Amy and I just can't get enough of national parks, so we decided to do some more!
Our stay in Billings, Montana was short-lived, as we woke up extra early to get to Yellowstone. To get there, we went via the Beartooth Scenic Byway, the highest elevation highway in the Rockies. Winding through the northern mountains for close to two hours, we made it to a peak of over two miles above sea level, and were treated to some great views of the mountains, valleys, and lakes in between. I guess that was our reward for risking life and limb driving along some ridiculous cliffs. Amy thought we were going to die.
Yellowstone started off with a visit to Tower Falls, a nice way to begin what would end up being a jam packed day. Definitely a simple, elegant waterfall.
We moved on to see the Mammoth Hot Springs, which was our introduction to Yellowstone's massive hydrothermal complex. Turns out we would get to know it very well in the coming day and a half. Created by heated underground water spouting into natural springs, the entire area was covered by terraces of overflowing water and thermophiles (heat loving bacteria) that created some really amazing palletes of colors.
This was followed by a quick visit to the Petrified Tree, which was a fossilized redwood (like the ones in California) from way back when Yellowstone was a nice warm place. There used to be three trees next to each other, but people took pieces of the other two back in the 1800s and now there's only one. And it's behind a giant fence. Classy.
Feeling a need for some more hydrothermal action, our next stop was the Norris Geyser Basin. Hot springs and geysers. Everywhere. Like, seriously everywhere. We hiked around the entire basin, and saw some more really fantastic hot springs, and also got our first whiff of the nice bubbling sulfur (aka the rotten egg smell). Nice.
Taking a break from the rotten egg steaminess, we decided to take a walk over to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and took in the view of two major Yellowstone River waterfalls, aptly named the Upper and Lower Falls. The peak of our hike led to Artist's Point, which is the view that inspired a lot of famous photographs and paintings of Yellowstone. Beautiful, really.
Back to more of Yellowstone's famous hydrothermal-ness, we dropped by the Mud Volcano. This was pretty much like the hot springs that we saw earlier, except the particular bacterial composition of the pool created a severe breakdown of the surrounding rocks into mud. The result was a big bubbling mud pool, with a nice sulfurous steam.Very cool, and totally gross.
Our day ended at Bay Bridge campground, where we set up camp and prepared for a cold night ahead. Temperatures were to drop to anywhere from 10 to 30 degrees fahrenheit, so we got bundled up and broke up both of our sleeping bags. And then we passed out. Exhausted.
Distance Traveled: 246mi
Total Distance: 2941mi
$ Spent: $115.79
Total $: $835.28
Sunday, September 6, 2009
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