Yellowstone Day 1

Day One at Yellowstone National Park

Touring Yellowstone National park is an experience like none other.  There are formations here that I’ve never seen before. They are almost hard to describe because the earth formations here are rare and so impressive to see. Yesterday we toured the northern part of Yellowstone and saw the Mammoth Hot Springs, the Orange Spring Mound and Obsidian Cliffs. These are all formations within the park which covers 2.2 million acres of land.

Yellowstone's geysers and hot springs are due to being in a caldera. A caldera is a cup in the earth left over from an old volcano. Under the caldera there is still a raging volcano deep within the earth that heats up water.  This super heated water later explodes up on earth with geysers and steam. Along the way to the surface the water dissolves minerals and brings them to the surface forming unusual structures. Mammoth Hot Springs and the Orange Spring Mound are examples of this.

Later we toured further into Yellowstone visiting The Norris Geyser Basin. This is an area within the park that includes many geysers and hot springs. Some of the geysers spew hot water continuously, some only spout out water occasionally.  The hot springs are pools of hot water which are heated from below and may emit steam or churn at a rumbling boil. 

We saw the Porcelain Geyser basin in the Norris viewing area. Some of the pools there are beautiful colors of pastel blue or green. This is due to bacteria or algae that live in these extreme temperatures and color the pools of water. The air around these geysers and hot springs smells of sulfur due to the chemicals dissolved in the water. There are signs everywhere not to step on the ground around the hot springs as it could be just a thin crust and be boiling water below the surface. 

In addition to the geysers and hot springs at Yellowstone National Park, there is an abundance of wildlife.  Since we have been here we have seen many elk walking freely on the fields in the park and even here in the town just north of the park.  There are also bison that we have seen and prong horn deer. There are many warnings about bears. Both black bear and grizzly bear live within the park but we did not encounter any. There are so many visitors to the park in summer that the noises often scare away the bears. Even so, we were warned to be aware of them.

I think Yellowstone National Park is a jewel in the National park system. It is so large and offers so many ranger led programs and so much learning about wildlife and nature. In summer it is very crowded but I have heard that spring and fall may be great times to visit. For a young family this may be a great choice for a visit for children to gain a love of nature and learn more about earth’s geology.