Escape to the Wild (Day 9 – Steam)

Today, we went back to Yellowstone.  We decided to grab some Subway sandwiches and take them with us, so we wouldn’t have to leave the park once we were there.  Shortly into our drive, we came across another group of cars pulled over to the side of the road, watching another American Bison herd graze on the short, golden grass sticking through the patches of twinkling snow.  We got caught in the line of traffic, and the herd decided to cross to the other side of the road, so at one point, we were completely surrounded by bison.  (Interesting fact.  People erroneously refer to bison as buffalo.  But the term “buffalo” only refers to Water Buffalo or Cape Buffalo, neither of which exists in North America.  What we know as “buffalo” in North America are actually the American Bison.  It’s fascinating that this fallacy has been handed down through the years from generation to generation.  You can find it in many historical references, for example in the song “Home on the Range” and in the term “Buffalo Soldiers,” used to describe black men fighting in the Civil War.  We even ate at The Buffalo Bar last night, which has an American Bison as its logo!)

A little further on, we stopped at a little thermal pool near the river, and I spent some time combing the snow for animal footprints.  I have never told anyone this, but I have secretly always wanted to know how to track animals, like the Indians used to do…using footprints, scat, and other signs of passing.  I found several trails leading through the snow to the river that looked like deer or sheep and a couple of paw prints that looked like coyote.  I could be completely off, but I had fun anyway.

Next, we went to Ojo Caliente, a thermal pool aptly named the “Hot Eye.”  It had the most beautiful blue-green color formed by the bacteria on the bottom of the pool.  The water was pouring off into the river, creating a steaming waterfall, which was kind of neat.  I spent a little time tracking the bison footprints and scat along the river.  I also stopped to watch the trout swimming in the river, because the water was so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom.  Every once in a while, they would jump out of the water to catch a bug just above the surface.  A couple of times, there were ten to fifteen of them jumping out of the water at the same time!

After that it was on to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which has been a dream of my wife ever since she got that calendar of national parks in the United States.  The spring was kind of a disappointment, since there was so much steam coming off of it that you couldn’t really get the full effect of the various colors that lend themselves to the name.  The other issue is that the walkway has you at ground level with the spring, so you can’t see it very well, especially with the sun glinting off the water.  Someone said that it’s easier to see and visually more striking in the summer when the air isn’t so cool.

Don’t get me wrong, the whole area is beautiful when taken as a whole.  The bacteria mats are a variety of colors and display wondrous patterns that almost look like artwork.  Also, there are several other thermal pools that are just as beautiful and easier to see.  The Turquoise Pool and Opal Pool are a little smaller, but are very striking because the water is so calm and clear. 

The Excelsior Geyser Crater is pretty cool.  It was formed by a geyser that was first observed in the 1800s, exploding randomly 100 to 300 feet into the sky (compared to the Old Faithful Geyser, which shoots 100 to 180 feet into the sky).  The eruptions were so violent that they sunk the area around the geyser and damaged the internal plumbing.  The last known eruption was in 1985, but was very small in comparison.  The geyser now functions as a thermal pool, discharging 4,000 to 4,500 gallons of water per minute into the nearby Firehole River.

From here, we made our way to the last destination of the day, the Old Faithful Geyser.  The geyser is such named since its eruptions happen at fairly regular intervals, as mapped by a mathematical formula.  Within a margin of error of plus or minus 10 minutes, Old Faithful will erupt 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 2.5 minutes or 91 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 2.5 minutes.  We were about 45 minutes early for the next eruption, so we toured the visitor center and then enjoyed the wisecracking of the guy sitting next to us on the bench by the geyser.  When dormant, the geyser sends out a continuous stream of steam into the air that wafts gently across the Upper Geyser Basin. 

At almost exactly the time predicted the geyser started to shoot up a small stream of water.  With every passing second, the stream of water got higher and higher, building on itself, until it was shooting 140 feet in the air.  Thousands of gallons of water were discharged into the surrounding area.  The eruption only lasted a couple of minutes, but it was amazing!  We would definitely go to see it again.  (Interesting fact.  Back in the 1800s, when Old Faithful was first discovered, people used to put dirty laundry over the vent of the geyser.  When it would erupt, it would eject the clothing thoroughly washed!  Of course, they probably had a hard time finding it again, having traveled hundreds of feet in the air and more hundreds of feet away from the geyser vent.  Apparently, cotton and linen fabrics fared better than wool through the process.)

It was getting late, so we decided to head back.  On the way, we stopped at the Fairy Falls trail.  About midway down the trail, there is an offshoot trail that goes to an overlook of the Grand Prismatic Spring.  We thought we might be able to get a better view of the spring and the colors if we were above it.  The hike was a bit treacherous over loose snow and ice, but we made it just as the sun was going down behind the mountain behind us.  The view is amazing, and definitely worth the hike, but we were again thwarted in our attempts to truly see the colors of the spring.  There was so much steam rising off the hot pool, that it completely obscured the colors below.  We may just have to try again at another time of the year.

Back in the car, traveling down the road, we were treated to yet another American Bison herd blocking traffic.  One particular bull was standing to one side of our lane, eating the grass on the side of the road.  When he raised his head to nonchalantly look at the cars he was blocking, he had snow all over his snout.  I think it lent to his laissez faire attitude.

One more care pileup further down the road happened as an elk herd was crossing the road.  The elk are more skittish than the bison, and the loud, not-very-subtle people jumping out of their cars and running across the road scared them off.  We only caught a glimpse of the elk, leaping and running through the golden grasses toward the river.

Tonight, we had dinner at the MC Lounge (Madison Crossing).  It’s a higher-priced, fancier restaurant that’s only opened for dinner.  My wife had the Pan-Seared Idaho Trout, and I had the Romesco Shrimp Pasta.  The trout was a ruby-red trout with a creamy citrus sauce on top.  The shrimp pasta was a combination of shrimp, tomatoes, asparagus, and garlic in a romesco cream sauce.  Both were very good, but due to the exorbitant prices, I don’t think we’ll be eating here again.