Water, Earth & Fire

Well, not exactly much fire today. We did quickly peruse some thermal spots, but today was mostly water and rocks. Although sitting here on the deck with a glass of wine watching Old Faithful smolder is really pretty cool.

We also saw bison, of course. We've actually become accustomed to seeing them ... "oh, bison blocking the road again ... ". I would say you can't drive around for a day and not see them.

Absaroka Range across Yellowstone Lake, May 2012

But back to the water and rocks. The Yellowstone River flows north out of Yellowstone Lake in the southeast quadrant of the park and eventually hooks up with the Missouri River. Yellowstone Lake is a basin created when the great volcano which underlies much of the park last erupted 640,000 years ago, and it is a few miles on the Mississippi side of the Continental Divide. About 20 miles north of the lake, it drops about 500 feet, mostly in two falls: Upper Yellowstone and Lower Yellowstone Falls. Below the Falls it has cut the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone , which is truly magnificent. We walked along part of the south rim, and I descended down a metal stairway called Uncle Tom's Trail, dropping about 300' just below the Lower Falls. The metal stairs sound primitive, until you find out they replaced the rope ladders Uncle Tom used originally.

Lower Yellowstone Falls, May 2012

People use all kinds of techniques and technology to record their visit to the Canyon. We saw cheap cameras and expensive cameras. We saw phone cameras and one guy using an iPad (it has a really bad camera, and was acting like a sail in the gusty wind). We saw camcorders, and people just looking and seeing. Towards the end of our loop on the North Rim, I found this lady who was trying to record her memories of the Canyon in a more traditional way, with paper and pencil.

Inspiration @ Inspiration Point, May 2012

Near the end of our loop today we stopped and I went to look at the West Thumb Thermal Basin, which is right at the shore of Yellowstone Lake. As I stood looking at it, a gust of wind came along and blew my hat into the hot pool, making it an offering to the fire gods that live below this land.

I really liked that hat.