Yellowstone National Park
Waking up early in the tent is not very difficult (Drew may disagree) because everyone else is wide-awake cooking food around 7 a.m. But, this is not always a bad thing, because we want to get up as early as possible to get in as much as we can. Today we were able to leave the campground quicker than usual, as we are staying here for another two nights so we did not have to pack up the tent. Breakfast was a treat this morning at Running Bear Pancake House in West Yellowstone, Montana. Drew and I split some pancakes and an omelet, and we were well fueled to bask in the touristy glory that is Old Faithful. The line to get into the park was long, and we had to wait fifteen minutes to enter even though we already had our entrance ticket. The roads in the park were pretty clear, though, except for the occasional traffic for an Elk on the side of the road. It took us about an hour to get to Old Faithful, where the parking lot was already very full. Old Faithful is a huge geyser that shoots boiling water 100-180 feet into the air at an average of every 93 minutes. Drew and I arrived just in time to grab a seat in the amphitheater-like setting. There must have been at least 5000 people surrounding the most-famous geyser in the world. Nevertheless, the show did not disappoint. The water spurted for about 5 minutes before dwindling down to its usual low steaming.
Waking up early in the tent is not very difficult (Drew may disagree) because everyone else is wide-awake cooking food around 7 a.m. But, this is not always a bad thing, because we want to get up as early as possible to get in as much as we can. Today we were able to leave the campground quicker than usual, as we are staying here for another two nights so we did not have to pack up the tent. Breakfast was a treat this morning at Running Bear Pancake House in West Yellowstone, Montana. Drew and I split some pancakes and an omelet, and we were well fueled to bask in the touristy glory that is Old Faithful. The line to get into the park was long, and we had to wait fifteen minutes to enter even though we already had our entrance ticket. The roads in the park were pretty clear, though, except for the occasional traffic for an Elk on the side of the road. It took us about an hour to get to Old Faithful, where the parking lot was already very full. Old Faithful is a huge geyser that shoots boiling water 100-180 feet into the air at an average of every 93 minutes. Drew and I arrived just in time to grab a seat in the amphitheater-like setting. There must have been at least 5000 people surrounding the most-famous geyser in the world. Nevertheless, the show did not disappoint. The water spurted for about 5 minutes before dwindling down to its usual low steaming.
Old Faithful erupting
There are a bunch of trails, mostly on
boardwalks, to see other hydrothermal features near Old Faithful. The entire
landscape was alive with steaming cauldrons of super-heated water and gases.
Besides the geysers, some of which shoot up to 250 feet in the air, there were
some impressive hot springs. These colorful pools of water can be very
dangerous. Apparently in 1970, a 9-year-old boy fell into one and died. Now
they are very, very strict to stay on the walking paths. These paths allowed us
to get pretty close, however, and we could see right down to the bottom of the
pools. I thought the coolest springs were the Sapphire Pool, which was a
gorgeous deep blue, and Morning Glory, which was a rainbow of colors. After a
few hours of hustling to find parking spots and waiting in lines, we had enough
post-July 4th tourism crowds and decided to head back to camp early.
As we left the park, the skies opened up and it started pouring, which is why
we are now sitting in the arcade room at the campground waiting for the rain to
pass. Tonight we will grab dinner at a local restaurant and get to sleep early so we can get started tomorrow
morning on a long hike.
Morning Glory hot spring
Drew and Carl in front of Sapphire Pool
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