(16) A Trip to Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (Part I)

(S) In order to get to Yellowstone NP from Idaho, we set foot (or, rather: wheel) in Montana, where the western entrance to the Park is situated. Montana is the fourth biggest state in the U.S. (bigger than Poland), but its population is scarce: only about a million inhabitants. The most well-known city in this northern state is probably Billings, but the capital city is Helena. Montana is associated with one major historical event that may ring a bell to the Readers of this blog, namely the most famous battle in the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The map below (grows if you click on it) illustrates the most popular routes in Yellowstone NP, whose shape looks like an 8. We entered the Park from West Yellowstone and traveled down the lower loop on the first day and up the northern loop on the next day of our peregrination through vast Yellowstone (with the area of about 900 thousand hectares it's bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware taken together). We left the Park through its southern exit leading to Jackson Hole.

Visible in the picture below is the main street, called Yellowstone Avenue, in the tourist town of West Yellowstone, which lives solely on visitors to Yellowstone NP. The town is full of motels, souvenir shops and restaurants (well, diners). Despite the huge number of motels, it wasn't easy to find lodging for two nights but, at long last, we managed to get a shabby (and stinking) room for the extortionate price of over $160 per night! And we considered ourselves lucky because finding a room without prior reservation, when the Park is visited by 3 million tourists a year sounds like a miracle indeed;) (S):

The most striking feature of Yellowstone are its geysers (2/3 of the world's total number of geysers), which are the result of the fact that the Park is situated on a volcano boiling 6 km below the earth's surface. Because of this the earth emits heat, and geological processes can be observed in the Park's hot points. The first picture taken upon our entrance to the Park captures a strange view of steaming grass. (S):

The trip to the first area of geysers in Norris Geyser Basin was an unforgettable experience: the smell of sulphuric acid (like that of rotten eggs) was at first a nuisance, but one can easily get used to tolerating it when the view is so fabulous (S):

Walking among geysers is like walking on the precarious surface of a dormant volcano, hence tourists must walk along the network of wooden trails. The guardrails make sure that people do not fall off the bridges into the hot poisonous mud below (S):

Here is a spectacular outpour of steam getting out straight from the inside of the earth:

The Steamboat Geyser discharges fumes like a chimney on a boat:

Visible below is Dragon's Mouth - not an orchid but a hot spring which is only partially visible: the activity takes place in the cavern and tourist only hear the belching and see the steam over undulating muddy water:

Another mud volcano, still active, if you look closely. The earth around it is very dry:

Yellowstone takes its name after the Yellowstone River, which flows across it, carving a huge canyon in the soft yellow rocks. It seems that the river was named to celebrate the effect of its activity: the uncovered interior of the earth. Click on it to see how spectacular it is (S):

And, finally, the picture of the Yellowstone River's Falls taken from the vantage point situated a little bit lower (S). Everybody's reaction to the spectacle was: "WOW"! I stood amazed at this fairy-tale view and had to pinch myself to believe my eyes: the river's greenish color must be the effect of mixing the water's blue color with the yellow sediment carried from the rocky terrain.

The Yellowstone River's Lower Falls are 93 meters high, no wonder the water is tumbling down with great speed and rumble (S):

The view of the more peaceful section of the Yellowstone River (still speedy though) (S):

The Yellowstone is not the only river in the Park: its many rivers create over 300 spectacular waterfalls:

Yellowstone Lake is the largest body (over 350 square kilometers) of water situated so high (over 2 thousand meters). When you look at it on the map, you see it has a very irregular shape (S):

This picture of Yellowstone Lake was taken on the next day - the comparison of the sky with that visible in the previous picture gives you an idea how changeable the weather was (S):

Yellowstone is associated with bears, especially one very famous Yogi Bear;) However, I didn't see any bears in the area, although they do live in Yellowstone Park. For me, the most memorable encounter with the Park's inhabitants was that with bison (S):

Bison are the largest mammals in the Park and they have survived here since prehistoric times. It seems that Yellowstone's huge meadows providing enough space to graze on and the fact that the habitat has been protected since 1872 have contributed to the animals' growth in number (S).

The beautiful bison couple only looks so friendly and disinterested: you never know when they can become angry and dangerous (S).

Bison feel at home in Yellowstone: they treat vehicles as animals representing another species, dangerous only at night when, unfortunately, many bison get killed because of speedy driving (S).

A bison in close-up: can he mean anything evil? The young bull (I guess) looks friendly and docile, but when he almost put his head inside our vehicle through the open window, I got scared (S):

So, where does the buffalo roam in Yellowstone? Well, anywhere it wants - the buffalo is the king of this place after all, and we were just guests. Thank you, Mister, for your kindness and hospitality;) (S):

(15) Wendover, Utah/Nevada; Craters of the Moon NP, Idaho

Below is the picture of the main street in the little town of Wendover, which is situated literally on the border separating Utah from Nevada. We took a walk up the mountain visible on the left, from which we admired the panorama of the town and its environs (we had a beer or two on the top, but that's off the record;)( S)

(S) A view from the mountain: the plain (still Utah) bathed in the light of the setting sun. One can see a long row of wagons standing there, as if waiting for the engines (usually four) to pull them to their destination farther the West.

Wendover, with its population of slightly over 1500, owes its existence solely to the Transcontinental Railroad, as it served as a station stop on the Western Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific). The town is quiet, the people living here are rather less than well-off. One might say: "nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes";) (S)

(S) Union Pacific wagons in close-up:

However, life seems to focus in the western part of the settlement, which makes up a separate town called West Wendover, easily confused with Wendover, Utah. West Wendover belongs to Nevada, so it prides itself on casinos and a bigger population of almost 5 thousand. The lights are already on, inviting gamblers from Utah, or simply those who want to DO SOMETHING in this sleepy area.

The biggest casino in West Wendover was so kitsch inside that it was beautiful;) And, to my surprise, it was full... of older people: pensioners searching for a thrill and an opportunity to spend their well-deserved pension money. We were the youngest visitors to this temple of hazard in the middle of nowhere.

After the night in a Wendover motel we traveled north: our next destination was Yellowstone NP, so we had to make a trip through Idaho (S):

In Idaho we visisted Craters of the Moon. The area was once described as "the surface of the moon as seen through a telescope". The area's weird landscape made President Coolidge establish Craters of the Moon National Monument in 1924. We took a scenic ride along the park loop road, as illustrated on the map.

The strange landscape in Craters of the Moon is of volcanic origin (not of meteorite impact, as the name would suggest). However, the lava did not spew from a volcano but from the "Great Rift" - long fissures across the Snake River Plain, where the NM is situated (S).

The lava which produced this vast sea of rock started surfacing about 15 000 years ago, but about 2,000 years ago there was another eruption. Geologists say it's not over;)

The bizarre shapes made of basalt: the blocks of lava grow from the surface like trees in an orchard, except that they look ominous (S):

A walk along accessible trails felt like a walk on the surface of the moon indeed - not that I know what the surface of the moon looks like, but the view was unearthly (S):

Surprisingly, the lava fields only look so barren: plants and trees are quite frequent here:

A walk up this cone took me about half an hour (when you get to the top you see another hill of equal height but steeper!). Exposed to the heat and thirsty (I did not take the water, thinking my trip would end soon), I finished the climb almost crawling, but it was worth the effort (S):

A final glimpse at the lunar surface, which some might find even depressing (S):