After visiting Old Faithful, we got in the car to continue exploring the park. We came across "Firehole Canyon Drive." With such a dangerous sounding name, how could we not follow this road? This actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of the park. Maybe it's because I had no expectations.
The drive seemed innocent enough, we are still on the look out for wild animals. We turn a corner and woah! A mini volcano right off of the road!
The colors of this little geyser were vibrant. The reds and oranges looked like lava spilling over the rock formation. As I was taking pictures the geyser actually erupted!
I got a little spray on me and we later found out that this geyser is very unpredictable. It can erupt in 15 minute intervals, or it could take up to 3 hours to blow! I feel pretty lucky that we were there at the right time.
By now evening is setting in, animals are coming out of hiding in order to eat in the cooler air. Shawn passes by Mt. Holmes trailhead and notices that a nice meadow is pass a small patch of trees lining the roadway. We park and begin an evening hike.
This was the first time I noticed, what would normally be a simple elevation change, rapidly increasing my heartrate and I was beginning to worry that I was catching a cold. Shawn reminded me that we were between 8 and 9000 feet above sea level. Oh yes, the oxygen IS thinner up here.
We spotted a Bison down the hillside of our trail. He spotted us and we froze. He stared us down for a minute then, lucky for us, he decided we posed no threat and began eating.
We hiked for a couple of miles, until we came to a stream we couldn't pass without wading through the water, then we turned around.
On the way back we encountered a small....no a 2000 pound problem. Our Bison friend that wasn't threatened by us was now standing very close to our path.
We stopped to enjoy the views.
And got more pictures of the bison.
We also learned that, although it doesn't make for great pictures, Bison with their head down, eating, is a much better position than when they notice you and take a step or two your way.
After about 30 minutes of hoping the Bison would move farther from the trail, we left the trail and made a detour far far far away from the Bison. There is so much pressure in Washington state to "stay on the trail," that we forgot that most areas of Yellowstone, it's ok to leave the path.
We eventually made it back to our car, and decided it would be best to head to our hotel as we really didn't want to be driving in the dark.
Before making it to West Yellowstone, we passed by yet another photo opportunity.
Roaring Mountain is a hissing hillside. I'm glad I didn't come here as a child. It would not be hard for my sister to convince me that monsters lived in the mountain and they were making the hissing sounds that were being released. The aroma of sulfur would only add to the story, after all, monsters don't take baths.
Really beautiful
ReplyDeleteAwesome!!!
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