Waterfalls, Yellowstone National Park, WA, USA
Hitting the major touristy attractions of the Yellowstone National Park was definitely one of our goals, so on our second day in the park we set off to see the Yellowstone falls.
I'm really not exaggerating when I'm saying that it's a very touristy place. We have visited 5(!!!) different viewpoints to see the Lower Falls in all of the glory, and there are definitely more viewpoints that you can visit if you walk along the rim trail!
Artist Point offers the view of the falls from the furthest vantage point, but it really is a great setting to see how the falls are framed by the canyon walls:
View to the other side:
Unfortunately, it's one of those places where one has to fight for a place by the rail... Well, at least there are enough people to get a chance of a good photo! (Don't get me started on "photographers" who cover up the falls by the people in the picture... *sigh*)
The best way to avoid the crowds is to take a trail to the viewpoint. Uncle Tom's trail on the South Rim is a 300 steps endeavor that takes you 500 feet down. Unfortunately, the trickle of interested people was still quiet large and the platform at the bottom was too small to accommodate everybody, so there were still line ups to take a picture...
The most successful hike, in my humble opinion, was the hike to Red Rock Point on the North Rim:
0.5 miles to the destination and 500 feet elevation change has ensured that there was only 1 other person at the bottom, and we finally were able to spend time actually looking at the falls...
The absolutely worst was the Brink of the Falls. It reminded me my viewing of La Jaconda in Paris: we stood in a crowded room for 15 minutes, inching closer to the painting, shoving each other, only to finally get a chance to look at the painting for 10 seconds before the museum worker asked the front row to leave... Look it up online and you'll get a much better viewing experience!
I absolutely can't show the Lower Falls without talking at least a little about its surroundings: the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The canyon varies from 800 to 1200 feet in depth and 1500 to 4000 feet in width. It's length is about 24 miles:
The first 2.5 miles are the most colorful. The lovely colors are due to the activity of hot springs and the depositing of iron compounds as a result:
Just for completeness I'd like to include here the Upper Falls and Christie Falls. It was funny to reflect on their description in the book: "Often overlooked in favor of Lower Falls, those falls are still lovely", - couldn't say it better myself :)
Another prominent feature of the Yellowstone National Park for us were bisons. We first saw them in a group on the other side of the lake, and just stood there for at least 15 minutes, observing them:
We then got surprised to see this couple close to our trail. They were nonchalantly grazing the grass mere 50 meters away!
Just look at them: it seems like they are from another era, especially the male!
After that we got to see the bison 20 meters away in the parking lot, and then drive after him as he was slowly walking on the highway... But they still didn't transfer to the "common" or "usual" category for me:
Nifty rock layers that we got to see while driving north from the Yellowstone Falls. The orderly columns are of volcanic origin: when lava flowed from the cracks in the Yellowstone plateau, it was a fire river of 25 feet deep! As the lava cooled down and contracted, it formed contraction cracks, producing hexagonal columns of balsalt.
Petrified tree is another reminder of Yellowstone's volcanic past. The tree in the picture is a redwood - same as the ones that can be found in California. When the volcanoes erupted here 50 million years ago, they triggered land slides that buried entire forests. But before the trees could rot, abundant silica in volcanic flow plugged the living cells, creating "forests of stone".
Our hikes to Undine and Wraith Falls have offered the views of a very different Yellowstone National Park: one with rolling green hills:
abundant with flowers:
waterfalls:
Undine and Wraith Falls:
and wildlife:
Quite a different park indeed!
I'm really not exaggerating when I'm saying that it's a very touristy place. We have visited 5(!!!) different viewpoints to see the Lower Falls in all of the glory, and there are definitely more viewpoints that you can visit if you walk along the rim trail!
Artist Point offers the view of the falls from the furthest vantage point, but it really is a great setting to see how the falls are framed by the canyon walls:
View to the other side:
Unfortunately, it's one of those places where one has to fight for a place by the rail... Well, at least there are enough people to get a chance of a good photo! (Don't get me started on "photographers" who cover up the falls by the people in the picture... *sigh*)
The best way to avoid the crowds is to take a trail to the viewpoint. Uncle Tom's trail on the South Rim is a 300 steps endeavor that takes you 500 feet down. Unfortunately, the trickle of interested people was still quiet large and the platform at the bottom was too small to accommodate everybody, so there were still line ups to take a picture...
The most successful hike, in my humble opinion, was the hike to Red Rock Point on the North Rim:
0.5 miles to the destination and 500 feet elevation change has ensured that there was only 1 other person at the bottom, and we finally were able to spend time actually looking at the falls...
The absolutely worst was the Brink of the Falls. It reminded me my viewing of La Jaconda in Paris: we stood in a crowded room for 15 minutes, inching closer to the painting, shoving each other, only to finally get a chance to look at the painting for 10 seconds before the museum worker asked the front row to leave... Look it up online and you'll get a much better viewing experience!
I absolutely can't show the Lower Falls without talking at least a little about its surroundings: the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The canyon varies from 800 to 1200 feet in depth and 1500 to 4000 feet in width. It's length is about 24 miles:
The first 2.5 miles are the most colorful. The lovely colors are due to the activity of hot springs and the depositing of iron compounds as a result:
Just for completeness I'd like to include here the Upper Falls and Christie Falls. It was funny to reflect on their description in the book: "Often overlooked in favor of Lower Falls, those falls are still lovely", - couldn't say it better myself :)
Another prominent feature of the Yellowstone National Park for us were bisons. We first saw them in a group on the other side of the lake, and just stood there for at least 15 minutes, observing them:
We then got surprised to see this couple close to our trail. They were nonchalantly grazing the grass mere 50 meters away!
Just look at them: it seems like they are from another era, especially the male!
After that we got to see the bison 20 meters away in the parking lot, and then drive after him as he was slowly walking on the highway... But they still didn't transfer to the "common" or "usual" category for me:
Nifty rock layers that we got to see while driving north from the Yellowstone Falls. The orderly columns are of volcanic origin: when lava flowed from the cracks in the Yellowstone plateau, it was a fire river of 25 feet deep! As the lava cooled down and contracted, it formed contraction cracks, producing hexagonal columns of balsalt.
Petrified tree is another reminder of Yellowstone's volcanic past. The tree in the picture is a redwood - same as the ones that can be found in California. When the volcanoes erupted here 50 million years ago, they triggered land slides that buried entire forests. But before the trees could rot, abundant silica in volcanic flow plugged the living cells, creating "forests of stone".
Our hikes to Undine and Wraith Falls have offered the views of a very different Yellowstone National Park: one with rolling green hills:
abundant with flowers:
waterfalls:
Undine and Wraith Falls:
and wildlife:
Quite a different park indeed!