Revisiting Yellowstone 2015

On Friday, April 17, I drove to Yellowstone. That was the first day that the West Yellowstone gate would be opened. I left early and got to West Yellowstone around 9:00 am, which was my goal. There were probably 30-40 cars in line already, and it took ½ hour to get in. Thank goodness I already had the Senior forever pass, so it was easy to get in. The one person price was $25! The pass was the best deal I ever got. $10 for eternity or until the world ends, whichever comes first.

Along the way to Madison and then on to Canyon, I met some buffalo (actual bison) on the road. Not too many on the way to Canyon. Just enough to get people to slow down.

I went to Canyon first. My goal was to hike the North Rim trail. The road was clear and dry, so I drove to the parking area. The major trail was still covered with 2-3 feet of snow, so I wasn’t able to walk the trail. So, I drove to the South Rim. The parking area overlooking the upper falls was open so I took a couple of pictures of the upper falls.

Then I drove to the site called “Artists Point.” From there, you can see the lower falls area and it appears that this is where the iconic pictures of the falls were taken from. As you can see, there is a lot of built up snow and ice around the falls. The trail was mostly open, with only a few areas covered with snow (like the walkway up to the highest level).

I left Artist Point and drove back to the North Rim where I was able to find a trail to hike down to get a view from the other side.

I also met a bird watcher from Bozeman who has been watching a pair of Osprey for several years. She had a very large telephoto (drool, green eyes, etc.) lens and was watching an osprey nest.

While we were watching, the male met the female in the nest and proceeded to mate with her. He then flew off (typical male) and she started straightening up the nest. I left and drove back towards West Yellowstone.

I stopped at Artists Paintpots area and hiked the (a lot of up and just as much down) trail around the Paintpot area. The various colors in the various paintpots explained exactly why it was labeled as such. Here are a couple of pictures of the colors, the springs bubbling, and one of the paintpots close up. Some of the pots were just holes.

Here is one of the large mud/water pots bubbling up. (05)

Also saw some bear tracks on the path I was following.

On the way back towards West Yellowstone, I met up with some more bison. I stopped to take pictures before they got out of my lane. This is a not very wide two lane road. I was on my side, the bison were on the other side. A couple got very close.

The last time I was in Yellowstone was when I worked at Old Faithful Inn in 1978 (that long ago?). Things have changed since that time. But I’m glad I was able to make the trip. The trees that have grown since the huge fire in Yellowstone many years ago made the hillsides look like green carpets. The geysers and hot spots were chugging away and the steam spread across the road in some places. I’m almost sorry I’m not working there this year!