A few days of fun in the park

Share your latest adventure in Yellowstone.

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tlveik
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2019 3:59 pm

A few days of fun in the park

Post by tlveik »

I'm back from my Yellowstone trip and had a great time. Haven't had a chance to go through all my pictures yet but will try to post a few when I get a chance to go through them all.

Geothermal features were my primary interest in visiting the park so that is where I spent most of my time. Visited many of the geyser basins and walked among the various geysers and hot sprints and mud pots and vents. The diversity of activity the intensity the frequency the color the smells the sounds the toxicity of the various features is just amazing. Not to mention the patterns in the bacterial mats in the runoff. Just amazing.

I didn't put a lot of effort into timing to see major eruptions, mostly just wandered around and watched what happened around me. I did get lucky though and was able to get a video of a back to back eruption of Old Faithful followed immediately by the Beehive. Just as Old Faithful was winding down, the Beehive started up and all I had to do was pan over to include it in the video. Another highlight was Castle Geyser which put on a great show for me.

Also did a little hiking in the canyon area and naturally with that came great views of the canyon and the falls. I thought maybe I'd do more hiking, but the canyon area was all I got in. Next visit I'll try to do more of that.

As for wildlife, I saw more bison that you can shake a stick at. Saw plenty of deer and elk, which I always see a lot of when I visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Saw fox and bald eagle, neither of which was I able to photograph at the time. I'd swear I saw otter in Yellowstone River. But with the distance and the lighting it was difficult to tell for sure. I didn't see a single bear and no wolf the whole time I was there. I did go to Lamar Valley, Hayden Valley and Pelican Valley, but no bear nor wolf to be seen. Just lots of bison.

The dark skies at night were amazing. No problem just looking up to see the Milky Way and billions of stars.

When it was time to leave, I left driving East from Fishing Bridge. That drive between Fishing Bridge and Buffalo Bill Reservoir was really pretty.



RikWriter
Posts: 488
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: A few days of fun in the park

Post by RikWriter »

Glad you had a good time.



yellvet
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:54 pm

Re: A few days of fun in the park

Post by yellvet »

Tim, nice to know that you had a good trip. Hope you were able to see the unusual thermal rock formations that can be viewed along the "drive through" road for Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. In the past, I had always avoided the area like the plague because of all the traffic and tourists. But about 5 years ago a close Yellowstone friend of mine took me along the road in the evening so I could see all the unusual rock formations and shimmering, iridescent springs and streams that dotted the landscape. The drive-through road begins south of Mammoth. Because the area is thermal and the ground is warm to the touch, besides seeing all the incedible thermal features, you'll also see plenty of birds and animals. The elk cows, for example, like to bring their babies up from Mammoth Campground area to the thermal Terraces area because the ground is warm, making it a nice, cozy place for the elk babies to bed down, especially, when the temps are cold. My friend and I made the trip to see the Terraces at 7pm to avoid the crowds. The lighting, right before sunset, was absolutely scrumptious. And best part, we never saw another car or person on the road. So we were able to stop and park anywhere along the road with more than ample time to compose and take our shots. If you've never been on the Mammoth Terraces Hot Springs drive-through road, then you may want to put the road trip at the top of your "must see" list for your next fall trip to the Park. It's really a sight to behold,especially, if you enjoy taking pix of Yellowstone thermal features, wildlife and wildflowers. Ever since my first visit to see the Terraces, it's been at the top of my list of "places to go", whenever I visit the Park in September. I think that I've got several shots of the thermal features and rock formations posted at my Flickr site that were taken along that road. I'll find the link to the pix and will post it in this thread. IMHO, Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces, is one of best-kept secrets of Yellowstone. Just keep in mind that the best time for taking pix, is during the early evening hours, right before sunset. OK, now that I've let the cat out of the bag, I hope folks will post some of their extraordinary pix that they've taken at this very special location in the Park. If you've never taken the time to see the Terraces right before sunset, do it soon. You won't regret it! :)



yellvet
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:54 pm

Re: A few days of fun in the park

Post by yellvet »

Tim, here's the link to my Flickr page that has the pix of some of the thermal features and rock formations that can be found along the "drive through" road at the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. Yikes, I can't believe that I took those pix back in Sept. 2014. I took the trip with Marion D. , aka "elk" on the forum. We had always been such good friends and no one knew the Park better than she did. When you see the pix, you'll be as amazed, just as I was, when Marion gave me a personal tour through the Terraces so I could see and photograph all the unique thermal features and rock formations in this very special area of Yellowstone. It's a landscape photographer's paradise! Here's the link to the pix. Just scroll down the page. The pix are about 3/4 down the page, right after the moon over Mammoth image.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigskywil ... 5109/page2



tlveik
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2019 3:59 pm

Re: A few days of fun in the park

Post by tlveik »

Those are fantastic images!. I'm not sure what road you are referring to. I did visit the Mammoth area but was with some other people at the time so wasn't able to spend as much time in that area as I normally would have. I had to kinda go with the flow. Looking at the map now I see a one way road leading from Mammoth up to Roosevelt Arch. Is that the road you are referring to?

I do have to return to Yellowstone and use what I've learned this trip to help guide the next trip. Probably not before next year though.

Tom



tlveik
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2019 3:59 pm

Re: A few days of fun in the park

Post by tlveik »

I think I see that road now. You must be referring to the road that encircles the Upper Terraces area. I was not on that road. We just parked at the entrance of that road and walked up into the Main Terrace area. That is definitely on my list for my next visit.

Tom



tlveik
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2019 3:59 pm

Re: A few days of fun in the park

Post by tlveik »

I always take a GPS with me on my trips and have it continuously log my track. This is my track through the Upper Geyser Basin one day. The yellow line with the black dots is my track. Each black dot has a timestamp that I can cross reference with the times of my pictures to help me keep track of where I was and where each picture was taken.

This also comes in real handy when I'm hiking. If I ever get lost or boxed in (hasn't happened yet), I know that I can always follow my bread crumb trail back to where I started.

I downloaded the geyser locations from a Wikipedia page. They appear to be estimates rather than perfect locations.

Image



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