Boil and Bubble: Day 14

Today we left Grand Teton and drove to Yellowstone. The two parks are essentially connected, so you’d think it would be short drive. Maybe it is in distance, but not in time.

For one thing, the road is torn up: I thought I lost the T@B in one of the potholes. Second, Yellowstone is a big park. Even when you enter it, there is still a long way to go. Finally, everyone stops for any bison that is near the road. The number of cars that stop is, understandably, directly proportional to the number of bison there.

Yellowstone is essentially a very big active volcano. You see evidence of this from all of the geysers, pools of scalding water, otherworldly colors (some due to high-temperature-loving bacteria), and the varied landscape that has been shaped by earthquakes and glaciers as well as the eruptions.

We stopped on the way in at West Thumb, one of the concentrations of thermal features. You have to stay on the boardwalks near thermal features; if you don’t, you can step through the thin layer of crusty earth above and plunk your foot into boiling water.

So, to review, here is a partial list of things that can kill you in Yellowstone:

Scalding hot water
Hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide gas, given off in toxic concentrations
Meningitis, contracted by breathing in steam from thermal features
Grizzly bears
Irritated buffalo
Mountain lion
The typical assortment of snakes
Badly driving tourists, stopping in middle of road to view buffalo

Still, it’s a wonderful park. We’re camping in Canyon campground, a big campground. That’s good, because as the (former) New Yorkers that we are, it took us three campsites to find one that we liked. To be fair, the site we were assigned was on the main entry road (get to listen to diesel tow vehicles lug uphill all day), and the second one had a snow bank (!) where the trailer goes. Third time was the charm, next to the bathroom but secluded, and level enough that we didn’t need to crank out the leveler.

After parking, we hiked around Upper and Lower Falls, spectacular waterfalls that plunge through the canyon. Seeking to get away from the crowds, we went for a three mile hike around some of the smaller ponds near the canyon. Getting off of the paved paths pays dividends, as people thinned out. It’s strange to be hiking through woods one minute, and then cross something that looks like the lunar landscape (everything killed by thermals) the next. At one point, we thought we heard thunder, but it turned out to be a bubbling mud pot, spurting out hot stinky mud.

We ate out of the trailer all three meals (oatmeal, leftovers for lunch, pasta for dinner). Sadly, we are out of pie, with none in sight. (The campground grocery is quite a bit more limited than in Grand Teton, and it's a LONG drive out of the park to a normal grocery store.) Happily, the rain held off, and the sun even peaked out. But the night was pretty cold.

Tomorrow (well, today as I type this), more geysers and Old Faithful.

Tom