Week at Yellowstone

This week we went to Yellowstone. I thought it was awesome! I wish we could live there during the summer and in California during the winter. I liked how close the animals came to us. We also got to visit the Grand Tetons where we saw Yellowstone’s friendliness and beauty too.

The best part of Yellowstone was the animals. I loved how close the animals came to us. One morning at breakfast, we were sitting there eating our oatmeal and a male bison wandred into camp just ten feet from us. You are supposed to stay at least 25 feet away from them but when the animals approach you, it doesn’t count. We had four elk tromp through our campsite. In other parts of the park we saw a bald eagle and an osprey while we were fishing, four coyote, three foxes who kept running out in front of the car, deer, huge herds of bison, lots of elk, and even a Moose in the Grand Tetons. There was a huge traffic jam when a bear killed a bison in the river but Mom wouldn’t let us get out. She sent Dad to take a picture but the bear had already left. I guess he didn’t like having an audience. Dad said there was all kinds of nasty stuff floating in the water so he didn’t take a picture and I think that was a good thing. We tried to see the wolves in the Lamar and Hayden Valley but we couldn’t find the wolf man using the radio collers. He must have been taking a vacation or something. We did get to see our wolves at the Wolf and Grizly Bear Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. There were a number of bears there too. The Discovery Center had exhibits on bears and wolves, computer games where you got to by the manager of a forest where 50 grizzlys still roamed wild, a smashed penny machine, and of course places to see the bears and wolves. Animals get sent there because they keep finding humand food or they keep going into settled areas or they get orphaned when they are extra young. Animals who are troublesome or would otherwise die, get sent to the Center when they are used to teach us how to be good stewards and respect them.

Yellowstone is famous for all their gysers. I can see why. We watched two erupt and we saw much more. It turns out that Yelowstone used ot be a huge volcano that collapsed and turned into a caldera. Don’t worry though because it won’t explode again any time soon. What it does mean is that the gysers are powered on volcanoe steam. There are lots of other volcanic features there too like hot springs, mudpots, and fumeroles. Hot springs look like a boiling pot of water. Mudpots bubble and spit mud everywhere. Fumeroles do not have enough water to be hot springs and just hiss hot steam. What they all have in common is that they are all volcanic features and they really, really stink. Mom always teased that someone took off their shoes but it is really the sulfur that smells like bad eggs. They have really funny olors because of bacteria that like the hot temperatures. Some are bleached white and some are orange and others are inbetween. I really liked Old Faithful. It spouted pretty high and the steam went even higher. It is unusual because they can sort of predict when it will erupt.

We did a Junior Ranger Program here. It was harder than most other programs. We had to do four activity pages in addition to eight other requirements which included learning the Junior Ranger pledge, memorizing the park rules, attending two Ranger programs, walking at least one trail, and doing map work. We walked a number of trails including the Mud Volcano Trail which was stinky, the West Thumb Gyser Basin Trail which wasn’t as stinky and was right by the lake, and the Firehole Trail which had the second gyser. It is a small trail but it is a super good one with excellent examples of gysers, fumeroles, and an extremely cool mudpot.

The best part of the week was when Daddy and Papa came. Daddy came in the middle and then Papa came just before it was time to leave. We went fishing three times. Daddy was the only one who actually caught any fish. He landed three fish in one day. I wish I could catch fish like him. He said I just needed to practice, talk less, and cast more. We saw lots of waterfalls together: Lewis Falls, Firehole Falls, Moose Falls, and some others I am forgetting.
Today we sent Daddy home and then started driving towards California where we are taking Papa home. Tonight we are at a campsight where we have electricity and water. This is super nice since we didn’t have that in Yellowstone. There was only one campsight with full hookups but we couldn’t stay there because it was in bear country. The Indian Creek site had a water spout right there plus trash cans but it was too far north and we had to drive a half hour just to get to anything cool. Then we moved down to Bridge Bay which was more convenient to everything but it still didn’t have electricity. Tonight we don’t have to go outside for anything. It would be perfect if Nate would stop crying and just go to sleep!

See Yellowstone Pics