Just Two Nerds

Today was pretty busy as we decided to venture to the Northern areas of the park. In theory, these areas were supposed to be less crowded. As we all know, one of the key features of a theory is that it is not proved.

Our first stop was at Yellowstone Canyon, in the heart of Yellowstone National Park. Along the way we saw the house-sized glacial boulder, idled in the middle of the road waiting for a parking space [there was nothing coming], walked down the 3/8 mile ramp to the base of Lower Falls, stood staring at the hundreds of gallons of water rushing over the brink, hiked back to our car (up the hill then another 1/2 mile or so down the road), and then drove over to Upper Falls and walked to the edge of that. The canyon is beautiful, and the Falls are always really cool to see. As a side note, we learned at the Imax Theatre (please see the end of the post) that the falls were considered sacred by the Indians who lived in the area.

We then drove up to Tower Falls, where Tony saw a sign that basically told us we could walk down a really steep hill kind of to the base of the falls, but that due to a trail closure we wouldn’t actually be able to see the falls. We decided to forgo that hike, and just took pictures of the falls from the bridge. Then we stopped at a little pull-off for a random hike by a canyon. On that short look hike we saw a peregrine falcon bring a snake it had caught back to its nest.

We then drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs, which were maybe more crowded than any other area. We drove through the hot springs, but couldn’t find any place to park so we could walk. Instead, we walked through Old Fort Yellowstone, which was built after the army had already endured 5 winters in Yellowstone, realized that their post there was going to be permanent, and decided that houses would be a good thing come winter. We were amused to see that all the buildings, many of which had been converted to private residences, had satellite TV. We also drove over to the arch at the northern entrance. The arch was built around 1905, and marked the original entrance to the park.

We then went over to the mud volcano area. We got halfway around the loop when we realized that the herd of buffalo were attempting to cross the boardwalk. So, we watched them for awhile, and then turned around. We hiked around the other side of the loop, where we witnessed people walking through the herd of buffalo (with young) who were clustered around the boardwalk. Two very large male buffalo were not amused, they kept staring at the people and making angry noises. At one point they actually momentarily locked horns with each other. At this point we turned around and went back to the car. We definitely had a few people who could have been nominated for the Darwin Award, for attempting to take themselves out of the gene pool.

Along the drives today we stopped at a very nice, new visitor center, as well as an overlook that pointed out the lines of the caldera (collapsed volcanic cone) that comprises much of Yellowstone.

We then stopped at Yellowstone Lake, where we took an almost-sunset walk along the edge of the lake. We also saw some more buffalo near the edge of the parking lot.

We finished the day by going to the Imax Theatre in West Yellowstone to watch a movie about the making of Yellowstone. We were very impressed with the quality of the film, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience (even though Louisa had to close her eyes during a few of the flying scenes).

Here are the albums for this post:

• Buffalo at Mud Volcano and Yellowstone Lake (8/20/2007)
• Tower Falls and Mammoth Hot Springs (8/20/2007)
• Yellowstone Canyon (8/20/2007)

Tags: buffalo, canyon, hot springs, waterfalls