196.365 Lower Geyser Basin, Wildlife Evening Tour, Lamar Valley, Hayden Valley, Mammoth Hot Springs Terrace

We were excited to wake up and explore another beautiful day in Yellowstone.  The advice is true...wake early and arrive early at the park to avoid the crowd and get a parking place.  You also never know when there might be a bison roadblock to slow you down too.  

From conifers and aspens to lodgepole pines, trees and wildflowers dominate the beautiful landscape in many parts of Yellowstone.

Madison River

 We first ventured to the Lower Geyer Basin.

 Firehole Spring

The Geyser area was a favorite of mine.  The springs that are surrounded by an array of color and the geysers that would suddenly spew hot water and boiling mud just amazed me.   

 White Dome Geyser

The more barren the landscape, the hotter the earth.

These lodgepole pine trees are called "Bobby Socks" Trees.  Silica hardened the bases and make them white at the bottom and the trees have drowned in the heated thermal area, killing them.  

 Charred trees still standing.

 Celestine pool

 Fountain paint pots

The mud has clay minerals and silica.  The acids in the steam and water break down into a clay mineral.    The Crow tribe used this mud to paint their tipis according to our guide.  

Leather Pool

The constant earthquakes and changes in the caldera change the springs, geysers and pools.  Where you have a once active geyser will become dormant and new fumaroles in the fragile crust will form. This pool was a warm 143 degree pool that rose it to boiling in an earthquake in 1959.  The temperatures boiled and killed the microorganisms and since then have cooled.  The brown "leather like" bacteria is from thermophiles.

Red Spouter

Clepsydra Geyser

The name is Greek for "water clock".  It used to erupt every three minutes and now is almost continuous.  

We went back to West Yellowstone where we were picked up in a van for an eight hour wildlife tour of the park.  John was our driver and very knowledgeable of the area and history.  Our family and another couple from the Netherlands were on the tour.  It was a great opportunity for both Jamie and I to relax and watch the scenery around us.  

Here were are spotting a bear in the distance.

And here Isabelle is spotting some bison poop in the sage.

Bull Elk

Hayden Valley

Bison in the distance

The wildflowers were amazing

Obsidian Cliff is made from quick cooling of lava flow and obsidian is volcanic glass.  Obsidian was used by Native Americans for spears and tools and trading.  

Looking out by an overlook at Gardner River 

And a bear in the distance among the sage.

Storm clouds threatening with bison quietly grazing.

Hayden Valley is called the "Serengeti of North America".  It is a great wildlife-watching area.  

Hundreds and hundreds of bison.

Pronghorn

Here we stopped for dinner of bison stew, caesar salad, cornbread and cookies.  The girls all enjoyed the stew.  Bison is very healthy and lean and tastes like beef.

As the tour and the sunlight was coming to an end we drove through Mammoth Hot Springs and we got a chance to see it again in the golden sun light.

We were treated to a glorious sunset as we entered West Yellowstone and back to our hotel.  Tours are a great way to see a lot in a short amount of time and I would recommend it!