Yellowstone NP - The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

We moved on from Flagg Ranch in the Grand Tetons today up the road to Fishing Bridge Campground in Yellowstone, a grand total of 43 miles. We set up, had lunch and then made a few phone calls to catch up with some friends. Then headed on over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to take the South Rim drive. We needed something that would fill half a day since that’s all we had today.

Nice drive but, we got caught in a bison jam when we drove through Hayden Valley, a prime spot to see bison. Now, it’s amazing, the prairie is hundreds of acres wide, is covered with lush grasses - just what bison love but - they seem to want to stand in the road. Of course, no one said they were the brightest bulb in the candelabra but, why choose a hard asphalt road over a lush soft prairie? Well, they do get lots more attention: cars screech to a halt, Rangers arrive in twos and threes, papparazzi cameras are popping - maybe the bison think this is a red carpet.

We stopped at the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron on our way to the Canyon. Ummm. Love the smell of sulphur and these two thermal features have the sulphur smell down pat. These two areas are not as pretty as some of the areas that we have seen but they more than make up for this in action. Before you even see this area you can hear it and smell it.

As Shakespeare put it:

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble

Although I didn’t see any

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake.

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog

Some of the features sizzle like water hitting a hot griddle.

Others bubble like my oatmeal in the morning.

Still others boil continuously like a grease filled frypan.

Others just burp and belch steam. Here’s one across the river just steaming to beat the band all by itself.

But they all smell like rotten eggs, feel like a hot blast furnace and steam is rising constantly.

Don’t let anyone tell you that the earth is static, that it is constant and unchanging. Yellowstone NP shows us that the earth is dynamic, alive, active and ever changing and this thermal feature is the epitome of this. Nathaniel Langford, who was the first Superintendent of Yellowstone when it was created as the first National Park, said:

When Jim Bridger, one of the most famous mountain men said that Yellowstone was a place where you could see ‘Hell bubbling up’ he might have been talking about this area. Other early explorers called this area the ‘most repulsive and terrifying sight.’ The first Superintendent of Yellowstone called it ‘a seething bubbling mass of mud.’ With such features as Black Dragon’s Cauldron, Mud Volcano, Sour Lake, Dragon’s Mouth Spring, it’s living up to its names.

Whew, time for a beautiful viewpoint and Artists Point is just the place for this. A few miles north of the Cauldron area of Yellowstone is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Artists Point overlooks the lower falls of the Canyon. As we were driving down the road to the Point, we saw this small black bear heading further into the woods - probably further away from the crowds with cameras.

Some think that this is the place where Thomas Moran composed his famous painting featuring the falls. His paintings were one of the pieces of evidence that Congress used to declare Yellowstone a National Park.

These are the lower falls and aren’t they gorgeous?

I especially like all the colors on the cliff sides surrounding it.

One of those places where you could just sit and watch the water coming over the steep falls. We did this for a while. Looking down the other direction is also beautiful.

Time to be getting back to the RV. But, even though it was a short day, Yellowstone gave us its all.

Of course, we had another bison jam on the way. At least these bison weren’t on the road - but people screech to a halt, run out of their car with cameras just the same. This mother might be nursing but it doesn’t prevent that large bull from trying to attract her.

Here are two younger males joustling with each other over who is going to get the next female who passes by.

Forget those two young bucks, I think this guy will get her. Look at those delts, that commanding presense. Yep, he’s the one.

As soon as he strolled onto the stage, they skulked off.

Sometimes, I think people get a bit too close to the bison. The guidelines are that you should get no closer than 25 yards from most wildlife and no closer than 100 yards from bears. Actually bison, though they look ungainly and slow, can run at 30 mph.