Crazy and Weird and Wonderful Yellowstone National Park

We were excited to visit Yellowstone National Park, so our first morning here we were up early and on the road to the park. We are camped just 3 miles away from the western entrance, and we were in the park around 8:00 a.m. That's really early for us! It must be a good omen when an elk steps out of the forest onto the roadway ahead of us. We got our first wildlife sighting early in the day!

Temperatures were in the 40's this September morning, and we were glad to have a long list of the park's nice warm geothermal features to see. Denisa likes the warm steam coming off one of the many bubbling hot pools at Norris Basin.

We spent the morning walking beside things that bubbled and steamed--or both. For example--this clear blue hot springs bordered by curious orange layers that are formed from thermophiles--heat-loving bacteria. We kept saying phrases like, "This is crazy!" and

"How weird is this!" There were steam vents spewing sulphur-smelling steam straight from the Yellowstone volcano we were standing on.

We looked over whole areas covered with steaming colored springs and smoking vents. Many were spewing sulfur-smelling steam. For some strange reason Denisa was craving a boiled egg.

Then we walked by the boiling mud pots--hot muddy basins that were naturally plopping like they were on a cook stove. This place is crazy weird!

We got to our first geyser that was erupting--Steamboat Geyser--and got a traditional tourist photo. This is such an awesome national park!

We are driving around the northern loop of the park today. That includes pulling off at most of the features and walking the miles of boardwalk that thread their way around the geothermal pools.

Of course we think we need to take all the walks at every stop. For instance, this stop had a 1.6 mile loop and another .7 loop. So of course we had to take both since we don't want to miss anything.

In case we should think that Yellowstone is all smoking springs and geysers, we also found beautiful rock columns,

cascading waterfalls,

and roads through mountain passes that are engineering marvels.

We've now driven to the northern entrance of the park, home of Mammoth Hot Springs. They look like melting ice cream instead of the sulphur-deposited springs they really are.

We know we have wandered into some of God's most unusual wonders today. The terraced travertine deposits make a lovely display.

But just to spoil that natural beauty, is the Devil's Thumb on the left side of the picture. (Those of you now looking at Denisa are getting your left and right confused. The Devil's Thumb is the nickname for the large black boulder.)

Mammoth Lodge is famous for the elk that like to congregate on the green lawns in the evenings. We were too early for that grand sight, but we did catch this elk cow staying cool in the shade of one of the buildings. It has warmed up into the 80's by 2:00.

We are now on the east side of the loop, with more open meadows for the buffalo to roam.

We are trying to re-train ourselves to call these massive creatures by their correct name--bison. 

We came upon so many herds,

and cows nursing young ones,

and bachelor bulls walking right beside our car. It was crazy that we got a ho-hum reaction from seeing so many bison.

To add to our wildlife list for the day, we also saw prong horn antelopes,

a coyote hunting in the coyote-colored grass,

and a blurry-beaver swimming below a bridge crowded with adoring spectators.

We were amazed by the diversity of the natural features scattered around the park. This is a petrified redwood--still standing up-right.

We noticed that the clouds had been gathering, and as we drove across Lamar Valley, it started raining. We had to take a picture of the rain on the windshield because it has been a very long time since we (and the entire northwest) have seen this.

The storm clouds and the refreshing rain made a beautiful valley picture. We pray that the parts of this country battling forest fires will get some of this rain.

When the rains were over, we got a shot of the sun rays streaming through holes in the heavy clouds.

We drove over the mountain pass, and could see down into the canyons carved by the Yellowstone River.

This is the Rock Tower section of the park, with its crazy tall canyon walls. It's now past 6:00, and with the waning light and the clouds it's tough to capture this region's beauty.

Half-way down the canyon wall is Tower Falls, our last feature stop on this north circle of Yellowstone National Park. We've walked over 9 miles today, exploring the crazy and weird and wonderful sights along this loop.

The ranger at the information desk had said that it would take four hours to drive this loop without any stops. Considering that we explored almost every stop, we have now been in the park over 11 hours. The sun is sinking in that big sky, and we're trying to get home before it gets dark.

But then we got caught in a traffic jam caused by elk grazing beside the road. 

Just as we started the morning with an elk, we will finish it watching one just a few feet away--grazing beside the Madison River.

We got back to the motor home twelve hours after we had left. We have a new appreciation for this crazy and weird national park that has so many wonderful things to share with its visitors. We had a very full day visiting the northern circle of Yellowstone, and we still have the southern loop to explore. We have truly wandered God's wonders all day!