StevenThis morning I started off early again at 6am heading down to a few spots I haven’t stopped at, as well as Old Faithful.
The first stop was Roaring Mountain. It looks like there are clouds on it, but those are steam vents. It’s not really visible during the day, so the best time to see this is in the morning.
The next stop was Norris Geyser Basin Overlook. I saw it yesterday morning, but there weren’t any free spots. I stopped in the afternoon, but none of the geysers were visible. Again, I think this one is only good in the mornings since the cold weather emphasizes the steam more.
There were a few traffic jams on the road this morning thanks to a massive group of buffalo that just had to get across the road.
I finally made it down to Old Faithful but didn’t know what time it was set to erupt. I spent some time walking around the geyser trail.
I made my way up to the overlook for Old Faithful, but decided I should be closer. I wish there were two of me so I could’ve captured both locations at once!
Below is Solitude Geyser. From the overlook trail, it’s just a short 0.3 mile walk. I was trying to find a spot to take a picture from and said, “I just can’t get a good picture of this.” Suddenly I heard this loud noise and water splashing. I guess it had a little ‘burp’ but it scared the crap out of me!
I made it back to Old Faithful and only had to wait about 10 minutes before it erupted.
Next, I headed east from Old Faithful out to West Thumb on Yellowstone Lake to see even more geysers.
There were quite a few geysers at the lake’s edge. The water was crystal clear so it was easy to see it all.
I headed back to the Grand Prismatic Spring that was too busy yesterday. It was still too busy today, but there was overflow parking along the road and I had to walk about a quarter mile to get to it.
After that I decided to head back to the hotel. Keep in mind this was right at noon. Usually from here it takes me around an hour to get back. Today it took me 3 hours. Yes, THREE HOURS. There were two traffic jams, one with no reason at all (it took us an hour to move 3 miles), and the other one, some people saw an animal on the side of the road and decided to stop and block the road.
I’ve heard that 3 days is not enough for Yellowstone, but I think it’s too much. It’s enough time to see the sights and natural beauty of the land, but it’s also enough time to see the sheer stupidity of people. The speed limit goes up to 45mph, but if someone sees an animal, you better watch out. They will stop on the road (signs tell you not too), pull over into oncoming traffic so someone can hang out the window with a phone to take a picture. (Rant over.) As I was driving back, I was mentally done with Yellowstone. Tomorrow I have to go back through Yellowstone to get to Jackson and Grand Tetons.
Fun fact, did you know 95% of vehicle blinkers fail to work inside Yellowstone? It’s a weird phenomenon someone needs to look into.