THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, Roosevelt, Snow and One Last Look

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Our last day in Yellowstone was June 25th, 2011.  We were driving what I have chosen to call the north loop in the park, it was called Grand Loop on the GPS.  After the bear sighting/photo op thrill, we continued east towards the Tower-Roosevelt area.   Below, this is the Roosevelt Lodge area, this is the lodge and general store.  We stopped for a short break and a snack.

Below, the cabins, yes, you can book a stay in them, they open in mid May and close early September.  And yes, they are quite small.  Cute, aren't they?

Next we stop at the area known for the bleached cliffs, which also had these outstanding formations, but, first the beached cliffs.  In this area there is a lot of steam that rises from the Calcite Springs, steam and chemicals.  The combination of steam and chemicals actually turn the cliff above the springs and river a pale yellow/white pulp.  Sure makes for a pretty photo.

In the same area there are some basalt formations called hexagonal columns.  They were formed due to lava which actually caused a flood of fire about twenty five feet deep.  That is a really horrible description of the notes I found on the signage, and now we all know why I was never meant to be a scientist or geologist!  LOL  Here are two photos, see that contrasting stone that looks like it was just chiseled out , neat, eh??  The river cannot be seen in this photo, but, it is down there.

Zoom a bit:

The road now takes a turn towards the south, we are headed toward Canyon Village, but there are several more beautiful sights to see, and one last really good dose of snow.  Not far from the Calcite Springs area shown above is the Tower Falls. They drop 132 feet, it is a short 150 yard walk down to the viewing area.

Back in Big Butt heading UP the mountain we stop for a photo op, panoramic style:

We climb from about 8100 feet to close to 8450 feet according to the photos I took of the GPS (my techy way of taking notes!  LOL) and it was 56 degrees and there was just a bit of snow left on the ground from last winter:

As we continue back down the mountain from Dunraven Pass (elevation 8859 feet) I take just a few more photos of this huge magnificent Yellowstone National Park, our first national park, the last is below:

Our visit to Yellowstone will be over as soon as we drive from Canyon Village back west to Norris, then south to Madison and then west to West Yellowtone.  I took no more photos.  It has been quite the week, geysers, mountains, fish, bear, bison, baby bison, rivers, waterfalls, lakes and more of each.  It was expensive to stay there, even with Tana, the most we have paid anywhere, I believe.  The elevation was an issue for us and thus there were sights we did not see, roads we did not drive.  Not sure we will ever be able to go back, but, the crystal clear lakes, streams, rivers, snow covered mountain tops will be forever in our memories and I have just a few photos to help maintain the memories.

Yellowstone was, simply - Totally! Awesome!

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THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, It's Bear Time

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Man had a few bucket list items during THE Trip.  One was to see bears, black and grizzly.  Our first chance at seeing a black bear had been a couple of days prior and even though he saw the bear, the photo op was a bust. Man had tried, but, bear was not cooperating.  I'll tell ya right now, that his bucket list still includes the grizzly, and I for one, am just fine with that.  I was already pushing my luck and comfort zone with my close encounter with the bison and the elk or mule deer that just about ran into Big Butt two days prior in the Canyon Village area.

On June 25, 2011 after lunch in the Mammoth Hot Springs area, we continued our drive around what I am calling the "north loop".  Now headed east we are headed for the Tower-Roosevelt area of the park.  From the photo below you can see that the rivers are all quite full, they had four times the normal snow fall the winter before in and around Utah, Montana, Wyoming and other northwestern states of the US.  Snow was still on the mountain tops and the rivers had not yet crested from the melt off.  All that water and the spring green sure made for some beautiful scenery.

There are several areas in the park where we noted there had been fires, some set as controlled burns, others, acts of Mother Nature or careless visitors.  Burned areas are dramatic, one can imagine the drama of the event, and the prior beauty.  But, it is a time of re-birth as well, and I find it rather fascinating to view the aftermath, the new tiny trees and their pale green beginnings.  You can see the lay of the land, pockets of water, maybe paper thin springs and running water that you cannot see through the heavy forests.  During our ride from Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt I spied this area that had burned, and there near the base of this burnt tree, a shelf mushroom.  The photo is not the best of the mushroom, but check out the evidence of the fire and the evidence of a forest being re-born.

