The five weeks we spent touring Washington State have been fantastic. However, when planning this holiday we knew we were leaving the best to last. And we were right. Yellowstone National Park is definitely one of the most stunningly beautiful, fascinating, diverse and engaging places that we have every visited.
In 1872, Yellowstone became the USA’s first National Park. The nearly 3,500-sq.-mile wilderness recreation area sits atop a volcanic hot spot. Mostly in Wyoming, the park also spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs and gushing geysers, including its most famous, Old Faithful. In fact, Yellowstone’s geothermal areas contain about half the world’s active geysers. It’s also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope.
The park is situated at high elevations, with much of the road network and hiking trails between 7,000 to 9,000 ft., which made walking much more tiring.
Here are just some of the highlights from the week we spent in Yellowstone National Park:
It was often slow-going driving around the park, particularly when you got stuck in a Bison traffic jam!
Early morning in Norris Geyser Basin – the first visitors brave the boardwalks to view the steaming hot geysers and springs.
Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces overlooked by the Gallatin Mountain Range.
Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces – Rain waters seep into the rocks, and once they reach a certain depth, they are heated by the action of boiling magma. Then they rise back to the surface of the earth. Unlike at Norris Geysers Basin, the waters at Mammoth Hot Springs are not expelled into the air. They cross the rocks and deposit limestone sediments on the surface. The warm waters slowly flow from one basin to another, forming terraces called travertine formations.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is approx. 20 miles long and 1,000 ft. deep. It was formed by erosion as the Yellowstone River flowed over progressively softer, less resistant rock. The picture shows early morning sun starting to illuminate the 308ft. Lower Falls at the end of the Canyon.
Yellowstone River roars through the Grand Canyon
The walls of the Grand Canyon – clinging on to life!
The Yellow-Bellied Marmot is common throughout the park in summer, but a long hibernation season of up to 8 months, makes it difficult to spot them at other times.
Driving across the 8,859 ft. Dunraven Pass, with a backdrop of the Absaroka Range of Mountains.
Gibbon Falls – Located on the Gibbon River, the falls drop roughly 84 feet in a gradual descent.
Old Faithful is the most famous, though not the highest, of all North American geysers. Here it is simmering steam, its normal state between eruptions.
Old Faithful erupts approximately every 90 minutes and each eruption lasts up to 5 minutes. Old Faithful’s billowing steam and hot water column rises on average about 140 ft.
Doublet Pool
The calming blue-water of the Heart Pool is overshadowed by the eruption of the Lion Geyser in the background.
Grotto Geyser is one of the strangest looking geysers in the Park.
Situated at 7,733 feet above sea level, Yellowstone Lake is the largest high elevation lake in North America. It is approx. 20 miles long and 14 miles wide and freezes over completely in winter. The Absaroka Mountains provide a beautiful backdrop for the lake.
A group of canoeists passing the Fishing Cone Geyser, which is part submerged in Yellowstone Lake.
The Yellowstone River winds through Hayden Valley.
Grand Prismatic Spring
The name Artists Paintpots comes from the striking hues of mud and hot spring water that can be found in this area; red, yellow, emerald, milk-blue.
Dead trees litter the edge of the Black Diamond Pool at Biscuit Basin.
Clepsydra Geyser erupting at Fountain Paint Pot in the Lower Geyser Basin.
Charlotte is so engrossed in reading about the bubbling Geyser that she doesn’t realise she is about to be engulfed by steam!
Tomorrow we are leaving for the UK at the end of our 6-week Northwestern USA adventure.
Charlotte & Graham's Travels 