming in the dense fog further away.

Continuing up Grand Loop road, Chavonne watched as the fog slowly drifted down the river's edges. It's a beautiful sight.

Chavonne is worried that the canyon may be filled with fog.

It is not though.  The morning sun really makes the walls of the canyon glow yellow.

The canyon, cut by the Yellowstone river, is 20 miles long.  The steep walls are more than 1,000 feet high.   Chavonne walks along the paved paths to the brink of the Upper Falls.

It's hard to see the falls since the river curves, but she gets to see the water pouring over the brink.

The mist follows the walls of the canyon, plants growing on the side that gets touched bby the water.

Further on in her hike she marvels at Lower Falls.  The falls have a beautiful dark green right at the lip; the waters natural color seen because of the depth right before the water tumbles over the brink.

Anywhere between 5,000 and 63,000 gallons of water rush over the falls.  Chavonne hears a ranger telling visitors that the falls have changed very little in the hundreds of years since people were visiting Yellowstone.  That is because the rock is so hard compared to waterfalls like Niagara.

Chavonne stops for a bite to eat, before continuing on her trek.  She's very careful to take any garbage  with her after she is done eating all of her food.

She doesn't want to litter, and she definetly does not want to run into any bears with food in her backpack!  The flowers bloom everywhere along the path.  Chavonne stops and takes some photos of an orange flower called a "paintbrush".

She loves how vibarant they are and their neat shape.

As the trail winds through the canyon top she can see down into the valley.  At one point she spots an osprey's nest.

High on the top of a rock tower, sits a huge 5 foot in diameter nest. A young opsrey sits in it, while the parents soar along the canyon's floor, looking for fish in the river.  What an awesome sight.  Everything is amazing here!

While returning back to the cabin, Chavonne stops to watch some buffalo.  The plains are covered with them.  In the entire park there are over 4,000 buffalo now.

Stopped on the side of the road so she can see the buffalo better, Chavonne notices one that is rolling in the dirt.

Buffalo roll in the dirt to get clean.  The show makes Chavonne laugh a little.

It's funny to think that rolling in the dirt helps get you clean, but for the buffalo, it does.

As the sun sets behind the cabin, Chavonne thinks of the adventures she will have tomorrow at Yellowstone!

Chavonne's Trip to Yellowstone

Chavonne Goes to Old Faithful

Yellowstone is one of the largest National Parks in the US.  At 3,472 square miles, it spreads into 3 states.  It has over 290 waterfalls, 10,000 hydrothermal features, 500 geysers, and over 67 species of mammals.  It is the 5th most visited park in the nation, getting about 4.2 million visitors a year.

Chavonne was so excited to visit Yellowstone.  There was so much to see, she wasn't sure where to start.  Early on the first day she was there, she woke up, put on some layers of clothes (in the morning it was in the 40's, but by noon it was in the upper 80's) and got ready for a day of exploring.  She decided that she would go to see Old Faithful and the basin that Old Faithful is in.

As we drive to Old Faithful, we spot an amazing little road that takes across a sandbar on Yellowstone Lake.  Yellowstone Lake is huge!!!  Covering 131 square miles, it has over 141 miles of shoreline.  And it is beautifully calm in the morning.

There are very small waves that lap the shore as Chavonne sits to take a photo.  The water is clear and cool, but not cold.  Such a pretty way to start the morning.

There are so many things to stop and see as we go to Old Faithful that we have to pick and choose.  We decide to stop at West Thumb Geyser Basin, since we see a huge thermal off to our right.  The trail allows us to walk past some small springs and geysers.  The steam coming off the springs is intense and has a not so pleasant smell.

As Chavonne is about to leave elk appear through the fog and steam.  A mother and her baby and a stag.  What a beautiful sight!

Finally after a long drive Old Faithful is in sight.  Old Faithful is part of the Upper Geyser Basin which has 150 geysers in it.

Old Faithful is the most famous, partly because it is pretty predicatable as far as it's eruptions.

It erupts every 90 minutes or so.  Water shoots up over 100 feet in the air for 1 to 5 minutes.  Chavonne arrived just after Old Faithful erupted, so she took photos without the geyser going off.

It is still amazing to see, and later, as she waited to see another geyser go off, she did get to see Old Faithful expell some 4,000 gallons of water!

Wondering around the basin is awesome.  There are so many neat little termal features.  Some of the springs bubble as the super heated water comes up from within the earth.

Some of them just seap water out over their edges.  And others continously steam.

Chavonne sits on the ledge near Blue Star Spring.  Although it is only 6 feet deep, the cool blue color in this spring is amazing.

But don't be fooled, this spring is hot!  At 192 degrees it is very dangerous.

Another feauture that Chavonne got to see was Beehive Geyser.  Behive is not as predictable as Old Faithful, but it is spectacular.  Chavonne had to wait almost an hour to see it erupt, which isn't bad considering the interval time between eruptions is 7 hours to a few days.

The cone of behive is four feet wide which forces the water out in a concentrated spray, kind of like a spary nozzel on a hose.

The water shoots up almost 200 feet and makes a roraing sound as it comes out.  The show lasts 4 minute or so and is then done.  Chavonne was so excited that she was able to see such a neat eruption on a fairly unpredictable geyser.

The rest of the day Chavonne drove through the park, stopping at random spots to take a look at things quickly.  Tomorrow she is going to go to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone!