Yellowstone Summer Camp

Long time no post... We've been working here at Yellowstone since June 4th. I decided early on to refrain from putting up any images right away, knowing that if I started posting too soon it would result in dozens, if not hundreds of posts as we explore the park. So now, after being here for several months, I'll try to refine the thousands (yes, thousands!) of pictures I've taken into a manageable few highlighting our summer adventure.

Here we are at the Roosevelt Arch, which spans the northern entrance to the park in Gardiner, Montana. This was the original road into Yellowstone, the nation's first national park. In 1903 president Roosevelt felt it fitting to create a monument dedicating the park to the people of America and took the inscription "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people" from the 1872 document that created the park.

Yellowstone is still one of America's most popular national parks. The national park system has grown over the years to 394 parks, monuments, seashores, recreation areas, historic sites, military parks, battlefields and other designated units - the largest national park system in the world. Consiquently many of the visitior are international travelers coming to see the type of open space and animal preserves that may not exist in their own countries. Attendance is down slightly from last year's 3.6 million, but still there were enough visitors to keep our little store quite busy.

This is the town of Mammoth Hot Springs, originally built to house the army when they ran the park from 1886 until the formation of the National Park Service in 1918. The old military buildings today serve as home for Yellowstone's National Park Headquarters. We work at the General Store, the building in the left center of the picture below, between the service station and the Mammoth Hotel's Grill and Restaurant. We work just under 40 hours per week helping customers, scooping ice cream and stocking shelves. We love it and have had the opportunity to meet so many interesting domestic and international travels, as well as host several friends who have visited us over the summer. Truly a memorable experience! (Remember that you can click on any image to see a larger version!)

Yellowstown Thermal Features

In the late 1800's, professor Ferdinand Hayden of the USGS wrote of the azure blueness of the water in Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs and suggested they are "bathing pools...arranged one above the other" and "had the appearance of a frozen cascade". Little has changed in the 100 plus years since Hayden made his observations. The rock "grows" at a rate of up to 2 feet per year so the area is constantly changing - springs dry up and new ones awaken to continue building the expanding formation. We are told that the volume of water emerging from the springs here remains constant but where it comes out is ever changing. So even if you were here a couple years ago, it's time to come back.
On top of the Mammoth Springs formation you can see the springs that create the formation (or you could see them if these people would just get out of the way...)Yellowstone has more thermal features that all other locations in the world, combined! Bubbling mud pots are created when the heated water is highly acidic, dissolving the rock as it rises. The resulting mud is extremely fine, having been worked for possibly a thousand years. When the bubbles burst, the mud can be spurted several feet in the air.
We're told that a pocket of molten magma is just 5 miles below the surface of the caldera in Yellowstone. The water from many of the hot springs emerges as full rolling boil.

Other hot springs are just gently bubbling pools, but are still incredibly hot. The temperature of the water can usually be determined by its color. Micro organisms live in the water and cling to the rocky walls of the springs. Clear blue water indicates the water is too hot for these organisms to survive.
And then there are the geysers, varying in eruption frequency from minutes to years. There are four major geyser basins on the eastern side of the figure eight loop that runs through the park. At any point in time, there is usually at least one geyser showing off in every basin so you won't leave disappointed. The height of the geysers range form a few feet to 390 feet. Regardless of how many times we've been to an area we see something different every time.Several of the rivers through the park are directly fed by thermal springs, making portions of them too hot to even wade in. With names like Boiling River and Firehole River, these warm waters provide sanctuaries for the wildlife that winter here - from fish to otters to bison.
And there are the smells of Yellowstone. The high sulphur content in the steam smells like rotten eggs.We were privileged to see an eruption of beehive geyser on one of our excursions.Green water, must be cooler than blue, right? Nope, this spring water has an extremely high sulphur content that coats the walls - yellow sulphur plus clear blue water equals green appearing pools. More examples of deposits left behind as mineral-rich water flows from the springs.
They say that you leave 95% of tourists behind when you hike just a half mile from the paved roads. Here we are with a group of co-workers from the store. Lou Ann organized a hike to Tomato Springs on one of our days off. We were joined by Loyal (Lou Ann's husband), Preston & Michelle and Bill. There is no path to this spring so it required bush-whacking a somewhat round-about path, but the journey was well worth it. As you can imagine, there are many thermal features that are only accessible by a little exploring.
Lattice Spring is another jewel we passed on our way down from tomato spring.
You have to look close to see our group spread out across the basin - that way one grizzly can't catch and eat us all :-)

Minerals or micro organisms? Doesn't really matter - the sights are amazing either way.
And the mandatory picture of Old Faithful.
This hot spring used to be a geyser, but it blew its top creating a crater that filled with boiling water. I wish I was a better photographer so my pictures would do this place justice.
One final look at lower Norris Geyser Basin...

