We arrived at the shores of Yellowstone Lake before noon. Emma and I have been to Yellowstone several times and on this trip we were dropping into the southeast portion of the park. There are so many unique features at Yellowstone National Park that it can be overwhelming to take the entire park in at one time.
Yellowstone Lake
Kayakers paddling in Yellowstone Lake
This large mountain lake is just on the eastern side of the continental divide and one of my favourite features in the park. We particularly like the West Thumb Geyser Basin with its colourful hot pools of water bubbling up from the depths. The boiling hot water trickles down a gentle slope and into the lake. Each separate hot water geyser has its own unique beauty.
Several pictures to follow.
I've always marveled at the aquamarine clarity of some of the pools.
As the hot water flows toward the lake, you can get beautifully coloured algae that has adapted to surviving in this near boiling environment.
The geyser pools continue right into the lake itself. I've often wondered how many geysers are hidden under the lake.
Yellowstone National Park is directly over a hot spot in the earth's crust and this results in the thousands of hot pools and geysers throughout the Park. The majority of Yellowstone is inside a 50-mile wide cauldron that re-explodes about every 500,000 years or so. Apparently, we are due for a major eruption within the next few thousand years but hopefully not today.
It is a little overwhelming to see so many unique and visually stunning features.
As I wandered around the geyser field I noticed that Emma was nowhere in sight. Large crowds of jostling people annoy her and she had wandered off to a secluded trail away from the thousands of people on the main boardwalk.
Yellowstone is a magical place which attracts hundreds of thousands of people annually. Unfortunately, all these people out to enjoy nature kind of defeats the initial goal. Still, there are quieter places within Yellowstone and that would be our next stop once I had relocated my wandering honey.
Success, Emma re-emerged from the forest and we drove to Bridge Bay and did the quiet three-mile hike to the Natural Bridge.
It's a narrow window for Emma. Too many people and she is overwhelmed by the masses of humanity, too few people on a trail and she is concerned about getting eaten by bears. Like baby bear's porridge, this hiking trail was just right.
Emma with the natural bridge in the background
Natural Bridge
When the bridge was first discovered in the early 20th century, there was talk of building a road into it so that cars could drive over top. Luckily, they left it alone and it is only accessible by a 3-mile round trip hike.
We returned to the RV and drove to Lake Village
Near the lake, several bull bison were grazing in a field. On cue, one bison after another walked toward a dusty mud wallowing depression.
Each bison in turn would roll in the dusty soil as a form of dry bath. When he left the wallow, the next bison in the pecking order would move in.
They all knew their place in the line and followed one after the other.
Despite the crowds, we intended to camp for the night at Yellowstone but all the campgrounds were full so plan B was to carry on.
We had one final walk along the beautiful shore of Lake Yellowstone.
I've been in and out of every entrance to Yellowstone except the south-east entrance so that is where we headed.
There were lots of beautiful stops along the way so I popped out of the car to enjoy the scenery. Emma was pretty tired by this time and felt she could take in the view quite nicely by lying back and framing the scenery between her toes. Sonaa also seemed to prefer the RV to my perambulations.
Yellowstone is a vast volcanic cauldron so you have to climb out and over the rim to exit the park.
Sylvan Pass
At 8,530 ft., we crested Sylvan Pass and started to follow the Shoshone River down the other side.
Shoshone River
The first campground outside Yellowstone was full. The second campground was closed due to the number of bears in the area.
Third time lucky and we found an open campground on the banks of the Shoshone River.
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