Yellowstone's Lower Geyser Basin and the Firehole River

Yellowstone continued: 

Hey hey hey, I'm back! It's a glorious day here in West Michigan, at our new home in Bitely. 75 degrees, barely a breeze, sun is shining and the birds are singing. And yes, I'm inside writing a blog post. I've been thinking for a few weeks now that I'd like to get back to it, and the bug bit me hard today, so here I am. I'll probably head out later for a hike on the North Country Trail, which is literally 10 minutes from our house!

While there are so many things to share with you about our new place, I really want to finish up the Yellowstone posts before I get into that. So here we go, heading back to September of 2016....

Thursday, September 22nd, we left the Mammoth campground and made our way down to Madison. Our four days in the Lamar valley and Mammoth areas had paid off with fabulous wolf sightings, and we were now headed down into the geyser area of Yellowstone. The road from Mammoth to Norris was closed for repairs, so we had to drive all the way around the east side of the Grand Loop to get to Madison, but any detour through Yellowstone is no hardship.

Lower Geyser area of Yellowstone

Along the way we stopped for a bit along the Gibbon River in the Norris Basin. Hot water and steam bubbled from seeps and fissures along the river.

Gibbon River

After setting up camp we drove south along the loop road and into the Lower Geyser Basin, which is bisected by the Firehole River, so named for the multitude of seeps and hot springs that drain into it.
The area is dominated by volcanic formations, like the one seen here on the left.

Firehole River near a picnic area.

As mentioned in past posts, the aspens and willows were ablaze. I couldn't resist this lone aspen toughing it out among the spruce below a rock slide.

We opted for the Firehole Canyon Drive, which got us a bit off the beaten path, and closer to the river. We stopped many times along the way, and I climbed down to the river to see it up close and personal. Being in the van for so many hours and days had finally gotten to me, and I needed to move. The roar of the water and the view from the river bank were intense.

Firehole River

While Yellowstone is a grand place of beautiful vistas, I try to look to the small too. I'm always amazed by the places trees find to grow. This little spruce was slowly cracking this rock apart along the river bank.

Farther along the drive we stopped for a look at the beautiful Firehole Falls.

Firehole Falls

As we headed south, ominous-looking clouds began to gather on the horizon. We pulled over near a swimming hole, where a couple of young men were in the water. The air wasn't all that warm but they reported that the water was fabulous.

Looking down towards the swimming area on the Firehole River

I was really struck by the geology of the place, as more and more evidence of a violent geologic past emerged. These could be volcanic formations, or they could be rock that formed horizontally and then pushed vertically by some massive upheaval, then cut and smoothed by the river.

Something about these trees really struck me, and the dark sky beyond really gave the scene a dramatic effect.

After the canyon drive we continued south to the Firehole Lake Drive, which winds around past many steaming creeks, mud pots and geysers. The color of the grass and sedges continued to blow my mind throughout the trip.

Firehole Lake Drive

Mountain Bluebirds flitted along a section of the road, contrasting beautifully with the rusty background.

Mountain Bluebird

Steam from the thermals would lift and fall with the wind, creating eerie landscapes.

We drove through once, stopping to check out some boardwalks, then looped around again, hoping to catch one of the geysers erupting. We passed up the Great Fountain Geyser as it was surrounded by cars (and is a less predictable geyser), and stopped instead at White Dome. I got out and read about it, and walked around a bit, then heard a funny sound. I looked to see a bit of steam coming from the cone and then whoosh! Up went the geyser! I don't recall now how long the eruption lasted, but long enough for me to take several videos with my phone, as well as many photos. This was my favorite, silhouetted by the bright sky of the setting sun--and we were the only ones there to enjoy it.

White Dome Geyser

Next: More explorations of the south end, including a short hike in a hail storm!

Yellowstone Dawn

I have heard that most people who visit places like Yellowstone National Park rarely leave their cars--something like 90%. They drive the Grand Loop, pull over to look at things out their car windows. Perhaps they walk far enough to see Old Faithful, or the Terraces, but for the most part they only leave the comfort of their vehicles to go to the gift shop.

Edward Abbey, in his book Desert Solitaire, wrote way back in 1967 how he thought cars--and all motor vehicles--should be banned from the national parks and everyone should have to travel by bike, or on foot, or horseback. His argument was that you cannot possibly fully experience a place from the climate controlled confines of your car. He was right. Oh, you will see stuff, for sure. Driving through Yellowstone is like driving through a zoo--the animals are right there, wandering around on the road in some cases. But to really experience a place--to hear it, to smell it and feel it--you need some solitude, some space, and we fully intended to find it, even if we only had four days to do it in.

Since we took a plane out west instead of driving we couldn't really bring camping gear and were left with a hotel room in West Yellowstone. Little did we know at the time we made the reservations that most of the wildlife is on the east side of the park. So, we were up before dawn each day, out on the road to get to a place where we hoped to see some wildlife before the heat of the day forced them into the woods. Each morning at 5:30 am we could be found headed down the West Entrance Road. This road follows the Madison River and Madison Canyon until the road joins the Grand Loop Road and the Madison meets the Gibbon River. This area was great for elk viewing, and in the morning there were almost always elk cows and calves right by the road. Later in the day as traffic increased they moved farther into the plains. These elk were our first sighting of wildlife in the park.




The grasses were just beginning to ripen and cast the meadows and prairies with yellows and golds. What movement the up-ended roots of this old pine convey, like a dancer twirling by the stream.



We saw a lot of elk in the park, and it was hard to not stop and take pictures of all of them. This group glows in the sunrise.


Yellowstone is, as you probably know, a HUGE volcano caldera. Scientists believe that some of the largest eruptions in the planet's history occurred with this volcano, eruptions that would have changed life on earth. I couldn't help but think that if the thing was going to blow, I would rather it do so while I was there and save me the suffering of the aftermath of such an event!

Thanks to the heat that lies just below the surface, the park is replete with geothermal features such as geysers, sulfur springs and bubbling mud pots. Steam rises seemingly at random from fissures in the ground. Again, this is something best seen in the early morning when the air is cool. The morning sun had just crested this rise to light up the steam.



Along the Madison river, quite near the road, was a bald eagle nest. The area was roped off to discourage people from pulling over and disturbing the birds. By late July the youngins had flown the nest, and I think this may have been one of their brood, perched in a tree several hundred yards from the nest. I will confess I shot this from the car.




There is a line from an Indigo Girls song that has resonated me since the first time I heard it:

"Everywhere I turn, all the beauty just keeps shaking me."

This is exactly how I felt on this trip. We couldn't go ten feet, it seemed, without running into another stunning scene. This is Gibbon Falls, easily seen from the road. I was most mesmerized by the tree in the foreground. It was lit it up like a firebrand even though the sun had not yet touched it.



More geothermal activity. I long to return to Yellowstone in the winter to see bison, caked with snow, warming themselves near these vents.




I am not certain but I think this is Secret Valley Creek. After two years I have to rely on the order of my photos and a map of the park to help me remember where we were! The reflection of these towering dead trees surrounded by the next generation caught my eye. This area of the park was ravaged in the North Fork Fire, one of nine named fires that laid waste to the park in 1988. I can only imagine what the landscape looked like before the fires.



Not everything in Yellowstone is big, not all of the beauty and majesty is in the panorama, the raging river, the mountain range. Those who remain confined to their vehicles will never see the small things, the things of delicate beauty, the subtleties. They won't hear the cry of the hawk, or the howl of the wolf, and they will miss the hair bells and yarrow, growing along a stream at the base of a pine in the early morning light.



Hell, they probably aren't even out of bed yet.


Next: Artist Paintpots