On  Betty's last day in the park before her trip home we hiked up to the top of the hill overlooking Grand Prismatic Spring.  Not a bad view...

Yellowstone Wildlife

Even bears like to play?? We watched for quite a while as one chased the other up this tree.

Mountain goats and bighorn sheep live in the hills along the route we drive to work.

One must always allow extra time when driving in the park as some travelers insist in walking at their own pace.
Bear spray sales are brisk since the grizzly attack in early July. One occasionally runs across sights that remind you that you are not top of the food chain here.
Ursus americanus or the American Black Bear. This big guy was on the other side of the lake from where we were standing. I love long lenses!

Pronghorn antelope are frequently seen around the Mammoth area. A few weeks ago we watched one walk down the trail on the other side of the Yellowstone River behind our RV park.

There are thousands of bison roaming free in Yellowstone. Although they look gentle, they cause more injuries in the park than any other animal. Reaching speeds up to 35 mph they can quickly outrun a human.
It is hard to sneak up on a mule deer as their hearing is much better than my sneaking.
Elk are frequent guests of Mammoth Hot Springs. This bull is resting on the lawn where they love to eat the grass and clover. The rangers are vigilant to ensure tourists don't get too close.

Ground squirrels are fun to watch as they scurry around.

You have to look close to see both the wolf and grizzly bear (click on the image to see a bigger picture). This grizzly is guarding an elk carcass and the opportunistic wolf is challenging it for dinner. The wolf waits until it thinks the bear is asleep (laying on the carcass) and cautiously sneaks up to grab a piece of meat. The grizzly would vigorously defend its kill. The wolf finally left without success. I understand this drama went on for several days until the food was gone. The ravens on the ledge would swoop down and grab bits of meat whenever the grizzly got up to chase the wolf away.

Another grizzly - I was far away and using a very long lens. Notice that this one is brown while the one above is more black. You cannot tell the type of bear by its color. The grizzly is much more muscular and has the large hump on its shoulder.

Not quite as ferocious, this yellow bellied marmot basks in the sun and did not seem to care that I approached to take its picture. It watched me attentively but did not even raise its head.

Ospreys are great fish-hunters and though it made several diving attempts this one caught nothing while I watched.

Female big horn sheep along the Gardiner River.

A black bear and her cubs. This is a very dangerous situation as a mother bear will instinctively attack anything it feels may harm her babies. This was shot from the roadside and the bear and cubs were probably 200-300 yards away.

Three young osprey in their nest which is located on a tall spire near the lookout for Upper Yosemite Falls.

A nice 6-point elk still in velvet. These guys will start building their harems in about a month, at which time they become very aggressive and dangerous.
Like all of us, bison do not like the flies. They create these dust pits throughout the park where they roll around to discourage the pests.

This is just a small sampling of the wildlife. To see more, you'll have to come visit us!

Yellowstone Scenics

It's so difficult to summarize the grandeur of Yellowstone in a few pictures... The falls and rivers are spectacular. When we arrived there was still a lot of snow in the mountains, Dunraven Pass and the Beartooth Highway were still closed and the runoffs were spectacular. Falls that are subtly beautiful now were roaring torrents then.

Tower Falls is about midway down the western side of the park loop.

We didn't initially realize how spectacular the flow was because we had nothing to compare it with. Last winter produced a greater-than-normal snowpack which took several months to melt. In fact we can still see snow in the shaded areas of the higher mountain peaks.

Lower Yellowstone Falls is always spectacular, regardless of the season. The two green stripes are its distinguishing feature, caused by the irregular face of the rock beneath the falls.

Known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, it almost doesn't look real. These untouched photos don't do it justice.

The lakes are also gorgeous. This is Trout Lake, a short hike from the roadway in the Lamar Valley.

The Grand Canyon is over 20 miles long, but the tourist turnouts only provide views of a few miles at best. To see the rest you have to hoof it. A few suspension bridges have been built to allow access to both sides of the rim. This one crosses Hell Roaring Canyon.
At dusk people line the ridges in several locations in Lamar Valley to get a possible view of the wolves and other wildlife coming out to as the day cools.

Sheepeaters Cliff provides a close-up view of the Columnar Basalt created when the basalt lava cooled fairly evenly.

Lost Lake falls, taken later in the season showing the more-gentle flow once most of the snow has melted.

We get some pretty spectacular thunderstorms and great sunsets.

Along another remote stream.

Falls and rapids are common on every waterside trail.
Another picture of Lower Yosemite Falls, taken later in the season. Notice the viewing deck to the right of the falls. There are platforms on both the Upper and Lower falls that allow you to get right to the brink of the spillway.

One of my favorite pictures of the base of Lower Falls

There's those people again, always getting into my pictures!