So Mandy and I went to Yellowstone National Park on Saturday morning. This was awesome! The weather again, was absolutely wonderful: a little chilly, but the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky!
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| Escaping Campus with Mandy to Yellowstone, Over the Continental Divide! |
Drove about 2 hours north of the Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone, driving over the Continental Divide to see some of the most well-known geysers in the country.
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| Arrived Just In Time for The Show! |
Such great timing when we arrived: 1.) there were practically NO TOURISTS! I remember visiting here in late-July, early-August with Sean and Nate, and this place was jam-packed full of people! Today, there was practically NO ONE! So cool! 2.) as soon as we pull into the visitor center area, Old Faithful goes off and we had a great welcoming to the park, practically!
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| Tea Kettle Spring |
There were so many geysers and springs to look at! Some were really tiny, some were bulging out of the Earth, some were pretty active: gurgling and bubbling or even erupting! Some were just simmering with steam. Either way, they were awesome to look at! The colors were really cool too, from the bacterial mats and sulfur deposits. The only thing that definitely got to me a little was the rotten-egg smell...headachy!
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| Geologic Mess! |
The bacterial mats were really pretty! I am not going to lie, I wanted to touch one! Such a child! Don't worry, I did NOT!
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| Bacterial Plumes |
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| Being Tourists for the Day...Just Let Us! |
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| Beach Spring! |
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| Tri-Geysers |
We also saw some wildlife as well: besides some of the fattest and hugest ravens ever, we saw some bison hanging in the fields. Very cool! I love the bison out here. They are just sooooo cute! I just want to snuggle one! Or at least ride on one! Just let me!
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| Bison 'Cooling' Off in the River Near Geysers |
During lunch, we ate on the boardwalk path around the geysers. Just in time, again, for Old Faithful to go off! It was really cool seeing her erupt from the back, since from the front it was mostly steam. So to actually see the water shoot up was really cool!
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| Old Faithful (From the Back) During Lunch |
On our way back to the car, totally looked down on the gravel around the wooded-boardwalk path, and guess what we found immersed through the bison tracks: a bear track! Totally identified it! Since I saw the four-toes (no claw marks) and the paw print. Plus it was the size of my hand, so I knew it was not a canine. Crazy and so exciting!
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| May Have Found a Bear Track! Possibly Black Bear! |
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| Not Going to Lie....Really Wanted to Go Swimming in These! haha. |
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| Turtle Shell Geyser? |
On our way back to Kelly, totally stopped by an area that looked like it had been dried up. I cannot remember this exact places name, but it is in one of our text books. I'll find it and write it back in later.
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| Being Tourists! |
Then we stopped at Lewis Lake. This was a nice little relaxing moment to lay on the shore of the lake, and look at the rocks that covered the shore! So pretty!
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| Rock Samples from Lewis Lake...Shhhhh! |
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| Being a Tourist! |
Escaping to Yellowstone was absolutely fun with Mandy! Great excuse to get off campus and a great way to celebrate such a beautiful day by heading to a beautiful place (especially since it closes next week for the winter season).
Until next time,
TheChristyBel
