Glimpses of life

Exploring Yellowstone National Park

What would you say for a trip to the most vibrant, amazing, colorful destination filled with nature’s wonderful creations. Perfect weather condition, an experience of all four seasons, wild life, hot geysers, scenic routes all along, hot springs, great views and good company. This is what I would say for my trip to Yellowstone National parkJ.

4 days 4 states 1600 miles drive ..sounds like an awesome itinerary.

Washington > Idaho > Montana > Wyoming

Day 1:

We started on Thursday 9/28/2017 evening to reach our first pit stop in Missoula. With some initial glitches with traffic we drove in a steady pace towards Missoula. We reached at around 1.45 am at our hotel.

Day 2:

After the long drive we all were taken over by sleep and were able to start only by 11 AM from Missoula to reach our destination Yellowstone National Park at around 3 PM. It was a sunny day, so we wanted to see as much as possible coz the weather was forecasted to be rainy the next day.

We drove through the forest lined with dense pine trees all along and slowly opening up to golden yellow meadows with winding river amidst, smoking potholes just beside the road all along. We saw a small herd of grey deer, some snow geese as we entered. We also saw a herd of Bisons wandering in the meadows and grazing without taking any notice of the travelers around them. It was quite scenic as I felt like watching lion king with the animals and birds doing their activities near the river.

Further along the road we stopped at the Lower Geyser Basin. The entire area was so dangerous that we had to walk only on the wooden pathway that was made to explore the stretch. From far we could see a stretch with smoky holes all along the hill.

The entire stretch was so barren but filled with blankets of microbial organisms which is the only thing that could survive the immense heat and dangerous conditions.

The whole geyser basin is said to be Volcanic hot spots which are just waiting for their time. With the water and the heat combined, this area was filled with steaming geysers in various forms. Some like jet geysers with steam, some with hot pools of boiling pools in various colors, some like mud pots with bubbling mud holes in different colors as well.

As we walked along exploring this stretch I could see the violent bubbling of hot water, mud mixed with water, spouts of boiling water so immense that I was surprised to see them so active. I had been here two years back but never felt that it could be so immense and violently active.

There was smoke all along and in some places we could’nt see the pools due to the dense steam coming out of them. Once the steam was cleared as wind blew it away, I could see the pools with such beautiful colors.

There was a Sapphire pool with the color of so blue and clear that we could see the bottom of the pool. With steam and hot air bubbles. Some of the hot springs were so vibrant like emerald green lined with orangish hues of the bacterial organisms along the edges. Individually they may not seem much but with the combination of all the landscape it was so beautiful and dangerous.

Further we went on to see the Old Faithful geyser which is maybe the biggest geyser in the area. It is famous for its jets of steaming water spouting out like a fountain to great heights and continuously for around 10 mins.

It somehow seems to show this activity every hour and I was wondering how could nature set this time.

We had to wait for some time before we could get to see this show, but we were lucky enough to see lot of its other comrades of smaller jets playing around in the surrounding like a musical fountain. It was as though a symphony was being played by the hot jet geysers. It was worth the wait when the Old faithful started its show. It was quite amazing.

It was almost time for sunset and I had not seen the place during fall and sunset time which was adding more effect to the surrounding. It was a totally different experience. I loved every bit of it.

We then also saw the Biscuit basin with another set of uniquely colored hot springs spread out.

We then headed back to our hotel near Yellowstone airport.

Day 3:

The weather forecast was rainy in the noon, so we planned to start early to explore rest of the places we wanted to see in the park. We all started by 9 AM and arrived at the middle level geyser which had the beautiful Grand Prismatic spring which is a must see place according to me and one the most beautiful pool i have seen.

The park looked so different in the early morning hours with all wild life just stirring from their slumber and just beginning their day.

As we walked along the path we were welcomed by dense vapors/ steam of the acidic geysers with a feel like we were walking in the misty morning. It was a wonderful experience. I could see droplets of this sulphurous steam droplets clinging to my braided hair.

Only thing is that we were not able to see the azure blue color or the spectrum of colors that we can see along the edges of this spring. I love this spring as its colors are like a rainbow on the ground. Whenever the winds waved the steam in other direction we could get a glimpse of it and enjoy the view.

We then headed to see the Upper Geyser Basin. This was again a complete variation from rest of them in the sense, it was again a stretch of geysers spread out but along the edges of the beaches if the Yellow Stone river. It had the Yellowstone lake on one side with snowcapped mountains and geyser spouts along the edge of the beach on the opposite end. Mother Nature’s wonders continues to amaze me. People were canoeing along this stretch to explore the geological marvels along this beach. I had not been here before.

By now i was done with seeing the geysers but still we went ahead to see the West thumb and further to the Mud Volcano. Along the stretch we saw antelopes, bison herds, deer to add some wild life effect.

We reached the Mud Volcano point which is the most stinking set of geysers of the entire lot. Its the most acidic and sulphourous area. I couldn’t stand it, but the activity at the Chaos cauldron was so violent with boiling geyser which was quite muddy but never stopping the churn like a whirl pool that held me on the spot.

We then took the Grand loop scenic route which is a drive in the forests. We saw a black bear along the way which was like a cherry on the cake. Last time i had seen the grizzly bear. So this added to my list of wild life we spotted.

The route in itself was short but we experienced all four seasons – Sunny, Windy, Rainy, Snowy. It had started to rain by this time and as we moved ahead it started snowing and the forests was covered with snow all along for a few miles which was so different from the geysers areas which was all hot and dry.

We cautiously drove through the snowy area and reached the Mammoth springs. By this time i was bored of the geysers so just had a quick view of this geyser waterfall.

We also saw the Tower falls which was so beautiful and looked like a painting. From here we headed back to Missoula as it was starting to get dark. Again it was a long drive. We were quite tired and badly wanted to get some sleep but the drive went on and on. We finally reached our destination. We all slept like a log.

Day 4:

We woke up relaxed and started back to home at around 11.30 AM. We did not have any other agenda for the day. So we drove relaxedly along I 90 West.

The route was so so scenic that i was just lost in the surrounding views and beautiful cloud formations. It looked like someone was playing with the clouds and making different formations like play dough. Also it started raining along the way like a shower on the stretch of fields along the way with the fragrance of the first rain. It was rainy yet sunny which added to the scenic beauty. We saw a beautiful rainbow along the stretch which was already colorful with fall colors. I was relishing every bit just like a small kid.

On the way there was a stretch like Grand Canyon but with meadows and hills along the Columbia river which was so very majestic and calm and beautiful. This view point was one of those moments that takes your breath away for me at least. It reminded me of the moment when i saw the total solar eclipse where i was speechless for sometime after experiencing it.