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North America, USA, Yellowstone

Mammoth to Madison

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There is so much to see in the park that is isn’t funny. At each turn of the roadway there is another rock formation, another geothermal feature or another site to see. From Mammoth Hot Springs through to Madison on the 57km section there was a lot going on.

Sheepeater Cliff

Sheepeater Cliff is a formation of basalt columns that formed over 500,000 years ago. When the lava cooled it formed the columnar joints. You don’t see rock like this just anywhere. There are also Obsidian Cliffs (that we weren’t able to stop for photos at the time) that has loads of actual black obsidian rock all shiny and glistening in the sun, again formed that way when that lava cooled.

Sheepeater Cliff
Sheepeater Cliff
We stopped at Roaring Mountain which is rather bizarre. The steam vents in the mountain are sometimes barely heard, and at other times they create a roaring sound that can be heard several miles away. Sadly, the photos just look like a lump of normal mountain, so they’re not included. 
Emerald Spring
Emerald Spring

As we continued South, we ended up at Emerald Spring and Steamboat Geyser. Emerald Spring is almost 30ft deep. The green colour is due to the high sulphur content. It smells bad, but is quite pretty. Again, be thankful you can’t smell the photo.

Steamboat Geyser was the first actual geyser we saw in the park. I took a little video that would be much better sans commentary provided by the couple beside me that would not stop talking. The next leg of the trip was from Madison to Old Faithful. Ooooo, be excited for upcoming entries!

North America, USA, Yellowstone

Where the deer and the antelope play?

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Yellowstone BisonWhen I set out on vacation, I don’t normally have a list of animals I want to see. I’ve seen several Yellowstone animals–deer, mountain sheep, bears, elk, coyotes, eagles etc, just from traveling and living in BC, so it wasn’t as if we’re coming from somewhere where these animals don’t exist. The one thing I was most excited to see in Yellowstone was definitely Buffalo, perhaps even more than Old Faithful! Second on the list – Antelope. And, of course, we’d take a Grizzly or two just for good measure! Who wouldn’t?

Chipmunk

Approximately 200 visitors a year are gored by buffalo. That’s one every two days. There are ample warnings to “Stay Safe! Stay Away!” And, Elk will charge people, and damage vehicles. Google it up, you’ll find video for sure.

 The Yellowstone Association near the North Entrance to the park has an electronic map that tracks where animals have been recently sited. While there, we asked the staff for some tips, best viewing locations etc, and luckily we did see a lot of animals. However, not one single bear, and not one single antelope. At least the buffalo were everywhere. I like them as much as I like Llamas.

On the drive from Yellowstone through to Cody we saw thousands of Pronghorn Antelope. They were just roaming around farmer’s fields. The irony is that the second time we visited the Yellowstone Association we asked if there were recent Pronghorn sitings, and if they were mapped. Apparently the Pronghorn are spotted so frequently through out the park that they aren’t even tracked. There is even a one way dirt road that is basically where your guaranteed to see them–nope, not even one. And, we were out at all times of day, all over the park.

ps: I love my new camera. The zoom is awesome, but the digital zoom makes for some fuzzy photos. Most turned out ok, and I had been forewarned that I wouldn’t like the digital zoom results.

North America, USA, Yellowstone

Yellowstone: Orange Mound Spring

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Orange Mound SpringHere’s your science lesson for the day: Water deep below the surface of the earth is heated by the Yellowstone Volcano. The water bubbles to the surface, and flows out over the top of the Orange Mound. Calcium Carbonate and Travertine deposits left behind by the water create the formation. Some people we were talking to said that when they visited Orange Mound Spring a year earlier, it was much, much smaller. At this point, it is growing over the current road way, and work of moving the roadway to accommodate the formation has already begun.

Orange Mound Spring is only one of several examples that show the park is always in transition. Word is that no two visits to Yellowstone are ever the same.
North America, USA, Yellowstone

Roosevelt Arch & Mammoth Hot Springs

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Roosevelt ArchThe night before our first day in Yellowstone we stayed in Gardiner, MT. In the morning, we entered through the Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance. President Roosevelt laid the corner stone in 1903. The inscription is a quote from the Organic Act of 1872 that basically states the park cannot be sold, settled or occupied, and that it is set aside as a public space for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. Once through the gate we were in Wyoming, and ready for our Yellowstone adventure.

Yellowstone National ParkPresident Grant signed the bill declaring Yellowstone as America’s first ever National Park in 1872. The army served as park administration until a National Park Service was established in 1916. The NPS are still managing the conservation and preservation of the park. There are still army barracks in the park and several museums to celebrate the park’s history. Really, we weren’t too keen on the museums. Some of them are kind of ridiculous. Who needs to see a museum of the Park Ranger? (I imagine exhibits like in 1920 they wore green hats, and in 1940 they switched to beige. Seriously, we didn’t check it out.)

From prior research, I knew Yellowstone was going to be geothermal insanity, I just didn’t realize exactly how much we would see. Obviously everyone thinks “Old Faithful” when they hear Yellowstone, but there are more than 10,000 features in the park. There are steam vents, fumaroles, bubbling mud pots, hot springs, and lots of geysers. An astounding half of the earth’s geothermal features are in Yellowstone. We took loads of photos that don’t necessarily do the park justice. Sure the colours are beautiful, but if you can’t smell the stench of sulphur, or hear the water hissing out of the ground you won’t receive the full effect. (Be happy you can’t smell the sulphur!)

We covered all of the parks roadways making our way from the North Entrance down through Norris and Madison to Grant Village on day one. The first feature we saw was Mammoth Hot Springs. The natural terraces are formed by mineral deposits left behind by the flowing water. There trail is limited to wooden walkways that are built to protect the structures created by the hot springs, but also to protect the visitors. Some places in the park there is a very thin crust over scalding hot water, and people can be scalded or even boiled to death if they stray off the walkways.

Here are some photos from our stop at Mammoth Hot Springs.
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
North America, USA

Montana: The Heathen State

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i90logoMontana has some weird stuff going on. If you drive through Montana on the I-90 you’ll notice that there are a bunch of liquor stores, gun stores, pawn shops, porn shops, and casinos. The road-side billboards are all advertising those same things.  Apparently the license plate slogan should be “The Heathen State” not “The Treasure State.”  Who knew?

In Butte, the billboards aren’t any better than the establishments because they’re all about Meth. I suppose this is all fairly typical of a mining community, or any other small town that is highly independent on one industry (oil, lumber, coal, etc). Apparently the anti-meth campaign has been extremely successful though. The billboards definitely have an impact; I’m a few thousand km away and still thinking about them. My favourite one we saw: “Before Meth I had a daughter, now I have a prostitute.” Billboards and Montanan pass times aside, there were some great finds…

Evel Knievel DaysLike Evel Knievel Days! Who knew that Evel Knievel was from Butte, Montana?!? I’m only sad we weren’t there in July when all the stunts were going down. That would have been classic. There were helium stars and stripes balloons lining the street along with placards hanging from lamp posts to honour this home town hero. At some point in his career Evel Knievel wanted to jump his motorbike across the Grand Canyon, but never did. He did jump 13 Pepsi Trucks though. FYI: His bike is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Don’t think I’ll be making a special trip there to see it, but if I happen to be in the neighbourhood you never know.

Our Lady of the RockiesThe other find, not much of a symbol of Americana, but also in Butte–Our Lady of the Rockies. (ps: I don’t know how we manage to find so much Catholic iconography on our travels, but we do.) The statue caught our eye from when we were checking out the historic district. Now, thanks to google, I know what it is all about. Here’s a little recap: Our Lady of the Rockies is almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Bill O’Bob built the statue for his wife after he promised the Virgin Mary he would build a statue if his wife recovered from her battle with cancer. When she recovered, and the statue was built to honour women everywhere. Another interesting fact–Our Lady of the Rockies sits atop the Continental Divide which we crossed several times during the trip. Stay tuned for the next entry of our exciting I-90 adventure.

Happy Travels,
~j

 

North America, USA

Half Mast

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Our first actual day in the US was September 11th.

Not that I wouldn’t have remembered the sombre significant day had I been in Canada, it just had more impact actually seeing the actions of the people. There were flags everywhere–which isn’t unusual for Americans to display, but I mean they were EVERYWHERE! 99% of them were at half mast. Businesses had messages on their communication boards. Homes had flags and messages in windows or on fences. Service men and women were hanging banners and flags on over passes. All of these things really acknowledged a shared sense of grief.

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing during the 9-11 attacks, as I’m sure all of you do too. I was working at the resort, and we found out during morning check-in for rafting. There was no radio, no news paper, no TV, no nothing, just panicked phone calls asking if we were o.k. We were in the middle of nowhere in BC along a major river/transportation route, and there was a 3rd plane missing. Looking back, I think it is odd that people, random people at that, thought we would be in any danger at all.  A super tiny Canadian village or the Pentagon, there is no contest really, but that is how panicked everyone was.

I didn’t see the actual footage until later that evening. Thinking of it now is still upsetting.

US Flags line the street
We Remember
North America, USA, Yellowstone

Finally!

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I’ve finally finished the Peru/Mexico entries as far as I can tell, and can move onto Yellowstone. Luckily we just got back yesterday. We made the 5175km (3215 mile) round trip in 7 days. First I have to say that I’m lucky that we’re not a couple that turn into ragers when in a vehicle. We have compatible, not identical, music preferences, and using a GPS saves a lot of map frustration! The little camperized van we took for the trip was awesome. My only advice to you is not to sit on the South side of the vehicle if you’re constantly driving East. My right arm is slightly charred.

In the seven days we visited a lot of places along the way. We stopped a lot, for the most part in Grand Coulee Dam, Spokane, Butte, Bozeman, Livingston, Gardiner, Yellowstone National Park, Cody, Devil’s Tower National Monument, Thermopolis, and Grand Teton National Park. And now we’re home in one piece. I’ll start with the photo entries soon.

ps: I heart my new camera so much it isn’t even funny!