What captures the eye with beauty and wonder is also a potential danger
to mankind. Tim Cahill tells us in his book, Lost in my own Backyard,
that “Yellowstone is the largest active super-volcano on earth.” He
goes on to tell us that “if it blows again the way it did at Huckleberry
Ridge 640,000 years ago, it could possibly be the end of civilization as
we know it.” The bubbling cauldrons that you see throughout the park
are escape valves from the volcano core. Tim says “that we are due”, so
apparently time is running out.On the lighter side, we were greeted
by four wild Bison grazing on the side of the road just before we
entered West Yellowstone. Fascinated by them, we could feel our hearts
pounding. My husband Frank spun the car around so I could take close-up
pictures out my side window. I was filled with the sense of adventure by
being only a few feet from a wild Bison, watching him as he ate from the
small patch of grass below. The Bison didn’t seem aggressive and by the
end of the trip I watched Frank and others walk right up to them slowly
in a non-threatening manner to take pictures. This was the beginning of
a trip that would cover 1925 miles over the course of a week. |
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We were surprised to find the town of West Yellowstone in near
desolation with hotels, restaurants and gas station buried to their
rooftops in snow. We were staying just thirty minutes from there in
Island Park, Idaho. We were sadly disappointed when we learned that the
West Yellowstone entrance would not be open until Friday, but we were
fortunate to have two full days in the park before we left on the
following Saturday.
Our first visit to the
park was through the north entrance as we entered from Montana. It
seemed to me that the name “Bison National Park,” may have been more
appropriate for the park. We never saw so many wild roaming Bison
anywhere in the world as were waiting for us when we entered
Yellowstone. |
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We drove past glorious
snow capped mountains, spotting Elk and even newborn Bison still
nursing. The babies are red but when they become full grown they all
turn different shades from light tan to black. Frank stopped the car
abruptly. “There’s an eagle!”
“Where is it?” I twisted
my body around in my seat trying hard to get a glimpse of what he had
seen.
“Oh my God!” There it was and he flew down toward us.
We
clamored for our camera and we got some spectacular close-up photos.
The Eagle we saw reminded
Frank of a story about them. Eagles circle in the sky over the river
the way they do because they are mentally drawing the fish to the
surface of the water. If they grab a fish that is too heavy, it will
weigh them down into the water and they will drown. Because of the way
their claws lock into their prey, they can’t release them until they set
it onto a solid surface.
We made our way to Boiling
River and had a picnic lunch sitting on a log that was partly in the
creek. We had a four hour drive back and had to decide how to spend our
time wisely. We chose not to check out the springs, even though we live
for hot springs and this was one you could soak in.
Mammoth Hot Springs is not
for soaking, but it is very dramatic. Natural pots have formed from the
boiling hot water coming up from the earth. Bright orange coats the top
of much of the springs from mineral deposits. It adds to the visual
contrast with the white pots and on a beautiful day it’s a photograph
screaming to be taken.
Early the next morning I
sat next to the fireplace writing in my journal as Frank got dressed and
started our breakfast. I saw something flutter by the window. Frank
had opened it to see the sunrise. I thought it was a cat but when I
looked again I couldn’t believe my eyes. An orange fox was looking in
at me through the sliding glass door. I dared not move, afraid I would
scare him off and called Frank to come quickly. My frantic calls made Frank think I had found a spider. He came over to rescue
me and actually saw the beautiful fox before he took off. The next
morning, Frank woke up to find me in front of the fireplace armed with
my camera at 6:35 am, curtains drawn. He came over and asked me if I
was waiting for the animal. I told him I was waiting for the fox to
come back. He was amused by my sentiment and laid down on the couch to
wait with me. I told him I was waiting until 6:45, and right before the
clock hit 6:45 a cat appeared in the window and did exactly what the fox
had done the morning before. He turned to me and said, “You manifested
the animal!” How about that, I most certainly had. |
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When the West Yellowstone
entrance opened we were among all the hundreds of people who hadn’t
known the park wasn’t opened until Friday. Low and behold, Old Faithful
lived up to its reputation. The geyser shot a hundred feet up in the
air and right on time. The guy who puts the Metamucil into Old Faithful
in the morning before the people come into the park on the TV commercial
looked like the park ranger that gave us our introductory speech. I
couldn’t resist taking a picture of him.
After lunch we wandered
into the gift shop. As we were checking out with all of our goodies,
Frank asked the checkout girl if there were any bears around. She said,
“There has been bear activity in the area. There is a carcass up near
the entrance ramp to ‘Old Faithful.’ Bears have been known to be seen
feasting on carcasses.”
That was all Frank needed
now that he was armed with some good information. He diligently drove
us over to the top of the bridge where we promptly found the big black
bear still gnawing on the carcass. Many cars followed suit. Then after
about 30 minutes, the bear took off. Many of the other spectators
thought the show was over and left, but not Frank. He figured out where
the bear was going and we were the first ones there.
Unfortunately
there are always those who must follow the leader and several cars
followed us. We got phenomenal photos and then followed the bear to
where he crossed the road. All the cars that had followed us lined up
in such a manner that everyone could see the bear and ge great pictures
until one guy pulled up. There’s always one in every crowd, as we all
know, who pulled up blocking everyone’s view. With his 3 foot by 10 inch
wide lens, he parked his car directly in front of the bear. He had the
kind of lens where he could have gotten those close-up pictures of the
bear from the next state. So that was it, the show was over, and we
all drove on down the road.
Another interesting
anomaly are the multi-colored Grand Prismatic Springs. Snow was still
packed on the boardwalk around the springs, so we climbed up on top of
it to get all the way around the various lakes. We could just imagine
how hot those springs were, seeing the mystical looking steam radiating
up toward us as we stood there looking out at the water.
Experiencing the beauty of
the lakes was almost as interesting as watching three Buddhist monks
from a distance. They had walked off the boardwalk, onto the
temperamental ground, and over to what appeared to be a boiling hot
spring and splashed it on their face.
We yelled “No,” to them from the
safety of our guardrail, to no avail. Either the water wasn’t that hot
or they were incredibly spiritual and God had saved them. Or perhaps
this was another example of ignorance is bliss. If I did the same
thing, surely, I would have landed in the hospital with 3rd
degree burns. They walked away unaffected, possibly a miracle of
life, and we became two of its witnesses.
My final impression of
Yellowstone is that there certainly is good reason why it is considered
one of the biggest attractions in America. The amount of geothermal
activity is astounding to witness. It’s a spectacular place for kids
and adults, nature and animal lovers of all sorts and ages. Yellowstone
is full of animals and scenery to capture your heart and your
photographer’s lens.
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