Jim & John's Junket

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Headed for Yellowstone National Park again...first stop the Fountain Paint Pot area. Then it's time to go to Old Faithful Geyser and watch another movie at this visitor center and see two eruptions of Old Faithful. Next we left there for the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake, specifically the Grant Village Visitor Center, then West Thumb Geyser Basin with the fishing cove in Yellowstone Lake. Then we traveled to the Mud Volcano Geyser area and walked around on the board walk viewing all the hydrothermal springs, femeroles, caldrons, and geysers. We next headed for Fishing Bridge Visitor Center. We got cancellation stamps at four of the five visitor centers for our National Park Passports! One remaining to get is at Mammoth...we'll head there Sunday.
We headed back to West Yellowstone again and arrived just as everyone had finished eating so it was back to the Geyser Grill for us. Jim, his family members and John enjoyed talking and watching some Olympic events together...then we headed back to the basecamp around 10:30 PM...another late night to bed. Just as we were about to leave, Rebecca (Jim's daughter), Chris, and their dog, Wiley, arrived after driving their camper "Pegasus" up from Evergreen, Colorado and taking a wrong turn. It cost them an extra four hours on the road. So....we visited a bit more before heading off to bed around 11:30 PM. (These late nights are killers!) Check out the beautiful photos from this busy day!

America's majestic Bald Eagle

Paint pot

closer view of paint pot bubbling

Leather Pool

small geyser

another small geyser

and another small geyser

Bull bison ...in the roadway...and he CAN go ANYwhere HE wants to go!

Swallow baby birds in the hole in the dead tree. Mother sits on a branch nearby.
The tree is dead because its roots were drawing water from the hot water in the pool below.

Saphire Spring Pool

mkcrobic growth in the hot spring run off create amazing colors

green thermohilic bacteral growth in hot water...brilliant colors

Guess who? You're right...."Old Faithful Geyser" arrived in perfect time.

Old Faithful Geyser upon a 2nd eruption that we got to see

The amazing fireplace inside the historic Yellowstone Lodge

Outside roof and chimney of the lodge

West thumb geyser basin - fishing cone. As the story goes, Teddy Roosevelt
caught a fish in the lake here, and immediately dunked the fish into the geyser cone water.
He pulled it out shortly and the fish was perfectly cooked for the future US President to enjoy!