I’ve started to think that if I enjoy reading about other peoples’ travels, and looking at their photos, maybe (maybe) someone would like to look at some photos from my travels.
These were taken on a long day going through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming this June.
Although the landscape and geological features are the major features of Yellowstone National Park, wildlife sightings are another major aspect.
While driving through the park, you may often come across dozens of cars parked on both sides of the road, and clusters of people with binoculars. We encountered a bear jam (not pictured), an elk jam, and a bison jam at various times during the day.
However, we saw lots of bison in various spots without car jams.
Here are a few grazing by the side of the road, who I photographed as we drove by. (No stopping, I did not want any closer of an encounter!)
Yellowstone contains approximately 5 zillion geothermal features–more specifically, according to the National Park Service, over 500 geysers. We saw quite a few of them, but I wasn’t properly thinking about blogging. I took several videos (which I can’t really upload) but no photos.
We did climb a hill above the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is a very large hot spring, with thermophilic microorganisms that form rings of different colors at the edges. Those spots in the photo at the top left of the Spring are people on a boardwalk.
On our walk up to the hill, the ground on either side of the boardwalk looked like an ordinary field. I can see why tourists need to be reminded to stay on the boardwalk, because the land seems to be totally fine to walk on–until you notice the steam wafting out from various spots and the dry/dead patches where boiling water erupted.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone offers plenty of scenic outlooks, and the Canyon Visitor Education center has a number of informative displays.
For example, the last time Yellowstone had a major eruption (630,000 years ago), the fallout covered about 1/3 of the continental US. If (when) it blows again, life in the USA will not be the same. It might not even be present.
A less depressing fact offered at the center concerns the lower falls of the Yellowstone. Apparently there is a nice shallow gap in the rocks at the top of the fall, so that a section of the river doesn’t get agitated. That’s why we can see that green stripe in the falls.
We stopped at Artist’s Point, overlooking the lower falls. As we were about to leave, the sun came out and illuminated the waterfall; it turned the water into a ribbon of silver.
At the south end of Yellowstone, you can leave the park for a few miles, and then enter Grand Teton National Park. I think it is just beautiful to look at and drive through.
Below is a photo of (most of) the range…
…and here is a photo from Oxbow Bend, where many famous photographers have captured Mount Moran and the Snake river.
I hope you enjoyed these photos and a small glimpse of these 2 national parks.
Let me know if this was a type of post you enjoy. Considering how many trips I’ve taken this year, I can certainly offer a few more posts from the west of the USA.