Yellowstone Day 2

Thursday - September 20, 2018

It was an early start this morning with a hike to the top of Purple Mountain by climbing up 1,600 feet in elevation gain. The 7 mile trek offered some interesting views as the morning fog began to lift.

Some elk were grazing along a river bank as I was driving to the trailhead. It was a peaceful setting and great way to start my day.

The trail was easy going in the beginning.

The standard bear warning sign. I had my bear repellent on my side ready just in case.

There were small patches of snow/ice along the trail. 

Small pine saplings 

Juniper with berries

The top of the mountain.

I had been at the top for about 15 minutes when I heard voices of more hikers. It was a couple from England. We had a good chat and then they took my picture for me.

As the fog and clouds lifted you could see across the valley. Those are some geysers spewing steam in the distance.

After my hike, I took a driving tour of the northern part of the park.

This elk made himself at home in the town of Mammoth. 

Undone Falls

Tower Falls

That concludes my visit to Yellowstone National Park. It was nice to see it once again. 

Yellowstone Day 1

Wednesday - September 19, 2018

Today I travel a little further north to start my tour of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone has a wide variety of different ecosystems to explore. It is basically sitting on a huge volcano that fuels the hot springs and geysers. I am going to let the pictures tell the story with very little narrative other than to name some of the spots I visited.

First. I had to take a picture of the iconic antler arches that sit on each corner of the Jackson downtown square. The first arch was erected in 1953 by the local Rotary club. The antlers are collected by the local Boy Scout troops as a fund raiser.

Memorial monument in the square

The first waterfall after entering Yellowstone’s South Gate is Moose Falls.

Crawfish creek

Lewis Falls is the next one

Lewis River

Lewis Lake 

Kepler Cascades 

The crowd waiting for Old Faithful. I timed it perfectly as I only had to wait about 20 minutes for the eruption.

Geysers along the Upper Basin walk.

Grand Geyser 

Castle Geyser 

The only bison I saw while in the park.

Gibbon River

Gibbon Falls

Virginia Cascade

Head of Upper Yellowstone Falls

A long shot of the falls

Yellowstone Grand Canyon 

Another shot of the falls

It is amazing where trees will grow.

That concludes my first day of exploring Yellowstone.