YELLOWSTONE PART VIII

We have been really enjoying our campsite here at Canyon Campground. It’s surrounded by lodge pines, is private and has a very nice picnic area with fire pit. We have had a lot of campfires and even cooked s’mores a couple of nights. For the uninitiated, s’mores are 2 graham crackers with a half of a chocolate bar and a toasted melted marshmallow sandwiched between them.  Yum..

Camping at Canyon Campground in Yellwostone

Notice the snow on the right side!

The weather has been staying in the high 50s during the day and low to mid 30s at night so we are still in need of our heater. Thankfully, it is working fine.

Does anyone remember using one of these? Did you ever see one out in the middle of the woods? Haven’t seen one in so long, but we found it out in the middle of nowhere and the only thing you can dial on it is 911 to the Park Ranger! Guess that’s good because our cell phones don’t work very well here.

               

Today, Friday the 15^th, it is still rather cool, but Tim did his early morning run again to see if he could repeat the wildlife extravaganza he had yesterday, but it was not to be. No wildlife at all while he sat patiently and waited in the car. Not me… I stayed bundled up in bed until the RV warmed up to the cozy 68 we set it for in the morning. Much better than the 55 setting during the night.

We decided to do a driving tour today with only a few short walks along the way. We traveled from Canyon Village to Norris and took the detour road off of the Grand Loop to view the Virginia Cascades.   We also stopped at Ice Lake for a 1 mile walk. At the trails’ end, we were inundated with mosquitoes and beat a quick retreat to the car.

When we arrived at the Norris Geyser Basin, it was about 11am and it was already very crowded. This Basin is one of the hottest hydrothermal areas in Yellowstone. The literature tells us that it has many hot springs and fumaroles with temperatures above the boiling point (200 degrees F). They say that it is hard to imagine a setting more volatile than Norris as it is part of one of the world’s largest active volcanoes. Basically, the hydrothermal areas are fueled by magma which is partially molten rock. The magma heats the water percolating down from the surface and when superheated rises back to the surface. Depending on the makeup of a particular area, it will cause a geyser, a hot spring, a fumarole (steam vent) or a mud spot.  The different colors are caused by either sulphur (yellow), iron (dark brown, rust or red), chlorophyll (emerald green), or algae (dark, blackish-green) and when the sun hits them just right, they are brilliant.   

We walked the boardwalks and were indeed impressed by the beauty of the Geyser Basin beneath the Gallatin Mountain Range.

Geyser Field

A Fumarole

Geyser Field in front of Gallatin Mountain Range

We journeyed down the Grand Loop which follows the rim of the caldera (the upper edge of the original volcano in Yellowstone) towards Madison taking in the Gibbons River, Meadows and then the Falls. We passed through Madison Junction and took the Firehole Drive to see the Firehole Falls and River.  The sheer force of the water going through these canyons is impressive. At one time, this was all volcano and the canyons were formed by molten lava.

Firehole Falls

  Once the rains started, we retraced our route and found the sun again on Gibbons Meadows where Tim tried his luck at fly fishing again.

Gibbons Meadows

There were actually quite a few fishermen out in the stream and rivers today and we didn’t see anyone catching anything. I think these guys just use this as an excuse to spend time alone. What do you think?  That’s okay..I brought the computer with me just in case and had a chance to sit and download my pictures while Tim had some quiet time. I guess it works both ways.