Yellowstone part 2
Yellowstone is a park that leaves you constantly amazed. There is so much extraordinary nature to see here! It is also a park that makes you set your alarm clock at 05:30 every morning. Not for fear of missing something, because that will happen anyway. After all, the park is far too big to see "everything." We get up early to get ahead of the crowds and because around that time the light is very beautiful.
Hot springs, geysers, fumaroles and mud pots
At all locations you will find hot springs, geysers, fumaroles and mud pots. We call everything geysers, but the Yellowstone brochure explains the following very succinctly:
Hotsprings
Hot springs are seen a lot in this park. They range from foaming, brownish boiling water to clear and calm pools of enormous depth. Surface water seeps underground, is heated by a deep magna-source and rises to the surface as superheated water. Hot springs have no constrictions, so the water rises, sinks and subsides freely.
Geysers
Geysers erupt with steaming hot water. They are hot springs with narrow spaces in their "pipes," usually at the surface. The constrictions prevent the water from circulating easily to the surface, where heat would escape. The deepest circulating water can exceed the boiling point at the surface (degrees of 199F/93C). The Old Faithful area has the most famous geysers: some eruptions can be predicted.
Fumaroles
These are steam vents in the earth's crust and the hottest hydrothermal features in the park. The small amount of water in fumaroles turns into steam before it reaches the surface. Fumaroles hiss, whistle or boom when the steam path is restricted at the surface. They are easiest to see in cool weather.
Mud pots
These are acid hot springs with limited water supply. The acids from volcanic gases and microorganisms break down the surrounding rock into clay and mud. The consistency and activity of the mud pots varies with the seasons and precipitation.
Old Faithful – Upper Geyser basin
Old Faithful is Yellowstone's most famous geyser and erupts at predictable times. These times are listed in a National Parks app, on the website and at the hotel. Is still special and the timing is pretty accurate! We made the video in the morning. The pictures of Old Faithful are in order of eruption and we took them just before sunset.
When we visited this particular attraction in 2010, we left the Old Faithful right after the eruption. We were greatly surprised this time when we discovered that the Upper Geyser Basin consists of the largest number of geysers - in such a small area - in the world. Beautiful hiking trails take you right past the extraordinary natural phenomena. These photos were taken in the morning.
Norris Geyser Basin
This area is one of the hottest and most acidic parts of Yellowstone and is part of the world's largest active volcanoes. The activity here creates new hot springs and geysers every year and there are also those that are no longer active. There are very nice hiking trails here as well, where you can spend hours. As we walked through the arch of the museum, we were amazed by the sheer size of the site and the constant smoking and simmering of the many geysers.
Suddenly, between the smoke, a large bison came walking our way: the perfect picture!
There are signs everywhere that you should not put your hands in the springs because the combinations of all the acids and bacteria can burn the flesh off your bones.
Yellow
The yellow color is mainly caused by sulfur and smells enormously like rotten eggs
Dark brown, rust and red
These colors are mainly caused by iron and various types of bacteria
Green
Algae provide the beautiful green color
Black/dark green
A certain type of algae creates this color
Special people
We spoke to so many friendly people. We mention a few stories from Yellowstone.
- At Camp Madison we met a retired couple from Wyoming with a very special motorhome (Lazy Days) who wanted to take a look at our motorhome.They then invited us to stop by their place on the return trip. The 79-year-old RVer just bought a beautiful new Corvette and was happy to take us for a spin.
- We were approached at a picnic spot about the RV, got to talking and have been invited to contact them so they can show us the real Texas.
- We were addressed by an American in Dutch at another picnic site. He had lived in Alkmaar for a year.
Coming days
The next few days we want to go to the Midway geyser base, do some more picnicking at scenic locations, go to Grand Teton and come back to Yellowstone a week later. Hopefully by then the Thumb geyser basin will be open again and we will stay at a smaller Yellowstone campground: Lewis Lake.
Deel 1 en 3 van ons Yellowstone bezoek
In de lente van het volgende jaar hebben we Yellowstone ook bezocht: