Yellowstone – Scenes Not Seen Anywhere Else

“However orderly your excursions or aimless, again and again amid the calmest, stillest scenery you will be brought to a standstill hushed and awe-stricken before phenomena wholly new to you. Boiling springs and huge deep pools of purest green and azure water, thousands of them, are plashing and heaving in these high, cool mountains as if a fierce furnace fire were burning beneath each one of them; and a hundred geysers, white torrents of boiling water and steam, like inverted waterfalls, are ever and anon rushing up out of the hot, black underworld.” – John Muir on Yellowstone National Park (1901)

Once again, I’m at a loss for words. The sheer beauty of Yellowstone National Park takes your breath away while rounding every bend on every road. This National Park, established in 1872, spans 2.2 million acres and is one of the greatest gifts Americans have given to ourselves. Simply put, Yellowstone is a national treasure. Fortunately, this treasure was preserved almost as soon as it was discovered. 

Helen and I left Jackson, Wyoming, after a delightful time with our kids and grandkids, and moved to West Yellowstone, Montana for a nine-day visit. Out of the nine days, we spent seven exploring Yellowstone. I kick myself for taking two days off–there is too much to see there.

As the headline for this post suggests, there are sights, sounds, and wildlife in Yellowstone that an average person, like me, would not see anywhere else. Fascinating geologic formations, thermal pools of every color and hue, and scenic waterfalls are everywhere. Gigantic geysers, bubbling mud pots, steaming hot springs, and hissing steam vents (fumaroles), bubble, crackle, and erupt throughout the day to entertain the young and the old, giving off constant oohs and aahs while capturing pictures on smartphones.

Wildlife abounds in Yellowstone. On our way to a trailhead for some hiking, we came across a gray wolf having brunch on an elk carcass. We met a huge bison, standing thirty feet from us on another hike. Elk herds dot the roadsides with their young, and the regal and majestic Grizzly bear is an incredible sight to behold for anyone fortunate enough to see (at a distance).

Our visits included trips to the West Thumb Basin, Gibbon Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin and Fountain Paintpot. My favorite trips were to the Artist Paintpot, a hike to Storm Point on Yellowstone Lake, and the Riverside Geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin, which erupted for 22 minutes, sending steam 75 feet into the air. This geyser was well worth the two-mile walk required to watch the show.

I have posted some of my favorite pictures here, but I have so many, I created a Picture Gallery (click here) that includes some of the scenes I want to share with Easin’ Along readers. I hope you will take a moment to visit the Gallery. I also posted a short (and shaky) video of our gray wolf encounter on the Easin’ Along YouTube page and hope you’ll visit that as well. Wolf sightings are rare, and we consider ourselves fortunate to capture a glimpse of this big fellow. He had to weigh over 125 pounds and looked very healthy.

Enjoy the pictures–we certainly enjoyed the park. Please come back next week and we’ll share our visit to the lovely village of Big Sky, Montana. I’ve said it before, retirement is a great gig, and we’re Easin’ Along on a retirement adventure to remember forever.