Opening Weekend 2018 Geyser Action

            Once a year there is a time that I personally get very excited for, the opening of the roads into Yellowstone National Park. They close yearly in October or November and re-open towards the middle end of April. During this time the only road that is accessible to regular wheeled vehicles is from Gardiner, Montana to Cooke City, Montana. Not saying this is a bad thing but I have a love that has been built up over the years for one unique feature, geysers.

Beehive Geyser, 4 21 18 10:25 am

            Yellowstone National Park is home to over 14,000 thermal features, the highest concentration on our big blue planet. There are four varieties of thermal features. Hot springs are beautiful to look at but stay constantly the same (although some may become geysers because of the underground working of the Earth). Fumaroles, or steam vents as they are also called have water underground and produce heavy amounts of steam that never reaches the surface; these are the hottest of the features. Mudpots consist of bubbling acidic mud that you would not want to use as a facemask, as the summer moves on they become less active and produce a dried mud shell around their vicinity. Then come geysers.

            Geysers are hot springs that eject water into the air. They come in two varieties, cone geysers and fountain geysers. Cone geysers are the stereotypical geysers you think of like the world famous performer Old Faithful. They water builds up underground and have a cone formation on the surface, this cone is build of siliceous sinter, or geyserite as it is also known. Basically it is a water deposited form of opal that is not gem quality. The cone geysers have beautiful built up cone formations. They will eject water in a single stream with a steam phase to follow. Other examples of cone geysers are Beehive, Giant, Grotto and Riverside.

            Fountain geysers are the other type. They look like your average hot spring pool but there is something different about them. After an eruption the pool will start to fill up until it starts to overflow. Once this happens depending on the geyser an eruption will eventually be attained. The eruptions from a fountain geyser happen in a series of bursts from the pool. Some go for a short time while others go for hours on end. The most famous of these is definitely Grand Geyser, the most predictable of the large fountain geysers.  My personal favorite is Great Fountain Geyser; this was the first geyser that was ever seen by an expedition into Yellowstone in 1869 by the Folsom, Cooke and Peterson party.

            We did have a good geyser day but no fountains in our experience on the second day that the park roads were opened. We did catch a rare performance of the unpredictable Beehive geyser just as we drove up. The beehive has a small geyser that is attached to its plumbing system ironically called Beehive’s Indicator (although its not always associated with an eruption of the big guy), which was going off. It went two minutes after arrival as I scooted as close as possible to get a look, some photos and a bit of video footage.

Old Faithful Geyser, 4 21 18, 10:35 am

            After we watched Beehive do it’s thing we headed towards the visitors center to check on the predictions of other geysers Old Faithful gave us a show, less than ten minutes after Beehive. We then headed into the visitors center where they have a screen that has predictions for the major geysers on it. I always like to take a photo of that so I can look back at it and try to make my way around the Upper Geyser Basin in an orderly fashion to see as many of these wonders of the world as possible.

            We started heading out towards Daisy Geyser and ended up waiting there for about an hour but it gave a good show, we think that the prediction was an hour off, but it was the second day the roads were open. After Daisy we headed towards Riverside Geyser, which is always beautiful, especially when you get the rainbow effect when the sun is at the right angle (which we did not). We waited there for about another half hour and it gave us a show.

Daisy Geyser performs on 4 21 118

            After these beauties danced in the sunlight for us we started making our way back along the boardwalks towards the Old Faithful Inn where or car was parked. We stopped at Spasmodic, which is really fun to watch if it’s going, small but furious. We headed back towards Castle Geyser and saw a second Old Faithful from the bridge over the Firehole River. This was a great first geyser day for the 2018 season. We are hoping that there are many more days just like this or better.

Riverside Geyser 4 21 18

            As we made our way back towards Livingston we took it slow and enjoyed moving along the roads of the park that we love. There is a bit of snow till up there but that never stops those that have a love for this place. The best part of the whole ordeal is that the National Park Service made it possible for us to get thru after they said a couple days previous that the construction zone was impassible. Thanks NPS for protecting these special places and making them accessible. See you in the park!

            

Yellowstone National Park's Boiling River Closed Until Further Notice

This is not the actual sign, but you get the point.

Yesterday marked the time of year that college students from Bozeman loathe, the Spring closing of the Boiling River. No, the super volcano is not getting hotter. The reasoning for the closure is very easy to figure out if you have ever lived in a place that has four seasons, Spring runoff. The rivers are rising which makes them more dangerous. They are being fed by all of that snow that is melting and running down the mountains.

The thing that I find funny is that people will drive 75 miles to soak in an overcrowded place which is only 3 miles from the North Entrance to the park and not go past. A friend of mine said that she had only been to the Boiling River previous to her visit this last week. This saddens me because  Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is one of the most special places in the world in my view.

 The National Park Service does not close this because they fell like it, there are always legitimate reasons for any closure in Yellowstone. In this case it is high water, sometimes there is a animal carcass on a trail, etc. If you are caught in this area while it is closed you will most likely be fined.

