Yellowstone Part II - Canyons, Waterfalls, and Harlequins, and more

June 13, 2021

Our second day in Yellowstone, was another long one. We left Colter Bay at about 7:30 AM and got to the South Rim Drive in the Canyon Village section of the park at about 9:00 AM. Our first stop along that road was at a view of the 109' Upper Falls. 

 

We continued down the road to Artist Point to get a view of the Lower Falls. As I walked to the overlook, there on the hillside was a moose, so I was sidetracked for a few minutes until he wandered into the woods.

The view of the 308' Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River was spectacular.

Next, we drove around to the North Rim Drive to Inspiration Point. From there you have a great view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River as it flows away from the Lower Falls. 

We backtracked to see the brink of the Upper Falls. 

It's hard to see, but there's a rainbow in the bottom left corner of the water next to the rock ledge.

We left the Canyon area and headed south following the Yellowstone River through the Hayden Valley. 

An elk gazing out across the river at the mountains

Bison grazing

It's almost impossible to go anywhere in the park without coming to some sort of hydrothermal feature. Today was no exception. This time, we came upon a mud volcano, a sulphur caldron, and a hot spring.

The Sulphur Caldron 

The Mud Volcano - In 1870 explorers watched as the Mud Volcano erupted, spewing mud into the treetops. Two years later, it was a pool of muddy water. It had blown itself up.

A hot spring named Dragon's Mouth

Another hot spring with an unusual color

We were told by a ranger the day before, that Harlequin Ducks were seen at LeHardy's Rapids. So we continued through the valley until we arrived at that spot on the river. We didn't see any ducks, so we started photographing the rapids.

Then, all of a sudden, I spotted two of them sitting on a rock!

Then there were a few more. We watched them swim in the rapids and climb back up on the rocks. It was very entertaining. I took tons of photos, here are a few of them. I got a little carried away. 

Getting a drink of water

Going for a swim then climbing back on the rock

Drying his wings

We finally said goodbye to the Harlequins and started heading for home. On our way, we spotted a few elk grazing along the road.

We finally got back to the campground at about 8:00 PM. We were so tired, we ate ice cream and leftover pizza for dinner. It was a great day!

My next post will be Yellowstone Part III. Lamar Valley and lots of wildlife. Stay tuned.

Yellowstone National Park - Part 1: Geysers

June 12, 2021

We spent three very full days in Yellowstone. Our first day was devoted to four of the Geyser Basins. West Thumb, Upper, Midway, and Lower geyser basins. Each geyser, paint pot, and spring is unique and otherworldly. Here are some examples.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Upper Geyser Basin

 Old Faithful

Old Faithful is the one geyser that erupts on a fairly predictable timeframe throughout a day. We arrived at 10:20 AM and found a seat on one of the benches surrounding the geyser. It was predicted to erupt at about 10:57 give or take ten minutes. It's a waiting game. 

We waited along with about 1,000 of our closest friends.

This is how Old Faithful looks when it's not erupting.

We had occasional false starts that looked like this, but at 11:13 this was the real thing.

This was at its peak.

After about two minutes, the steam subsided and it was over until the next eruption in about 90 minutes.

Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin

Lower Geyser Basin

Firehole Lake Drive

Fountain Paint Pots

Red Spouter

Midway Geyser Basin

Grand Prismatic Spring

I saved the best for last. It's best to view this iconic spring from the overlook at the Fairy Falls trailhead to get a spectacular birds-eye view. 

When we came down from the overlook it was interesting to see the colorful steam rising from the spring.

Check back for Part II of Yellowstone in the next post. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and more.

Colter Bay Hiking and Foxes

June 12, 2021

After our four-night stay in Gros Ventre, we were hoping to get a campsite in Yellowstone to no avail. Luckily, a site  for three nights opened up in Colter Bay, which is farther north in the Tetons, bringing us closer to Yellowstone. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than missing Yellowstone altogether, so we took it.

It was a short and scenic drive, passing Oxbow Bend on our way.

Not us in the kayaks this time.

We arrived at our campsite in the early afternoon, so we decided to take a short three-mile hike. The trailhead for the Swan Lake-Heron Pond loop started from Colter Bay Village near the marina. 

You can barely see the lone swan for which Swan Lake was presumably named.

Close-up of the beaver lodge. This is the second one we've seen, but so far, no beavers have appeared.

I spotted an American Coot swimming around. The wildlife on this trail were pretty far away.

View of the Tetons from Heron Pond

White pelicans could barely be seen across the pond.

We had one unexpected surprise treat at our campground. We learned that there was a fox's den just off the  road leading to our campsite and the fox had three kits. Campers were always set up with their cameras across the road from the den in hopes of getting a glimpse of the fox family. We joined them a couple of times and were lucky enough to catch them.

First we saw one, then there were two. I just loved the little spot of white on the tip of their tails. They were very playful with each other.

This is the only time I saw all three of them at the same time.

Here's mom back from her hunt. 

I don't generally show animals from the rear, but I just loved the look of her beautiful, bushy trail.

The next two days in Colter Bay, we spent driving to Yellowstone National Park. More about that adventure in the next post.