"Just last month when I was in Yellowstone Park..."
I believe I threatened all of you with picspam when I came back from vacation... and I have yet to fulfill that threat. So here we go: Yellowstone Park picspam. And in case this isn't menacing enough, these photos are from just one day of vacation. I have lots left to choose from for future picspams. *cackles evilly*
We drove to Yellowstone from the south. Reportedly the south entrance is the prettiest, but from what I saw inside the park, I don't think it would make much difference. The views are spectacular in every direction. Anyway, we drove through Jackson, then into the Teton National Forest. It takes about an hour to traverse the national forest from south to north.
This lake shows how gorgeous the scenery is:
Some wildflowers:
And mountains again:
Finally we were close to the Yellowstone entrance. Not surprisingly, lots of cars are lined up to enter. By the way, my handy advice is to travel with a senior citizen. For ten dollars they can buy a lifetime national park entrance card. Since I was in the car with my agèd mother, I didn't have to pay anything. (Heh.)
There are still lots of visible signs from the large forest fires that burned through a few years ago... such as the dead trees around this pond.
If you look closely at the water you can see dead tree trunks in the pond as well.
We saw elk at a great distance:
And another elk up close (in the trees--it was hard to get a good angle and I wasn't about to go tramping around closer to a large horned elk.
We also saw buffalo, but I've seen buffalo all of my life (growing up near some nature reserves), so I didn't take any pictures.
This gorgeous little pond had lily pads, some in bloom.
Next to the pond was a thicket of wild raspberries. That's me reaching in to pick more.
From the south park entrance it takes about an hour to drive up to Old Faithful. Currently it's erupting (or whatever it's called) about every ninety-two minutes. We got there just in time for a show:
That area of the park is full of small geysers and bubbling hot springs. We walked around most of it, carefully using the raised sidewalks (as opposed to walking around on the thin ground, which isn't allowed). Here's a geyser with an appreciative audience in the background:
Some of the hot water stagnates, allowing bacteria to grow. Bacteria mat:
Another geyser, which erupts continuously (reportedly it's very impressive twice a day):
Yet another hour's drive north and we made it to Mammoth Hot Springs. It's the hot spring formation that has a stepping-stone appearance. In this photo you can see the currently active portion (foreground) and the part that has died out--the water has stopped flowing (background--it's white rather than colorful).
The trees in the picture are now petrified, having soaked up minerals from the water. Presumably they're rock-hard, but I didn't walk out there to check. *g*
One more picture of it:
We started our long drive back south. As it got later the view became more colorful. I took way too many photos:
We also saw this, um, fox? I think it's a fox, not a coyote.
And that's it! More pics another day.
We drove to Yellowstone from the south. Reportedly the south entrance is the prettiest, but from what I saw inside the park, I don't think it would make much difference. The views are spectacular in every direction. Anyway, we drove through Jackson, then into the Teton National Forest. It takes about an hour to traverse the national forest from south to north.
This lake shows how gorgeous the scenery is:
Some wildflowers:
And mountains again:
Finally we were close to the Yellowstone entrance. Not surprisingly, lots of cars are lined up to enter. By the way, my handy advice is to travel with a senior citizen. For ten dollars they can buy a lifetime national park entrance card. Since I was in the car with my agèd mother, I didn't have to pay anything. (Heh.)
There are still lots of visible signs from the large forest fires that burned through a few years ago... such as the dead trees around this pond.
If you look closely at the water you can see dead tree trunks in the pond as well.
We saw elk at a great distance:
And another elk up close (in the trees--it was hard to get a good angle and I wasn't about to go tramping around closer to a large horned elk.
We also saw buffalo, but I've seen buffalo all of my life (growing up near some nature reserves), so I didn't take any pictures.
This gorgeous little pond had lily pads, some in bloom.
Next to the pond was a thicket of wild raspberries. That's me reaching in to pick more.
From the south park entrance it takes about an hour to drive up to Old Faithful. Currently it's erupting (or whatever it's called) about every ninety-two minutes. We got there just in time for a show:
That area of the park is full of small geysers and bubbling hot springs. We walked around most of it, carefully using the raised sidewalks (as opposed to walking around on the thin ground, which isn't allowed). Here's a geyser with an appreciative audience in the background:
Some of the hot water stagnates, allowing bacteria to grow. Bacteria mat:
Another geyser, which erupts continuously (reportedly it's very impressive twice a day):
Yet another hour's drive north and we made it to Mammoth Hot Springs. It's the hot spring formation that has a stepping-stone appearance. In this photo you can see the currently active portion (foreground) and the part that has died out--the water has stopped flowing (background--it's white rather than colorful).
The trees in the picture are now petrified, having soaked up minerals from the water. Presumably they're rock-hard, but I didn't walk out there to check. *g*
One more picture of it:
We started our long drive back south. As it got later the view became more colorful. I took way too many photos:
We also saw this, um, fox? I think it's a fox, not a coyote.
And that's it! More pics another day.