Yellowstone Diary

7th June 2023:

Started for Yellowstone at 9:30am along I-15. This part of Utah is more wild as the alarming frequency of roadkill indicates. Incredibly scenic vistas on the drive, first in Utah, then in Idaho, which is more rustic. The grass along the freeway is wilder and more overgrown. This is big sky country - open fields on both sides bookended by distant mountains with smatterings of snow. The eye can see for miles in an unbroken line. There are beautiful lakes and huge grassy meadows in Idaho. Idaho Falls seems like a quaint city. After 3 hours or so, we take route 20 towards Yellowstone.

We stop at Pond’s Lodge in Island Park, ID after an hour or so where we fill gas and have veg pizza which is surprisingly fresh. The elderly waitress is friendly. Shonu has ginger beer (non-alcoholic).

We resume and reach Yellowstone West entrance at around 2:15pm. We buy a national park pass and enter. We are using an app called GuideAlong, which uses GPS to provide a running commentary of attractions in the park. It is rather informative and guides us to several points of interest, some of which we wouldn’t have seen on our own.

We first halt at a beautiful spot by the Madison river with the mountains in the distance and a cloud adorned sky.

Then at another spot by the river where a herd of bison are grazing. One of them is rather close to us and Kamini is concerned it will attack us.

Next stop is Firehole falls which is a uphill small loop at the top of which is a small waterfall. Quiet little spot with not many people. Sometimes these smaller attractions are more charming and relaxing than the main ones, which are often crowded with people jostling for room for photos.

We stop next at a spot called Fountain Paint Pot where there are all four types of thermal features - hot springs, pots, geysers and fumaroles. One of the pools is a deep blue and turquoise. A geyser is erupting regularly. It is angry. Shonu is already tired.

Next stop is Midway geyser basin with Grand Prismatic Spring. A boardwalk leads to the spring. Along the way there are rivulets of boiling water emptying into the river and Excelsior geyser crater, which is filled with turquoise water that is steaming.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic is spectacular with an artist’s palette of colors ranging from yellow to reddish brown to turquoise to deep blue. It is steaming which makes it all seem like a dream, a fairy tale. Shonu wants to go to the hotel.

Next stop is Old Faithful. Now it has started raining as we park and try to locate the visitor center. I walk back to the parking lot in rain that turns into hail to bring the car to the dining area where Shonu and Kamu are waiting. I miss the spot, can’t go back because it is a one way and have to go out of the whole complex and come back in.

We drop Kamu at the visitor center while we look for parking. She tells us that Old Faithful is due to erupt in 2 minutes. We frantically park and run towards it. It is raining again. We wait in vain for 15 minutes. It seems like it already erupted and we missed it. Next eruption is after an hour so we decide to leave and go to the hotel.

We reach Canyon Lodge after an hour and 15 minutes of driving, interspersed with occasional downpours.

We check into our cabin, which is rustic. Not even a fridge and no Wi-Fi. We rush to the dining area which closes in 30 minutes. The only thing we find is a soup that is between lukewarm and cold and tastes like ketchup, boiled corn and hash browns. Shonu vents.

We return to the cabin and have chocolate for dessert. We watch photos and turn in.

8th June 2023:

Woke up at 7:30 today, had oatmeal and coffee (chocolate milk for Shonu) and set out for Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. First went to North Rim view point and were greeted by a spectacular view of the falls and canyon, which had yellowish and reddish brown hues. The viewpoints were sloping down very steep and barricaded by boulders. It was a dizzying view. The canyon is smaller than the Arizona Grand Canyon but very narrow and more colorful. We took a winding trail down to the mouth of the falls. It took us about 25-30 minutes but it was worth it. The water dropping into empty space was an amazing sight. First time we have been on the top of a waterfall. We also got a beautiful view of the yellow walled canyon from within it with the river spraying down and winding into the distance.

We then stopped at a couple of other view points, including Inspiration Point which offered a more sweeping and panoramic view of the canyon and falls.

We made a pit stop at the cabin and then got back on the road towards Old Faithful. Along the way there were stops for sulphur point where there was a strong rotting smell of hydrogen sulphide, mud volcano with mud pot and Dragon’s mouth which was a cave emitting superheated water and steam and sounding just like a fiery dragon, Pumice rock - which is a panoramic vista of Yellowstone Lake with mountains in the distance wearing white headgear. A large crow - probably a rook - looks at us opportunistically. Shonu is scared to get out of the car. We saw many bison along the way, some of them within touching distance from the road, a lone elk taking a nap, deer walking leisurely along trails near the road.

We drive straight on to Old Faithful (the most famous geyser in the park which erupts on a predictable schedule every 90 minutes plus minus 10 minutes), ignoring the guided app’s many suggestions along the way. We know exactly where to park and what to do. First thing to do is to go to the visitor center and check the time of the next eruption. We have nearly an hour. We find a spot on the benches overlooking Old Faithful and wait. A couple of annoying kids are in the bench in front of us. The eruption starts 7 minutes ahead of schedule and is unmistakeable. The superheated water shoots up to nearly 30-40 feet accompanied by billowing steam clouds. It keeps going for a couple of minutes. It is a spectacular sight and worth the wait. A reminder of the raging inferno below our feet deep in the earth’s interior.

Old Faithful

Next, we walk over to a dining area we noticed yesterday while sheltering from the rain. They have a black bean burger. We go in with high expectations. They are instantly dashed - the burger contains egg. There is a smoked red pepper and Gouda soup though which is impressive sounding. We order that along with two French fries. The soup lives up to its name.

We walk to a grocery store next door to buy apples and chocolate. The cashier sells Shonu a huckleberry lollipop. I have never heard of this berry but Shonu says she has. I then remember Huckleberry Finn.

