At around 2am, we woke up to the sound of wolves howling in the distance! Michael excited woke Lisette up before 6am, as the fog was lifting at Elk Ranch flats, to see the beautiful sunrise. While there weren't any wildlife here (yet), it's a very popular spot to see bison, elk, pronghorn, and other animals graze here.
Our plan was to go back into Yellowstone National Park, so even though we started our day early, it was a long, long drive back, as we had to drive through the length of Grand Teton National Park again to get there. It's like a safari experience though, which means that the drive is not boring at all, as we were on high alert to spot wildlife along the way. We were fortunate to spot a young black bear right near the road! It was by itself, and looked so relaxed, like the neighborhood cat, just chilling. We were careful not to startle it while taking a photo, before it dashed away back into the forest.
Not far from here we had also stopped by the Continental Divide, which runs through Yellowstone National Park, separating water flow towards the Pacific Ocean from water that flows towards the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. We stopped at the Continental Divide near Isa Lake, which is also unique as it was (and could still be) the only lake on Earth that drains naturally backwards to the two oceans.
We also briefly stopped at the Kepler Cascades, an easy stop to see a waterfall in southwestern Yellowstone National Park, and just 4 kms (2.5 miles) away from the Old Faithful Geyser. The cascades drop approximately 45 meters (150 feet) over multiple drops, and like many of the waterfalls, it's a case of hearing them before seeing them!
Old Faithful Geyser and its Surroundings
Despite our early start, it took us almost 2 hours to reach Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most famous geysers at Yellowstone National Park. It's not the biggest or the flashiest, but it erupts the most frequently (every 60-110 minutes), shooting water up to 55 meters (180 feet) into the air for at least a minute and a half. Perhaps due to its popularity, there's a huge parking lot built around it, as well as a Visitor Center, the Old Faithful Inn (a lodge), a gift shop, tribal heritage center, and a few boardwalk trails to see other, less famous geysers and pools.
It's a short walk to Old Faithful from the parking lot, and when we arrived we saw a ton of people all waiting for the geyser to erupt, seated or standing around the benches surrounding the perimeter of the geyser. Because Old Faithful is so reliable, there's an estimated time for when it will erupt, so we didn't have to wait too long to see it do so. Seeing all the people standing around reminded us of when we went to Iceland to await the eruption of the Strokkur Geyser, which does so every 5-10 minutes. In both cases there were a ring of people waiting, and people clapped once it had erupted. We do think that Old Faithful was good, but not the most spectacular geyser eruption in the Park!
After the eruption, many people choose to head over to the Upper Geyser Basin Trail nearby, to see the many other thermal features. There are other geysers that are active and also have estimated eruption times, including the Castle, Daisy and Riverside geysers (times are shown at the Visitor's Center). There's so many different places to view the geothermal activity, but it is still so mesmerizing to see the vibrant and diverse colors they have (including rich browns, highlighter yellows and icy cool blues), hear the range of sounds they make (from whispers to loud growls), and feel the heat blowing on our skin as the wind carries the bubbling towards us!
We hadn't been to the Visitor Center yet despite it being our third day, but it's worth a look to read more about the history of the park, the different geothermal features, and the wildlife that live here. Not far from here, there's a Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center. It's not very big, but really interesting and well worth a stop. Currently, there are 27 tribes that are recognized by Yellowstone National Park as an associated tribe, and the Center serves as a place to learn more about tribal history and culture, as well as see and purchase artwork and other souvenirs.
Lower Geyser Basin: Silex Spring and Fountain Pot
After leaving Old Faithful Geyser our plan was to visit Grand Prismatic Spring. But we realized that perhaps we should have prioritized going to these spots earlier, because there was less parking available, and lines were long to enter!
