When we left Old Faithful Inn, the sky was clear but it was cold. There was frost on the car and the temperature was 37, but it eventually reached 76. It was so cool that the geysers and fumaroles seemed extra active this morning and we watched Old Faithful erupt one more time before leaving and heading north. We stopped several times to see various sights – the geyser basins, Paint Pot, Artist Paint Pot, Firehole Lake, etc. The park is just a wonderland of various thermal features which make the area, including lakes, seem on fire at times. We then stopped at Canyon Village for lunch but not much was open which left us wishing we had packed a lunch. We then drove to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the Lower Falls, which is actually the higher drop of the two falls. Of course we went to the obligatory Inspiration Point (translation – hard to get to with scary view).
Today we saw what we first thought was a wolf. It was too big for a fox, but it was alone, in the open in the middle of the day and pretty mangy. After some consultation, we decided it was a Coyote. We also saw plenty of bison, especially in the Lamar Valley region. We had some bison in the Firehole Lake area, but it was a small herd of about 20 to 30 animals. As we drove through the Lamar Valley, we began to see progressively larger herds until at one point we saw over 500 in a large open meadow by the river. That was an amazing sight.
One not so amazing sight is the damage done to the park by fire. The big fire of 1988 which burned over a third of the park isn’t that evident as lodgepole pines are starting to fill in but they are only 15 to 20 feet tall at this point. Other areas more recently burned are not very attractive and there was even a controlled fire burning today up near Lamar Valley. It leaves you wondering if the park service knows what they are doing.
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