Since it is only around 6 pm, we decide to see if we can squeeze another eruption out of Old Faithful. This time we get a front row seat. It is about a half hour wait. Old Faithful threatens to erupt several times but simmers down. Meanwhile another nearby geyser erupts out of nowhere. An almighty eruption it is. The one we saw earlier pales in comparison. It keeps going on and on for five minutes, threatening to steal Old Faithful’s thunder. It finally dies down but the main show still hasn’t started. At last, after brooding for a few minutes, Faithful repays the audience’s faith and erupts higher and more forcefully than the last time. It keeps going longer as well, a full five minutes, as though it had to show that it was as good as the other geyser. Paisa vasool.

Now it’s back to the cabin clockwise around the lower loop, same way as yesterday. We stop at Biscuit Basin and catch some marvelous colors in Sapphire Pool. A couple of bison are napping nonchalantly in the distance. Kamini wants to go back to the car.

More bison sightings along the way, one right by the road and calmly crossing it as cars are halting to take photos.

Back at the cabin, we have yesterday’s leftover pizza, Cadbury dairy milk chocolate, watch photos and call it a day.

9th June 2023:

Left at 10:30 today since Shonu and Kamu decided to sleep in. Breakfast was coffee and oatmeal with apple, almonds and cashew (which I put double since I didn’t know Kamu had already put them) for us and honey oat bar and chocolate milk for Shonu. Stopped at Hayden Lodge to get ice in ziplock bags for the cheese, veggies and chocolate. Also checked cricket score since this lodge has Wi-Fi. India have their backs against the wall and look likely to end up with the wooden spoon second time in a row. Poor selection, and timid coaching and captaincy. Kamu sent some work emails.

First stop was Norris geyser basin, a 20 minute drive. This is a basin with the hottest temperatures in the park. It includes a geyser called Steamboat which is the tallest in the world at 300 feet, but unpredictable. We did the smaller loop which had a fumarole that was venting, mud pots, and hot springs. We sat down at a place called crackling lake - which I renamed Tava lake. There was another hole in which water was boiling - just add tomato, jeera, black pepper and salt for rasam. We sat down near Tava lake. It was a tranquil scene - we could see the basin and the mountains in the distance, and the blue sky was full of cotton. Not an airline trail in the sky - we were transported back in time thousands of years. Such quiet moments have become rare in the modern world.

Next, the GuideAlong uncle convinced us to take a 10 minute detour to Sheepeater Cliff which had basalt formations. The basalt crystals were rectangular and orderly, as if someone had built the cliff brick by brick. Some people were having lunch on nearby picnic tables.

Obsidian cliff was a tiny informational pullout along the road about the obsidian cliffs abutting the road. Obsidian in the cliffs formed 106,000 years ago due to rapidly cooling lava that is very hot and very fluid. The Native Americans used it for making tools and ceremonial objects. It looks glassy and black.

Mammoth hot springs upper terrace was the next stop. We had pita chips snack and set out to climb the boardwalks. Most of the springs are no longer active, but they have deposited lovey travertine terraces. One or two springs were still active and the water flow from them was brownish in color. The terraces reminded us of stalactites in an underground cave we saw years ago in Sequoia National Park. We next saw Liberty Cap, which is a large cone of travertine - a mini volcano that is inactive. Now we were all tired and looked forward to lunch in Mammoth town. Of course the restaurant was closed and the general store had nothing that didn’t have egg in it. All the ice creams had egg. Food has been a real lowlight of this park. We just got a soda for Shonu and got back on the loop towards Lamar valley after taking a wrong turn towards Gardiner to the north. On our way out of the town, we spotted an elk lazing in a park by the roadside. Kamu bravely got out of the car to take a photo.

Undine Falls is a recommended stop and the falls are worth it. The falls drop from a good height into a gorge that is nearly vertical on the sides. It was quite dizzying to look at. I remark that we should once visit a park, skip all the main attractions and only visit the smaller offbeat ones. We come to these parks for rest and restoration, and jostling and elbowing the crowds seems to achieve the opposite.

We had lunch of cucumber, tomato, cheese and chips sandwich after stopping at a trailhead parking by the road. It was badly needed after two failed attempts to stop for lunch.

We saw a baby black bear and her mother probably (who was brown). The cub crossed the road and then crossed it back and disappeared with her mother into the woods. At another stop, someone said there were a couple of baby bears on a fallen tree far in the distance. Even through binoculars, they looked like black specks.

The GuideAlong uncle said that the less human contact wild animals have with man, the better for them. The more they get used to us, the more they will approach us, and become a danger to us, which is bad for them. This stayed with me. We are so eager to spot wildlife, yet, not spotting them would be the best thing we can do for them.

Lamar Valley was our next destination. This is a highly scenic drive through sweeping grassy valleys gently sloping up into hills on either side. Panoramic views are to be had on both sides. We saw a deer and her sprightly kid confidently cross the road. There were hundreds of bison lazing and grazing in the distance. They were everywhere. We got tired of seeing them after a while. After a leisurely drive that ended at Soda butte, we drove back to Canyon Village.

Bison relaxing

The cafe as usual had no vegetarian options and the wok place was closed too. Scenery: A+. Food: F. We got ice cream bars from the nearby store and went back to the cabin. We had Ching’s noodles for dinner and ice cream (which had become a soup but tasted good) for dessert. Shonu had smartly finished hers as soon as we left the store.

Then we saw photos and pulled the curtains down on the day, after a lecture from me to Shonu on the fundamentals of photography - portrait vs landscape, aperture, shutter and ISO.