Fortunately there are other attractions around the Lower Geyser Basin, including the Fountain Paint Pot Trail, where we saw different hydrothermal features, including hot springs, geysers, mudpots and fumaroles. The trail is a short, along a paved boardwalk, and the Fountain Paint Pot is named for the reds, yellows and browns of the mud in this area, with the colors coming from the oxidation happening in the iron in the mud. Some of the other features along the trail include the Silex Spring, named for the large amount of silica found here. The spring last erupted in 2006, and has bright blue water surrounded by orange, yellow and white mineral deposits, thanks to the microorganisms that live in these waters. It's so incredible to see the colors from nature (makes Lisette wonder what she'd see if she had the eyesight of a mantis shrimp, which apparently has the most complex color vision)!
Grand Prismatic Spring
Perhaps we saved one of the best stops for last, in the Midway Geyser Basin, to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. We had to park on the side of the road, slanting to the right, along with dozens of other cars that were lining both sides of the road doing the same thing because the parking lot was full. Michael had said it was one of his "must-sees" and it exceeded expectations! It's the largest hot spring in the US, the 3rd largest hot spring in the world, and is one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the park. Grand Prismatic Spring is about 113 meters (370 feet) in diameter and 37 meters (120 feet) deep, but what's the most stunning feature is its colors, which seem to be all the colors of the rainbow!
We walked along the paved boardwalk, which was built to center around the Grand Prismatic Spring. Here, we could see the full spectrum of colors of this and some of the other surrounding hydrothermal features. Everyone seemed to take dozens of photos from multiple angles of the spring's bright blue center surrounded by green, yellow, orange and red halos, with steam rising above it to give it an even more divine appearance.
Another perspective of the Grand Prismatic Spring is via the Fairy Falls Trail Overlook, where we could an eagle eye's view looking down at it. We headed over to the overlook, to stop for yet another incredible sight: 3 bison, grazing right by the trail! A ranger was there directing visitors to walk up the hill to make sure there was enough space away from the bison, but she couldn't stay there all day, so as soon as she left people seemed to forget their common sense and got way too close! We cringed seeing them wander over to take photos, but fortunately these bison were more interested in grazing than goring anyone.
The top of the Fairy Falls Trail was well worth it, to get another angle of the Grand Prismatic Spring in all its vibrancy and glory. As we headed back down the path, the bison were still there, so we took a few more photos of these unique creatures.
Helping Harry
We'd had a full and long day and were ready to wrap up for an early night's rest, when Michael received a message from Harry, the Austrian man we'd met traveling in his expedition vehicle, branded Husky on Tour. He'd unfortunately misplaced his keys on a hike around Grand Teton National Park that day, and could not find them. Since his vehicle is so unique, it has a double lock system to be extra secure, and it's not something that can easily be unlocked by a locksmith. The option would be to smash the lock, which would mean that he would no longer be able to lock his truck, with all his valuables inside.
We drove down to the lot where his vehicle was parked as the sun was setting, and there was still no sign of his keys. Nobody had turned them in, nobody had shown up at the parking lot. As it was getting late, the best option was to wait until the next morning when the ranger's office opened again to check with lost & found, and to do a hike first thing in the morning to see if they were still there. The keys were fully branded with his vehicle's logo and a husky keychain, so our concern was that if the keys fell into the wrong hands, someone could just unlock his vehicle and drive off with everything.
As it had been raining, the most the ranger could do to help Harry was give him a big garbage bag so his camera and zoom lens wouldn't get wet, take down his details in case anyone dropped in the keys, and let us stay in the lot for the night. Harry crashed with us on our sofa after dinner (luckily we had enough leftovers in the fridge). We had a slight fright with folks who arrived at the parking lot around midnight, who we thought could be coming after hours to break into Harry's vehicle with the keys they'd found (it turns out they were just camping, setting up sleeping bags to sleep on the ground, looking up at the sky). Hopefully, the keys will show up tomorrow!
Route Map
[…] Further north and passing through more of rural Wisconsin, in a small park there's a marker for the 45th parallel of north latitude, indicating the point halfway between the equator and the North Pole. There's not much else to see there, but it's one of those quirky things we enjoy stopping at, like when we found the Continental Divide in Yellowstone National Park. […]