We continued on our drive, and not 2 minutes later we saw, yes, here it comes, a BEAR!  It was lumbering down the hillside coming directly at the road, and us.  And, I had Man do just what they tell you NOT to do, pretty much stop on the roadway, and of course, you block other traffic behind you (cause you know the oncoming traffic has done the same thing - - stopped).  There are no shoulders to speak of, so, if you stop, you stop on the road.  We wanted to watch bear and of course, Sony and I wanted a photo op.  I rolled the window down, and started shooting.

See, here it comes:

Closer, and moving along at a pretty good clip, even though you think of them as lumbering, from our first glance and photo till my last photo, about 3 minutes time.

And, closer yet.

About this point in the photo shoot Mr. or Mrs. Bear was getting pretty close to Big Butt and occupants, which included all 3 yorkies.  Taking no chances that said bear would smell said yorkies and become overly interested I gave Man the "let's get outta here NOW" command, and he hit the gas peddle.  We were the first vehicle stopped in the queue, so away we went.  I tried for one more photo, best of the photo op in some ways, only, missed the head portion, SIGHHH.  Only regrets this entire trip, photos missed.  If Man had not stepped on the gas quite so hard, oh, never mind!  LOL

And, that is our bear story/sighting of the entire trip.  Close enough for moi.  Total encounter a little over 3 minutes, you just saw ALL the photos I was able to click off.  The rest of the time I was in stunned awe!




* By the way, none of these photos were edited as far as size, I  most likely had Sony zoomed some when the photos were shot, but, the post photo editing I did with Photoshop consisted only of a bit of auto correct, a little brightness and/or contrast adjustment and maybe a tweak with the sharpness tool.  So, yes, that bear came fairly close to the truck and occupants.
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THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, Driving to Mammoth Hot Springs

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

On June 25th 2011 we made our last visit to Yellowstone National Park.  We left West Yellowstone, drove to Madison and turned north.  At Norris we kept going north, heading to Mammoth Hot Springs.  On tap for the day is to have lunch at Mammoth Hot Springs, then drive what I am calling the north loop, east to the Tower-Roosevelt area, then south to Canyon Village area and returning to Norris, Madison and West Yellowstone.

Below:  Sheepeater Cliff, name for the Shoshone Indians who used the bighorn sheep.  The cliffs are now a very popular climbing place, for young and old(er) alike.  You can't tell from this photo, but, lots of youngsters just scamper up this cliff, almost as if they are bighorn sheep.

Sony brings us closer.  And, no, Man, nor I, attempted a climb.

Below:  another view of the area, more cliffs  The cliffs were formed some 500,000 years ago by basalt lava that formed these columnar joints when it cooled.

This is the Golden Gate area, ya, we drove over that bridge, and ya, ole Carol was looking out the window of Big Butt on that far right side.

On some park signage nearby I found this photo and information.  The signage explains that a wooden trestle was built in 1885 by the Corps of Engineers.  It has been replaced twice since 1900.  I have to say, I am really glad it was replaced, cause the chances of getting me over this wooden thing are slim and NONE!

Turn around 180 degrees from the view of the bridge and behind you, Rustic Falls.  Putting the search engine to work I found some web sites, one web site that talked about Rustic Falls, here, and another site is here.   Fun to look at the difference in the amount of water coming over the falls on these two sites.

Continuing our drive north to Mammoth Hot Springs, at one point you can see the town, the Albright Visitor Center and Historic Fort Yellowstone, below.

We drove through the Upper Terraces area, and probably would have stopped for a photo op or two, but we could not find a parking spot for Big Butt (and we were getting hungry!).  But, Man snapped this nice photo of the Orange Spring Mound out the truck window.  This spring flows from vents from the top and the side.  The color comes from thermophiles that living in the hot water. (As a reminder, when I link to another web site, you must be the judge as to the validity of the information.  I find em, lead you to em, you read em and judge em!)

The formation below is called Liberty Cap, it is 37 feet tall, created from a hot spring that was active in this one location for maybe hundreds of years.  The internal pressure raised the water to a great height, which allowed the mineral deposits to slowly build up.  Kinda cool, err, warm eh??

We finally made our way into Mammoth Hot Springs and had a wonderful lunch.   Many of our friends asked us if we saw the herds of elk while there.  Well, mmm, NO.  Not one elk.  Even the sign said we should see elk.  SIGHH.

We did spy this bird, it is a black-billed magpie.

And, we saw these rodents, believed to be the Uinta ground squirrel. They were busy little creatures, scurrying, having some lunch of the weeds and grasses growing there.

I have to admit, they are kinda cute, and my faithful readers will remember how much I love (?) rodents.  NOT!!

