04-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 01
Yellowstone is located in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extends into both Idaho and Montana. It was established as a national park in 1872 and is the nation’s oldest national park.
05-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 02
Yellowstone attracts 3 million visitors annually. Its symbol is Old Faithful, a large cone geyser that erupts about every hour. It shoots steam and boiling water 150’ into the air. The park is filled with active thermal areas that include a collection of the world’s most extraordinary geysers, steam vents, boiling cauldrons of hot water and mud, and hot, cascading mineral laden water. These would be enough to satisfy every visitor, but there’s more.
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 03
(Photo Note: This is the Hayden Valley. Like so many of the valleys in Yellowstone, there is a quality of looking back in time. It seems memorable Michener novels began with a line something like "It was a bright, sunny day, sixty-five million years ago, when the mastodon strolled across the valley...". There is a primeval feeling that speaks to the bones of one's spirit.)
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 04
Yellowstone offers spectacular scenery of snow capped mountains, broad valleys, rivers and streams with rushing clear water and close up views of elk, bison, grizzly and black bear, antelope and wolves. And there’s also the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and its waterfalls.
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 05
We first visited Yellowstone National Park in 1968 when we moved from Michigan to California.
Many make Yellowstone their travel destination, but that has never been our plan. Because of our travel between California and Michigan, we’ve always driven through the park as we’ve traveled east or west. With a destination beyond the park, we’ve always limited our stay. About the time we find the rhythm of the park, it’s time to go. Staying longer without the need to get back on the road would be nice.
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 07
(Photo note: If anyone doubts the interior of the earth is hot, visiting Yellowstone will clear up that misconception. I've never lost my fascination for seeing super heated water boiling in earthen pots like this one. What's missing here is the heavy sulphur smell that accompanies the steam.)
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 08
We’ve been satisfied behaving like typical tourists in Yellowstone. We visit the geyser basins and walk the steamy boardwalks. We drive around in search of wildlife hanging out near the roads. We’ve fished for the Yellowstone cutthroat trout on the park’s rivers and on Yellowstone Lake. And we’ve hiked across several of the broad, open valleys. Photography has dominated much of the time of our most recent visits.
05-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 10
Our relationship with Yellowstone changed dramatically five year ago. We were staying in the Pebble Creek campground in the Lamar Valley. It’s a small and still relatively unknown campground tucked away in the northeast corner of the park. A wolf pack that had established a den on nearby Druid Peak had become prominent. We went hoping, but not expecting, to see wolves.
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 11
(Photo note: Most of the elk were still at higher elevations during our visit. Bison move around too with the weather. We missed seeing the large number of elk that we've seen before, but there were herds of bison grazing throughout the park to attract our attention.)
