WOW! Just wow. The mountains in Grand Tetons were astounding but I am completely in awe of Yellowstone and so, so happy to have a second day to explore there. We left from Victor a little after 8am but needed to stop up the road in Driggs, ID to get some hardware to mount my temporary cardboard license plate, since I lost mine somewhere over Teton Pass. Then it was on to West Yellowstone, Montana - if you ever have the opportunity to go into Yellowstone through the west entrance, I highly recommend stopping at Ernie's Bakery in West Yellowstone for box lunches to take into the park. For $10.95 we got huge sandwiches, chips, an apple, a drink, and a piece of candy, and after the big breakfast we had in Victor, I was not even hungry for dinner even at 9pm.
From the west entrance, we followed the Madison River to Madison Junction and turned south to explore the southwest corner of the figure 8 loop of park roads. Our first stop was at the Fountain Paint Pot in the Lower Geyser Basin. You can see steam rising all across the plain from the geologically active vents and hot springs. It amazes me how thermophilic microorganisms can survive and flourish in what would be such harsh conditions for other living things, but they provide a lot of the color in such hot springs by forming thick mats of orange around the springs.
Our next stop was at the Whiskey Flats picnic area for lunch. What a beautiful grove of pine trees next to a golden meadow! After lunch we backtracked north to Firehole Lake Drive to see the Great Fountain Geyser and Firehole Lake, then we rode south again to the Midway Geyser Basin. There we had a little bit of a hike to cross the river and gaze upon the Excelsior Geyser and the Grand Prismatic Spring. The Excelsior Geyser used to erupt regularly until 1880 when it blew so spectacularly that it may have ruptured its underground chamber, ending the eruptions for over 70 years. No one knows when it will go off again, but it discharges 4000 gallons of boiling water into the Firehole River every hour! Further back from the road, behind Excelsior, is the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in Yellowstone and the most brilliantly colored. The water appears to be azure blue with circles of yellow and orange surrounding it. Thanks to Peggy Bosch for recommending that we make time to see it!
Our last planned stop for today was Old Faithful. We could not have asked for more perfect timing! Old Faithful isn't the biggest or highest geyser but it is the most regular, going off every 50-120 minutes or so. When we got to the general store there at 4:17, the sign there predicted that the next eruption would be at 4:26, +/- 15 minutes so we hustled over to see if we could catch it. It did not disappoint, starting to sputter a little almost right at 4:26 and then going into a full 4 minute display shortly afterwards.
We took a few minutes to explore the rustic inn at Old Faithful - man, I would love to stay in that lodge some day! The woodwork and timbers are fantastic!
The shadows were starting to grow across the roads so it was time to leave for Gardiner, MT, our stop for the next 2 nights. But this seemed to be the best time to see some wildlife, as we saw a female moose in the woods off the road, some female elk and calves crossing the road, and a herd of bighorn sheep up on the cliffs near the north entrance. We had also seen a few solitary bison earlier in the day - we hope to see more on Saturday morning when we pass the Lamar Valley on our way out of Yellowstone. That's where I've read many of them gather for the late summer mating season. Too bad we weren't able to get any good photos of the animals - tough to do on a moving motorcycle!
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