After our lunch we wandered over to the visitors center, and had a look at the displays.  It was time to get back on the road, we will head east towards the Tower-Roosevelt area, and we will have a bit of a close encounter with - - well, come on back, and soon I'll show you - -




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THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, Bison, Symbol of the American West

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

According to the Yellowstone National Park web site, the population of their herd of bison fluctuates from 2300 to 4500 members.  I can tell you that when Man and I left Yellowstone our lasting memories were of snow in June, cold crystal clear waters running wild and deep in streams, rivers, water falls and lakes, stinky thermal geysers and pots and hot springs, the true green of pines and trees and grasses, and Bison.

On our way home at the end of a long day, June 23, 2011, the huge herd of bison that seemed to be hanging out along Madison River between Madison and West Yellowstone were off the side of the road, but, still attracting a large crowd of humans, including, yep, Man and I.  We snagged a parking spot in one of the viewing areas and watched the babies playing, kicking up their heels in the dust and the parents lumbering around content to chew a bit of grass.

I shot a little over 30 photos, and if you don't tell my kids, I will fess up to getting out of Big Butt and taking my photos at the edge of the parking lot.  Of course, bison have no idea I am standing in a parking lot, and so, they do tend to wander over into "my" space, errr, their space, always their space.  I am only so brave, and snicker, I don't think it is that brave at all.  While the bison were 30 or more feet away I was so so in my comfort zone.  But, when one walked closer than that, I started hugging someones car.  Not Big Butt, someone else's car!  Oh, and Man was not real happy with me.  So, don't do as I do, do as I say, best to stay in your car!  Cause they can run at speeds of around 35 MPH, so, mmmm, that 30 feet, well, let's be honest, it was not far enough, nor was it safe.

But, enough of that, no more words, just 7 of the photos of the bison of Yellowstone:

*  Now, please remember, that Sony can zoom to 20 times!  Remember before you lecture me for being too close!  LOL
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THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and MORE Waterfalls

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

June 23, 2011

After our drive to Fishing Bridge and our little bear hunt gone lousy, we turned back north and drove along Yellowstone River to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone area.  This entire area is around 8000 in elevation, Man and I were having issues walking down to the view points and then back out again.  We went slow and easy and managed to fill the day, our senses, and Sony.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is on our hit list for the afternoon.  First stop on the way north is the South Rim Drive where we stop and walk out to Artist Point.  Here are some photos of the beautiful Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Below the Lower Falls:

Let's let Sony bring us closer:

Turn around from this view point 180 degrees and look up the canyon:

Sony, zooms again, the colors are muted, soft, and yet, beautiful.  The water running fairly hard, they had 4 times the snow pack the winter before we arrived, lots of melted snow down there running through the canyon:

Another view, less zoom, more overall, here it comes:  WOW!!!

One more view:

After we left the Artist Point we made our way back to Uncle Tom's Point,  we had to settle for photos from the upper edge of the canyon, as the strenuous hike down into the canyon (500 feet down 300 steps and a series of paved inclines) was deemed to be more than Man and I could manage.  Course, this is not such a bad photo, is it???  These are the Upper Falls, looking west from the south rim.

From this vantage point we could also see this water fall, between the trees and all.  It may be Crystal Falls, note the disclaimer "may".

Time to visit the North Rim, there is a one way road, North Rim Drive, not very long, but, there are 3 parking areas, with views and trails.  We will be viewing the falls and the canyon from different view points, different angles, so, yes, I will be showing some of the same water, sorry, can't help myself!  LOL

The first is Brink of the Lower Falls, see my post of December 14, 2011 for different and closer views of the Lower Falls.

More of the Lower Falls, this time from the vantage point of the Lookout Point area.

Turning and looking the other way, the canyon walls:

Another view of the canyon, overall.  When I look at this photo, it almost looks like a painting.  I might have to play with this one and some of those special effects on Photoshop.

Inspiration Point pretty much finished up our visit to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We still had a bit of a drive to get home, we were tired from the day and the altitude, so at this point we began the drive back.  We stopped briefly in the Canyons Visitor Center area for a late picnic snack where either a mule deer or elk almost ran into the side of Big Butt, that was a thrill, not one we needed, but, you know, Mother Nature and all.

Between Madison and West Yellowstone that huge herd of Bison made themselves known, but, they were not in the road.  We managed to snag a parking place and - - well, since Bison are such an important part of the Yellowstone experience, come on back and I'll show you - -




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