June 17, 2006

Hello all. I’m not sure how to start because it has been such an ambitious, action packed day. We were attempting to do way too many sites in the thermal areas of the park. Our first stop of the day was Artist Paintpots. This was our first experience seeing boiling water coming out of the ground. Later we would learn that the different colors are different varieties of algae and bacteria depending on temperature. The boiling mud pots were very “cool”. Next was Firehole Canyon Drive. This was extremely scenic and not as well traveled as the main roads. It follows the Filehole River. We checked out Fountain Flat Drive and found it pretty but nothing special. Next was the Fountain Paintpot area. This is the only area with all 4 major thermal attractions within walking distance, (hot springs, fumerals, mud pots, and geysers.) Onward to Firehole Lake Drive to see Great Fountain Geyser and White Dome Geyser. Neither was active while we were there. So, we headed to Old Faithful. On our way, a coyote surprised us right next to the road. As I stopped the car, we saw it cross the road behind us and disappear into the trees on the other side. It was very exciting, but it happened too fast to get pictures. Once at Old Faithful, we had a quick lunch in the car and headed to the visitor center to find out eruption times. Old Faithful was due shortly, so we went to listen to a ranger talk about the geology of Yellowstone right in front of the geyser. Suddenly, a Behive alert was issued. So we bolted from our vantage point of Old Faithful to see Beehive erupt. Behive is a very powerful geyser but only erupts once a day and is unpredictable except for a 5-10 minute warning blast from a side vent. Behive ended and we rushed back to Old Faithful to catch its eruption as well. Nobody was in the hiking mood and having witnessed 2 incredible geysers, we left the area. We stopped back at Great Fountain armed with better information. We relaxed for about 45 minutes and saw White Dome go off first. Then, Great Fountain rewarded us with a wonderful show. Our day was far from over. We set out for Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way, we were fortunate enough to see 2 black bears walking 20-30 feet off the road. This time we got pictures. Mammoth Springs were very cool but I think underappreciated by this time of the day. So, one more scheduled stop on our way back to the cabin. We checked out the petrified tree. In other words, we stopped, took a picture and left, enough said. But, our day was not done yet. We were to be treated twice more. First, by a fox. It, like the coyote, was running down the road and disappeared before we could take its picture. Finally, we came upon a group at the side of the road taking pictures of a small grizzly bear! It was a good 100 yards down the mountain so our pictures are not good, but there it was. Chris and the kids are already asleep as you can imagine. I’m not far behind them.