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Yellowstone National Park – Part Two: Old Faithful

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Our time in Yellowstone National Park would not be complete without considerable time focused on the thermal features of the park. The Yellowstone region has more than 10,000 geothermal features, including 300 geysers. The most notable geyser is, of course, Old Faithful. Thousands flock to the stadium-like area around the world’s most famous geyser and about every 75-90 minutes she erupts without fail. Even though it wasn’t the first time for either of us, we had to go and pay our respects.

The challenge of properly seeing Old Faithful is navigating the crowds. As mentioned in our last post, the crush of people, combined with road construction, makes a trip to Old Faithful a trying experience in the middle of the day. We opted for a very early morning visit and enjoyed every minute.

Old Faithful is just one of many geysers, springs, and other thermal features that populate the Upper Geyser Basin. We walked the boardwalks behind Old Faithful amidst the morning fog and were treated to incredible perspectives on the varied features.

The coolest thing we saw was at the end of our walk through the basin. We came upon Riverside Geyser where a nice man named Jim told us that the geyser was about to erupt. There were only five of us standing in the viewing area when, just as Jim (a veteran geyser expert) said, the geyser blew. Riverside Geyser currently erupts about every two hours, but that varies. When it erupts, it goes for an average of 22 minutes.

Hot water spewed out the top of the rock formation that sits aside the Firehole River. Massive amounts of steam billowed towards the sky, and then we were sprinkled with a mist that was cool and refreshing. It almost didn’t seem real. Steve got a good video to show you what we saw. Wow…just wow!

Our viewing of Old Faithful’s eruption about 30 minutes later was a little anti-climactic, to say the least. Still, we enjoyed the ritual with Mia and Bob by our side.

As you can imagine, we took A LOT of photos on this excursion. Below are a few more just for fun…

An early morning excursion like this must be followed by some retail therapy in one of the park’s many gift shops, followed by lunch along another peaceful stream.

There’s much more to report from Yellowstone. Stay tuned!

Bryce Canyon National Park

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Our nation has some incredible national parks and Bryce Canyon ranks up there as one of the most unique and naturally beautiful that we’ve visited so far. Punctuated by hoodoos, massive, beautifully-colored stone columns sculpted from thousands of years of erosion, Bryce in places reminded us of the man-madeTerra Cotta warriors we saw in China. Lined up one after the other, the fluted walls can be seen from the roadside but are best explored on foot. We did both.

First we drove the length of the park using this cool app called Just Ahead, which provides GPS-guided audio narration that plays automatically as you travel down the road. We’ve used this tool before, and it really helps provide an introduction to the park and its history.

From Rainbow Point in the south we worked our way back north stopping at ten overlooks along the way. Each viewpoint was different from the last. One included a massive stone arch; another provided sweeping views all the way to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The drive was a great way to get oriented to the park, and it helped us plan the next two days.

The next morning we were in the park by 6:00 a.m. in an attempt to avoid the heat and the crowds. We succeeded and were rewarded with a spectacular sunrise and cooler weather.

The premier hike in Bryce Canyon National Park is the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop Trail. The three mile walk took us through massive hoodoo “forests,” stone arches, and snaking switchbacks which provided incredible views of the landscape.

The hike culminates in the climb up Wall Street, a steep, narrow canyon which has been fortified with stones to support the trail. It’s a popular spot in the park, so we were glad to get in and out relatively early.

Even though it was very dry we found water at Mossy Cave. The short hike to small waterfall featured a large cave that is covered with icicles in the winter. No ice this time of year, however. In fact, many people were playing in the water. We skipped that.

One of the most appealing features in Bryce Canyon is the five mile shared-use path that runs from outside the park to Inspiration Point. We loaded up the bikes, hitched up the dogs, and pedaled the path through the forest and into the park to see the sights from another perspective.

Along the way we could see the canyon rim, the lodge, and other park features. The dogs really seemed to enjoy it. Mia, in fact, slept most of the way!

Bryce Canyon National Park is one not to miss, even though it’s not massive. You can probably do the park in a day or two, but don’t rush. The incredible views change with the time of day and with the weather. That’s why we hope to return during a different season to see it again.

The Summer of National Parks

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Our RV travels are underway once again, after about six weeks at home in Prescott. After our last six-month adventure on the road, we needed a little time to get caught up on “stuff.” We saw doctors, dentists, and veterinarians, took care of car maintenance, hair maintenance, and house maintenance. We bought some new kayaks for our future trips, and most importantly, we had lots of fun time with friends and neighbors.

We’re now setting out on a two-month western road trip with the goal of hitting National Parks along the way. Our first overnight stop was in Page, AZ on one of the hottest days of the year.

The Page Lake Powell campground had full hook-ups which meant we could run the A/C without problem. Luckily we have great air conditioners in the trailer and in the truck, so we survived. The heat, however, kept us from doing much exploring.

As we crossed into Utah we couldn’t help but be amazed and troubled with the low water levels of Lake Powell. We keep hearing about the great drought in the West, and this was clear evidence that our planet is shifting.

We’ve now crossed into Utah and are exploring Bryce Canyon National Park. A complete report from our time in Bryce will follow in the next few days.

In the meantime, we invite you to join us in real time with Track My Tour. Our entire trip will be chronicled day by day and you can follow along at https://trackmytour.com/Jck0C

More adventures to come!