After those "hot springs" and seeing some elk grazing on the lawn of the residential/administration section of the town of Mammoth (I'll get to that), I headed to Boiling River, an area of the Gardiner River where thermal springs combine with frigid river waters to create beautifully almost-scalding water. I was in the hot springs for 3 hours, chatting with a woman from New Mexico. These are my fingers:
It began to ran about 10 minutes after I decided to brave the cold and get out of the water (good timing), and I made myself some dinner and then tucked in in the passenger seat of Gomez (my car, for those of you who aren't acquainted with him) and read for a couple hours before passing out.
Next morning I woke up a bit late (8AM!) and headed to the Lamar Valley, the northeastern corner of the park known for its wildlife populations. I saw a bunch of herds of buffalo that far exceeded the numbers of any that I had seen before, and also 4 black wolves eating something they had killed (through a nice gentleman's mega-huge telescope. My puny telephoto lens couldn't pick them up at all). The scenery out here was beautiful, but didn't steal the cake from Glacier, which remains my favorite for the moment.
I wanted to go down the canyon road on the east side of the park, which was supposed to close on Oct 14th, but instead it closed early, so after seeing tower falls I had to turn back and go all the way to Mammoth again. I stopped there for a regrettable veggie cheeseburger and fries...
I continued on, stopping at Norris and Midway Geyser Basins. The geysers look really awesome in photos from the air, but from the ground all you can see is steam, and it smells terrible to boot... Too bad geysers are the main attraction at Yellowstone....
I headed out to Canyon and Artist's Point (the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone") from the west side, and got there just in time for sunset. It was beautiful, and the falls in Artist's Point were the best in the whole park.
I saw 2 bull elk fighting on my way back toward Madison, where I had set up my tent. During the day it had snowed, and that night was CHILLY.... 24 degrees, actually, and there was ice/snow/frost all over my tent this morning.
Today I went on to see many waterfalls, and Old Faithful, possibly the most famous area of any national park in America. Luckily I got there in time for an eruption within 10 minutes, and then hung out in the dining area for a while (there was phone service!), treating myself to a much better lunch than the day before's "treat"... I had a rootbeer float!
On the way down to the southern exit of the park towards Grand Teton National Park, a black bear was eating and searching for ants on the side of the road, and all of these people were REALLY close, taking pictures. After being in Glacier and learning the right amount of respect for these animals from the experts, I was almost mad at these fools, whistling to get the bear to look up for a better photo op. Not to mention that they all were saying it was a grizzly, in contrast to the very obvious shape of it's face....
All in all Yellowstone was very beautiful, and full of really diverse landscapes, but I would have to say that it was overdeveloped, in my opinion. Maybe it is because it is one of the oldest parks (actually, the oldest I think), that back in the old days people who went to parks couldn't camp, but stayed in resorts. But it just seemed so contrived to me, especially after the absolute wilderness of Glacier. Mammoth Hot Springs had a post office, a resort, 2 restaurants, administration buildings, souveneir stores, and probably 150 homes. It was like an actual town.... Still, once you were out of the towns the wilderness was definitely wild.
(This is right after he smelled his female..... must be part of the courting ritual.)
more photos at http://gallery.me.com/caseys_travels/100095
1 comment:
Awesome pictures, Casey!
Sounds like you encountered some of the craziest, most unsafe animals of all - tourists!
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