This is the fifth in a series of posts sharing photos from a 21-day road trip I did with my older brother, this June.
Steve and I had 2 ½ days in Yellowstone National Park. In my “Part 4” post, I shared photos of our wildlife encounters. Of course, we made time for other things. On our first full day in the park, we stopped at Tower Fall. We visited the Canyon Village Visitor Center and enjoyed the exhibit on the history of Yellowstone volcano eruptions and the sheer enormity of the caldera. Afterward, we drove to the Artist Point parking area and walked to an overlook presenting an amazing view of the Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
We drove west along the scenic Madison River and had lunch in the gateway community of West re-entered Yellowstone. We took in an IMAX film about Yellowstone and visited a local museum. Re-entering the park, we drove to Norris Junction, turned left and headed north back toward Mammoth.
Along the way, we had our second bear encounter. At first, I thought it might be a grizzly but a closer study of the photos confirmed it was a cinnamon black bear.
We stopped in Mammoth and did a self-guided walking tour of the original US Army outpost. In 1872 when Yellowstone was created as America’s first national park, Wyoming was not yet a state. There was no state government to manage the park. Yellowstone was under federal management by the US Army from 1886 to 1916 when the National Park Service was created.
The original buildings - housing for the officers, barracks for the soldiers, livery for the horses, a hospital and administration building - still stand and have been converted to meet the contemporary needs of the park. But on the outside, they look much the same today as they did 150 years ago.
Our final day in the park was devoted to visiting the geothermic features, including Old Faithful (and the historic Inn) and the Norris Geyser Basin. I had intended to take Steve to Grand Prismatic Spring. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the parking lot was full, vehicles were arrayed along both sides of the road for ¼-mile in both directions and the line to get in was…looong.
That was the only time during our 2 ½ days in the park that we turned back from an attraction due to overcrowding. We had a great time and Steve got to check off several bucket-list wildlife encounters.
The following photos are a sampling of the landscapes and natural wonders we were treated to during our visit to Yellowstone National Park.
Steve (left) and Bill Ferris stand at the north Roosevelt Arch entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
The Lower Falls and river carve a channel through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Water vapor rises from Clearwater Springs in the Norris Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.
Water vapor rises from a landscape of hot springs in the Norris Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.
The boardwalk through Norris Geyser Basin.
Algae thrive in the heated streams of Norris Geyser Basin.
Shallows pools of water collect in the Norris Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.
The Gibbon River pours over a massive fall on its way through Yellowstone National Park.
My big brother, Steve, at the Artist Point overlook of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
