After a heavy night of snow we set out very carefully on a loop through the park visiting Lake Yellowstone and following the Yellowstone river course above the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Our first stop was an icy and misty overlook above Kepler falls where Sam enjoyed the benefits of being one of the earliest morning visitors by making tracks in the snow.
After a few stops to try and get a good photograph of snow on distant mountains (tip - it's hard when the snow and sky are roughly the same colour) we arrived at the thermal area at West Thumb on the edge of Lake Yellowstone. The thermal area extends out into the lake which means some odd little geysers popping up as little blobby venting islands a few meters offshore. There was also some very colourful pools and streamlets here caused by various minerals and growths in the water.
We jumped back in the car to thaw our frozen photographers hands and continued along the lake shore. Once we hit the outlet to the river we followed the Yellowstone downstream stopping at a nice spot to see some rapids and birds relaxing on a rock.
Continuing on, we found some Mud Volcanoes and the Dragons Mouth Spring in a small but very active, steamy and smelly thermal area. Elise was trying to take a selfie of snowflakes in her hair but the steam was melting them as fast as they fell. At least our hands were no longer freezing anyway!
The highlight of the day was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It's a lot smaller than the better known Grand Canyon in Arizona but no less impressive given the volume of water flowing in the Yellowstone River. We started on the South Rim by the Upper Falls. Due to work on some of the trails we couldn't get too close to the Upper Falls, nevertheless the view from a distance was extremely impressive.
Artist Point on the South Rim juts out into the canyon affording a great view of the canyon below the Lower Falls. Not surprisingly there were a lot of people jostling for photos here.
After a lunch break at Canyon Village we tackled the North Rim. From the rim we could walk right down into the canyon where the lower falls thundered down. It wasn't as large as some waterfalls we had visited on our travels but being able to get within a few meters of the drop was exciting nevertheless.
Continuing down the rim we moved from lookout to lookout taking in the canyon and falls from various perspectives.
On our way home we made another stop at Steamboat Geyser. Unfortunately the eruption we had been waiting for happened that day just three hours before we arrived. Nonetheless the geyser was still shooting some steam and water (very noisily) so we still got to see some of the eruptive activity on a reduced scale. Eventually we tore ourselves away late in the afternoon to head home, we were pretty tired by this stage feeling as though we had crammed several days worth of activity into one.
After a few stops to try and get a good photograph of snow on distant mountains (tip - it's hard when the snow and sky are roughly the same colour) we arrived at the thermal area at West Thumb on the edge of Lake Yellowstone. The thermal area extends out into the lake which means some odd little geysers popping up as little blobby venting islands a few meters offshore. There was also some very colourful pools and streamlets here caused by various minerals and growths in the water.
We jumped back in the car to thaw our frozen photographers hands and continued along the lake shore. Once we hit the outlet to the river we followed the Yellowstone downstream stopping at a nice spot to see some rapids and birds relaxing on a rock.
Continuing on, we found some Mud Volcanoes and the Dragons Mouth Spring in a small but very active, steamy and smelly thermal area. Elise was trying to take a selfie of snowflakes in her hair but the steam was melting them as fast as they fell. At least our hands were no longer freezing anyway!
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| The aptly named Dragons Mouth Spring |
The highlight of the day was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It's a lot smaller than the better known Grand Canyon in Arizona but no less impressive given the volume of water flowing in the Yellowstone River. We started on the South Rim by the Upper Falls. Due to work on some of the trails we couldn't get too close to the Upper Falls, nevertheless the view from a distance was extremely impressive.
Artist Point on the South Rim juts out into the canyon affording a great view of the canyon below the Lower Falls. Not surprisingly there were a lot of people jostling for photos here.
After a lunch break at Canyon Village we tackled the North Rim. From the rim we could walk right down into the canyon where the lower falls thundered down. It wasn't as large as some waterfalls we had visited on our travels but being able to get within a few meters of the drop was exciting nevertheless.
Continuing down the rim we moved from lookout to lookout taking in the canyon and falls from various perspectives.
On our way home we made another stop at Steamboat Geyser. Unfortunately the eruption we had been waiting for happened that day just three hours before we arrived. Nonetheless the geyser was still shooting some steam and water (very noisily) so we still got to see some of the eruptive activity on a reduced scale. Eventually we tore ourselves away late in the afternoon to head home, we were pretty tired by this stage feeling as though we had crammed several days worth of activity into one.
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