Yellowstone National Park- Part 1- Geysers and Hotspots

Monday, September 1, 2014

We left Beaver Creek campground and drove east along Hebgen Lake. Stopping briefly at the Beaver Creek trailhead, we took the short trail to the earthquake scarp where the ground in the middle of the campground fell 20' during the 1959 quake. Then we continued south into West Yellowstone, the gateway town for the park. After a long stop for diesel, propane, groceries and blogposting, we crossed the border into Wyoming and the park. Hopefully, the large Labor Day weekend crowds would be gone, and since it was now Labor Day, heading home after the long rainy weekend. Watching lots of campers pass us coming out of the park we were optimistic.

Standing on the 20-foot high scarp from the 1959 Hebgen earthquake

At the entry booth the ranger laughed when we said we stayed out of the park over the weekend so the crowds would now be gone. Hmmm...Stopping at the Madison information building, the campground board looked encouraging, so we drove east across the middle of the park to Canyon Campground, the nice centrally located campground we stayed in 12 years ago. Of, course we didn't have reservations, but it was 2:30 in the afternoon, early enough to get a first come, first served site. Hah! The Full sign wasn't out, but someone forgot to hang it. When we told them their sign wasn't out we were asked to apply for jobs next summer, and handed an employment card! Then we met the other fulltimers working there, and met the camp manager, whose blog I read from time to time. Small world.

We took the opportunity to get showers and dump the tanks. On the recommendation of another View owner we met who was working there for the summer, (apparently we were all at the Quartzsite Rally last January, but didn't recognize each other), we drove back west to the Norris Campground. It was almost full, and very hilly, but we found a site, leveled the rig with our blocks and spent the night.


The next morning we drove south towards the Old Faithful geyser basin and made a couple stops on the way to view the other hotspots. The parking lots and boardwalks were crowded. We heard a half dozen languages, but the biggest groups were the Japanese tourists. Sometime I will write a post on the cultural differences of tourists. For now, I have to say that the most obvious differences come from the Japanese tourists who seem to be oblivious while walking on the boardwalks and stopping every few feet to snap photos of each person in the group, or “selfies” of eight giggling young women at one time. It is dangerous to go off the boardwalks onto the heated, brittle crusts surrounding the pools, so it is really important not to get jostled off. Anyway, we were able to see the amazing pools, and were blinded by the sulfurous steam that fogged up our glasses as we passed the pools on a very windy day.

Hot Spring

Boiling mud spring or Paint Pot

Geyser

Crowded boardwalk over delicate travertine or sinter crust

Vintage tour bus

Thick steam around Grand Prismatic Spring

Hot water flowing into the Firehole River

We finally reached Old Faithful, parked and joined the crowd of several thousand waiting to see it erupt. The geyser is slowing down and now erupts about every 90 minutes, give or take ten minutes. We were fortunate to have a fairly short wait while we listened to a ranger talk about the geology. Old Faithful geysered, the crowd dispersed, and we took a hike around part of the geyser basin.

Crowd waiting for the Old Faithful show

Old Faithful eruption

Old Faithful Lodge

Driving north again, we stopped at the Norris Geyser Basin for a quick stroll before we continued north to reach Indian Creek campground. After Labor Day, before the snow flies, the road construction season starts. We got stuck in line behind a pilot car for part of the drive. In the middle of the construction zone, we spotted a bison strolling along the side of the road! I grabbed my camera and shooting through the windshield took my favorite Yellowstone photo.

Norris Geyser basin

Construction Supervisor

Indian Creek is a small, minimalist campground (no hook-ups), with a bear problem, and construction happening all night long nearby. Again, we got one of the last sites and once the pile driver for the bridge construction stopped, we had a pleasant night's sleep. We didn't hear any bears, but I suspect they roamed through during the night. Not the first time we were glad to be in a hard-sided vehicle
instead of a tent.

Classy named beer - Pigs Ass Porter