YNP is home to over 10,000 thermal features including the highest concentration of geysers on planet Earth. Actually it has more than all of the other geyser fields combined. It is also home to the largest free roaming herds of elk and bison in the world, which is quite amazing. There are also pronghorn antelope, white tail and mule deer and many other small mammals. Not to mention the grizzly and black bears, mountain lions, bobcat, lynx, and many other predators.

If this is not enough for you I'll also mention that there are over 1,100 miles of hiking trails in the park and many more in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem  that surrounds the park.

So if this is not enough for you then I don't know what to say.

Yellowstone National Park is unique and beautiful as well as captivating and dangerous. This place should not be taken lightly. If you live in this region take a trip to the park, watch some wildlife, get the geyser predictions from the Old Faithful Visitors Center or get the NPS Geyser APP for you "smart phone" users.

Yellowstone National Park was set aside "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people" on March 1, 1892 because it is so unique and full of wonder and danger.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. They are pushing the Find Your Park campaign to get people out. Is this your park or are you gonna just drive 3 miles in?

The decision is yours but I beg of you, take a cruise and see what it's all about. It is in fact your heritage!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you Find Your Park! #findyourpark




The Boiling River in 1900

Two Guests Gored By Bison In Yellowstone So Far This Year, They Are WILD Animals People, This Is Not A Zoo!

First it's people getting too close to a black bear mother and cubs, now this. Yesterday a girl was gored by a bison in the Old Faithful area. A 16 year old girl wanted to have her picture taken with some bison in the background. She was too close and was gored and pushed to the ground by one of these large animals. The girl is ok and probably scarred for life, mentally and physically. Bison can weigh up to 2000 pounds. There are two times a year when the bison are on edge, calving and the rut. Baby bison or "red dogs" are dropped around this time of the year. The herd are very protective of their young as most speices of animals are. The rut is when the males are fighting for the females attention and they are trying to mate. Yellowstone National Park offers the seasonal newspaper to guests when entering the park. On the front page there are the top 10 things people should know.

PLEASE READ AT LEAST THE FRONT PAGE!!!

A Second incident happened on June 2nd, again at Old Faithful. A 62 year old Australian man was within 3 to 5 feet of a bison taking picture with a tablet of sorts. Suddenly he was thrown in the air multiple times. This is not a zoo folks. These animals live here year round in the WILD...

There are links to stories on these events at the bottom of the page.
 

The ever so popular warning not many people read, maybe this should be on the front page.

 

The bison are wild animals that are very strong and can be bull headed (pun intended). We humans are only guests in their home. They live in the park year round and have to work hard to survive the winter. So when it comes to the more mellow seasons of the year give them a break and their own space. Please enjoy the wildlife in the park but be cautious. ALL of the animals in the park (besides workers pets, mostly dogs) are WILD! They don't rationalize like humans but then again maybe some of them do... Please obey the rules in any national park to keep everyone safe. Keep your distance and yourself safe.

Here is a link to the safety portion of the Yellowstone Website:
http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/safety.htm
 

Unfortunately this is not my photo, source unknown.


Here is a link to an article on this happening:

http://www.krtv.com/story/29080413/teen-gored-by-bison-in-yellowstone-national-park

The link to the second incident...

http://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/15034.htm
 



What about the drones?

With the roads just opening in Yellowstone I thought it would be a good idea to bring up some interesting news from last year. There was an interesting  Dutch citizen Theodorus Van Vliet crashed a drone into Grand Prismatic Spring and was fined over $3000 by a federal judge in the park. Yes I said federal, Yellowstone National Park is federal property  The iconic Grand Prismatic Spring is located at the Midway Geyser Basin which is in Yellowstone National Park, home to over 10,000 thermal features. The types of themal features include hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles or steam vents and of course the most famous of all, geysers.

 

My photo of Grand Prismatic Spring.

I understand why someone would want to fly a drone over this hot spring to get photos or video, it's amazing! The colors are stunning with each layer representing a different heat signature and type of heat loving micro-organism or themophile. These are an example of extremophiles, organisms that can live in very hot or cold environments, this being hot of course. This is where the problem lies. Grand Prismatic is 250 x 300 feet wide and up to 160 feet deep. The drone that dropped in was believed to be at 111 feet. From my perspective how could you get if out without disturbing the bacterial mats and the hot spring itself? You can't. If you took a hovercraft or helicopter over it would push too much air around and surely destroy too much. It you took some sort of boat the same would happen but with different damage. 

Click the link below for the official news release:
http://www.nps.gov/news/release.htm?id=1601

 A copy of the sign that was posted after this incident.

After this incident National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis signed a law into effect banning the operation of all unmanned aircraft on National Park Service Property on June 20, 2014. What happened next? A German tourist Andreas Meissner crashed another drone, this time into Yellowstone Lake on July 18th, 2014. A diver recovered the drone 10 days later.  He was ordered to pay $1600 in fines and restitution.

Although drones are becoming more and more popular with the advances in technology there are things that people must understand. Yellowstone National Park is one of the most heavily vistited and wild places in the lower 48 states. Drones can disturb wildlife in ways that would be new and harmful. Would you like to be watching a grizzly mother with cubs and see a drone flying over them? How about the incident above, being in a geyser basin, taking in the sounds smells and hearing a buzzing over your head? I sure wouldn't like that. No matter what it's a law now and hopefully there won't be any future headlines of this subject matter. So if you bring your drone to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem be sure to fly it outside of any parks. Happy droning!


