Day 30: These Sulfur Fumes are Making Me Nauseous

Yellowstone the second time around was great! We decided to focus our energy on the North West side of the park. This area includes Mammoth Springs and Norris Geyser Basin. Both of which we explored thoroughly. The Norris Basin is really neat it does not have many of the famous ones. Instead those are found in the south west Yellowstone, however they are still amazing things. There are many small geysers and tons of springs thermal vents. The two that stick out the most to me is Vixen, and Steamboat. Steam boat Geyser erupts has small eruptions regularly, but every once in a while it releases a big one. That is much taller than Old Faithful and lasts about 24 hours. The problem being that every once and a while is either 4 days or 50 years from its previous eruption. The last time it went off big time was May 23 3005 so it was easy to say that we were not going to see it happen. What we did see was Vixen Geyser go up.

This geyser does not have any special story like Steamboat does, instead its a small and deep geyser that we saw erupt. It started very small with little water reaching the surface From its pit and then it got a little higher and then some more until it reached about my height and then stopped. Now this wasn't in one huge spray it was in spurts. Alie and I thought it was cool because we were the only ones around when it did it. I got some pictures and video. I will not be able to post the video but pictures for sure.

We then traveled to Mammoth springs and saw the types of geological formations called terraces. These things are limestone deposits that build up and form little terraces for a lack of a better word on the ground where the hot water runs and falls. The lime stone deposits in one place and as it grows higher the water runs around it and over it making them longer. The flows originate in these small mounds where the springs are located and runs a long way down until it reaches the valley.

This section of the park used to be much more colorful then it is now. When a lot of these were named they were beautiful natural sculptures, however now the most of the springs lie dormant leaving only the rocks behind but the color of the springs vanish with the hot water. So when one was named Minerva the Roman goddess of sculpture one can imagine how beautiful it once was.

As I said above a lot of these are dormant but not all. Our two favorites were Canary Springs and Orange Mound. I belief that Orange mound looks a lot like a mammoth. Thus the area's name but apparently not enough of one to name it so. (Picture coming soon.) This formation is amazing. The color is all orange for the small organisms in the water. The water also created these interesting ridges and mounds that give it this great texture. All day I struggled to find items that would turn up well on my digital camera and it was not until I found this mound that I was truly inspired. (Wow that was really pretentious I'm sorry)

Afterwards with our damaged GPS we made the drive to Bozeman using the classic call ahead for directions technique. Once there we were welcomed with open arms and two barking puppies.

Alie and I's recommendation for this park, go and hire a snow coach or a snowmobile guide and come in the winter or spring. There is a lot less people, many more animals, and the snow just allows these geological formations and colors to really stand out. The two major draw backs are you cannot explore it alone, trust us not a that big of a deal and some areas are closed. But you cannot get the entire park in one trip so try it in both. Overall Yellowstone ranks one of the best parks we've been to so far and I have ever been in my life.

Some stats that are a little off but only very slightly. Due to GPS testing that occured today.

Distance: 312.3mi
Moving Time: 1h 40m
Stopped: 24m 46s
Total Time: 2h 5m
Overall/Moving Average: Completely utterly inaccurate wrong but for fun I'll post them any way and you guess which ones are which. 149mhp 186mph.




Overall is the first number and moving is the second.