Yellowstone

Ever since it’s establishment in 1872, Yellowstone has been a must see in America. As the world’s first National Park, it’s foundation was the start of America’s best idea, the National Park system. From towering mountains to rainbow hot springs, Yellowstone is one of the most other-worldly parks.

The Springs.

Hot as the dickens and beautiful as a sunset, these springs were captivating. The area around them is unstable though, so there was a boardwalk we were supposed to walk on so we didn’t fall through and, well, get very scalded.

Fun fact; the hotter the spring, the less colorful. The color comes from bacteria in the water, which can’t survive if the water gets to a certain temperature.

The Landscape.

Because of the mineral soil surrounding the springs, it created quite the spectacle. It reminded me of another planet almost.

The colored mud is actually bacterial flats. That’s one of the reasons this area smelled quite putrid.

The Geysers.

Unbeknownst to me, Yellowstone actually hosts over half of the world’s geysers. Some are rather predictable, like Old Faithful (only plus or minus fifteen minutes from predicted eruption) whereas some could be up to two hours off. Nonetheless, we loved watching them, and with the surrounding landscape and rainbow pools, it was quite beautiful.

(Those last three pics are of Old Faithful)

The Wildlife.

The best place by far to see wildlife in Yellowstone is Lamar Valley. Even without looking it up we would have figured it out, because of all the people camped out there.

On every pull-off there were at least five cars, sometimes more, waiting for something to come down from the mountain.

Because it’s fall, this is the most active time of the year, with the animals stocking up for winter and whatnot.

Luckily we were wise enough to ask every telescope-using, wildlife-enthusiast who was on the side of the road, or we wouldn’t have seen the dot on the side of the mountain.

Also luckily there was a family nice enough to use their telescope, or we definitely wouldn’t have seen our first grizzly bear :)

Since he was so far I wasn’t able to get a picture, but basically he was big, brown, and had a hump on his back. A grizzly for sure.

And stopping up traffic was this little guy, getting ready for winter and being adorable 🥰.

The Waterfall.

On our last day here, as our last expedition, we went on a very steep hike to see the Lower Falls of Yellowstone.

This was probably my favorite thing we did. Big, gushing waterfalls are one of my favorite things in nature. Even though the hike totally sucked on the way back, it was worth it.

We spent three full days here, but yet we didn‘t even scratch the surface of this grand park. Because of the smoke blowing in from the California fires, the air quality took quite the tumble, so we will be going back again.

Fortunately, there is one place free of smoky horizons, and that is Glacier National Park, our next stop! Hoping to see another bear 🤞🏼 or maybe a bear catching salmon! Eh? 😀

Tune in next week for the next adventure ;)

Love y’all,

-R.D.

PS

“Could you tell Lily to get off her phone? I need some attention.”