More geysers and hot springs

 This morning we got up early to watch the sunrise over the Old Faithful Geyser area— Geyser Hill encompasses numerous geysers of different kinds, as well as hot springs, mud pots and steam vents. The landscape looked ghostly on a sub-freezing morning, as all the features were steaming (even if not erupting). The steam picked up the colors of the sunrise, and Old Faithful erupted a little earlier than expected, which allowed us to see our third eruption and still race back for breakfast and the start of the group’s activities.   

We visited several different geyser and hot springs areas, all of them a little different from the others. We walked along the lower terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs— it is fascinating to see what different features are created when the underlying rock is limestone rather than silica-rich rock as at Old Faithful.  It is also worth mentioning that we began the day at 26 F and mid-afternoon it was 74! We ate lunch in Mammoth Springs, where we encountered a few bull elk with their harems wandering and lounging about town.  After lunch we traveled through the Lamar Valley on our way to Cooke City Montana.  During our travels we saw a large herd of bison, a few pronghorns, a coyote, and a bull moose.  We are staying at the Super 8 in Cooke City.  It is the fanciest place in town (but not a lot of bandwidth so no pictures in this blog post). We ate a fine dinner at the Bearclaw Bakery which doubles as a snowmobile parts and paraphernalia shop.  The town itself is near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone Park, and was a mining center prior to the Park’s opening. The general store is on the National Historic Landmarks list and is still fitted out with shelving and equipment from 1907. 

Moose and geysers

 The best word to describe today is “amazing “. The day was a story in two parts. This morning before breakfast we watched a moose bull and cow advertise their availability to one another, including the bull shaking branches with his antlers to show how big and strong they are and drooling to maximize his moosey scent.

 Then after breakfast, we stopped at a scenic overlook of a small river valley. While there we saw a bull moose eating, splashing, and getting acquainted with a cow and her calf.  Five moose, and great behaviors, before 10am!

We then drove north into Yellowstone park, passing evidence of many forest fires, some as recent as 2018. We stopped at Oxbow Lake, where we saw otters playing in the water near the shore and a bald eagle landed in a tree near us. We lunched at West Thumb, a caldera within the Yellowstone caldera, and walked around its hot springs before driving on to Old Faithful. We watched Old Faithful erupt twice (the two eruptions were quite different in onset speed, height and duration).  We also saw several other geysers erupt. After dinner we went for a sunset walk and watched more hot springs and geyser eruptions. The prevalence of these thermal features amazed us; everywhere you turn something is emitting steam! And tonight we also got to see a bull bison calmly munching away in the meadow between the geyser fields. An iconic view indeed, bison and geysers on the Yellowstone plains. 

Grand Teton National Park

Today was an experience in the variability of mountain weather. We walked in repeated cycles of snow and sleet showers,  clouds, wind, and brilliant sunshine...and all that was just in the morning. The afternoon weather was a bit better, ending with sunshine as we hiked around Jenny Lake. The Tetons are magnificent, and the varied weather provided different appearances to the mountains throughout the day. We saw moose ( a bull and two cows) and a herd of about 200 bison from a distance.  We got good views of six pronghorns, five mule deer (including a doe and two fawns) and three elk. Did you know pronghorn can run up to 65 miles per hour? No modern predator can run that fast, but an extinct one could. On one of our walks we had a close encounter with the uinta chipmunk pictured below.  We also heard a presentation from a young man who specializes in trapping and radio-collar-ing wolves, bears, bison, cougars and beavers for research and wildlife management purposes. His insights into the history of these species and their changing relationships with humans were illuminating, as were his perspectives as a seventh-generation resident of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.  How they tag beaver was quite fascinating. 

Setting out again!

Yes we are venturing out for a one week trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We hope you will join us as we post our discoveries!  Our travel to Jackson, Wyoming was uneventful and full of careful procedures. We were able to go birding for a couple of hours, mostly migratory ducks. Pictured below is an American Coot, a female Northern Shoveler and two Ring-necked Ducks. 

We met our group (10 including us) for dinner. One of our trip leaders spent 8 years in Burlington, Vermont— it is a small world indeed.