September 14, 2014  Sunday  A Great Day in Yellowstone Park

Needless to say, things have been popping since Michelle arrived.  She won't be with us long so we've tried to make the best use of our time.  We've been constantly on the move and laughing and having fun all the way.

We awoke again to cold temperatures but were cozy warm with our fireplace and gas heat in Cream Puff.  Coffee, waffles, strawberries and we were out the door.  Lib, Maggie, Michelle and me. Michelle was gracious enough to drive today.

We planned a full day that would end with us covering all of the park except the roads that are closed for repairs.  Fortunately, the entrance was not nearly as crowded as it was yesterday.  There are usually four lines of cars entering the entrance.  And we keep telling ourselves it is off-season.  Most of the pictures we've taken, we've tried to keep the other people out to focus on our subjects.  Believe us, there are a lot of folk here!

Typical parking at any site in the park.  This is at Tower Falls.

Last evening, while I was watching the ballgames, I worked on the blog.  Michelle took this photo. We were glad we got to see some good football.  The Kentucky v Florida game wore us out but was exciting.

Back to the people in the park.  One of the ways you are tipped off that some wildlife is ahead are the cars/people stopped on the side of the road.  As we entered the park this am, there was an immediate siting of buffalo.  We learned to look ahead for stopped vehicles and we, on a few occasions, stopped the following traffic as we were the first to spot some wildlife.

Yellowstone has rivers, streams, waterfalls and lakes.  It is a fisherman's dream and the little town of West Yellowstone has several specialty stores that specialize in fishing tackle.  It looks like fly fishing for trout is the most popular form of fishing.  

We drove toward the North Entrance and were struck with how the scenery changes.  Yellowstone is over 2,000,000  acres so you see many different types of landscapes.   On the northwest side we saw more mountains and rock countryside.  Geysers are also plentiful.  There is an area called Mammoth Hot Springs.  Heated water and steam rise bringing minerals which make beautiful deposits rising up many feet in off the ground.

Near the North Entrance is a fort, Fort Yellowstone.  The park was established in 1872 and a lot of vandals and poachers came to the area.  In 1886, the government gave the job of protecting the park to the U. S. Army.  In 1918 the National Park Service took over and the troops left.

The old fort buildings are now a complex of buildings serving the park; visitors center, post office, etc.

Libbo and I have been hearing these strange sounds of bugs since we were in Colorado.  We heard one near us today and we told Michelle about the sound.  Just at that moment the bug landed at my feet!  As we bent over to get a better look and photo the bug, some stranger remarked "Its just a grasshopper."  We all laughed as he must have thought we were crazy. But, being southerners, we've never heard grasshoppers make the noise this critter could make when he flew.  He sounded like a mini-helicopter.

Like so many of the waterfalls in Yellowstone, Tower Falls is a thing of beauty.  A very interesting feature in the photo is that there is a very small second fall in the upper right of the photo.

Tower Falls is named after the two rock "towers" on each side of the fall.

Yesterday when we viewed the Upper Falls we noticed a small observation deck on top of the falls but it was far away on the other side of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  So today we decided we would go to that position for an up-close look at the falls.  It was thrilling.  The sound and the power of the water was exhilarating.

This still photo does not do the falls justice.  I am going to try this video.

Turn the volume up loud to get a feel for being there.

Continuing south on the eastern side of the southern loop we came upon Yellowstone Lake.  This is one of the largest freshwater, natural lakes in the U.S.  It is over 400 feet deep.  

We walked around the lake a bit.  We were getting tired after a full day in the park.  We gave each other a quick massage.

Next, we saw some Elk on the side of the road and got some good pics.

And we caught some buffalo herds on the way back.  This shot was of a huge plain and we were riding along a rim at the top of a hill.

We got one last shot of an Elk as we were nearly out of the park.  Somehow we caught some rainbow colors in this photo.

We are amazed at how many people bring their RVs into the park.  Here we followed another Airstream for several miles.

And, that was the day!  Tomorrow we sadly say "goodbye" to Michelle who heads back to teach classes at Wake Forest and we head to Glacier Park.  Tomorrow will be a big travel day.