Just after posting this yesterdsay this article popped up in the Billings Gazette.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/drone-businesses-pop-up-in-montana/article_64e63a69-a592-5150-ba67-71bc59ffdb71.html

 



Yellowstone National Park Road Openings

On April 17th 2015 the first set of roads opened in the Yellowstone National Park (YNP) 

We drove down on the 18th and had a grand old time. To begin I'll give you a synopsis of when the rest open.

 

The road openings are as follows:

(Sourced from the Yellowstone National Park Sping Newspaper)

Open year round:

 Mammoth to Cooke City

 

April 17th:

Mammoth to Old Faithful

Madison to West Entrance

Norris to Canyon

 

May 1:

Canyon Junction to Lake

Lake to East Entrance (Sylvan Pass)

 

May 8th:

Lake to South Entrance

Tower Junction to Tower Falls

 

May 22nd:

Tower Falls to Canyon Junction (Dunraven Pass)

Beartooth Highway

 

June 11th:

Old Faithful to Grant Village (Craig Pass)

Now that we have that taken care of lets get to the fun part. We took a drive on the 18th of April with our ultimate destination Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin which is only accessible during  the Winter months via snowmobile guides and concessionaire rides which are not in my budget ($95 each way from Mammoth per person with only a one hour layover which equals not enough time to check out the geysers). We were very happy to get down in the early part of the year when there are less tourists but plenty of large mammals.

 

Bison jam in the road construction area betwen Mammoth and Norris

 

After getting through this little bison jam we decided to skip Norris due to time restrictions and our need to see the majors go off. But we did decide to take the trip up to Canyon Village to check out this masterpiece of nature. We started with the South Rim Drive being that its an in and back and the fact that the North Rim Drive loops back to the village. It was amazing as usual! We got come great views of the canyon from both sides but we got some wildlife on the north side.

The Upper Falls of The Yellowstone River from the South Rim



The Lower Falls of The Yellstone River from Artist's Point

On the north side of the canyon we got to watch the Ospreys dive into the canyon in search of fish in its depths. Osprey always catch fish in their talons with their heads facing foreward like an attack from behind and they always ear fresh fish, never dead. 

Osprey nest in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River from Lookout Point on the north rim.

Further down the road we made it to Inspiration Point which is located just past the Glacial Boulder a favorite with rock climbers. You get a partial view of the Lower Falls but I was lucky enough to see this wonderful coyote. I'm wondering if he was interested in our dog Delilah a nine year old German Shepard... she's fixed so... I was actually the only one lucky enough to see him. Maybe coyote is my spirit animal.

Coyote near Inspiration Point on the north rim.

 

After these encounters we headed back to Norris and down the road to Old Faithful. On the way we passed many thermal areas in the distance and some not to far away from the road. Yellowstone is home to more thermal features than anywhere else on the planet including over 300 geysers which we were on the hunt for. Luckily we headed past them all and made it to Old Faithful when we did we caught the namesake geyser eruption within 20 minutes, Delilah got to see it too (not from the boardwalk but from afar. Always keep your pets on leash in Yellowstone, don't take then on trails, it's illeagal, they can only be 100 feet off the road, and please pick up their droppings). We checked the predictions in the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center and they were great. Riverside, Daisy and Castle set basically an hour apart, with Grand off a couple more hours.

 

Two american icons, the bison and Old Faithful Inn.

 

We took the tar path down to Riverside to catch it and this is what we saw. The only thing that we wish we had done is brought our bikes.  

Grotto Geyser is always fun when in eruption which can last over 24 hours.

On the way to Riverside we saw a great performance by Spa Geyser, one that is not as predictable as others, a treat.



Riverside is always an amazing performer and on a sunny day you usually get some rainbow effect.
 

 



Most people that do go further on the boardwalks usually make it to Morning Glory Pool.

 

At one time the color of Morning Glory was much more magnificant but due to people throwing items in as if it were a wishing well the color has changed dramatically though it is still beautiful.

 There was a sign that said there was bear activity past Morning Glory. Always make noise and carry bear spray in the backcountry of Yellowstone. If you purchase bear spray and are finished with it you can donate it to any entrance station or backcountry office in the park. Hiking past this point there are a few geysers and hot springs including Artemisia which is very beautiful. This path will eventually lead you to Biscuit Basin.

 

Artemisia Geyser is a beauty with amazing geyserite formations surrounding its pool.

We called this one the Iron Heart.

Next on the agenda was Daisy Geyser which is one of the more predictable geysers. It was really nice. I had only seen Daisy twice before so it was pretty neat, nevermind all geysers are really neat.

Daisy Geyser is pretty cool.

These are some pretty cool thermophiles, heat loving organisms that live in the runoff channels of Daisy Geyser.


After Daisy put on a show for us we headed back to the boardwalk to get a glipse of the pools along the boardwalk from Grotto to Castle Geyser. We are always wishful that the Giant will give us a show but it has not done so for anyone since 2010. It's still pretty.

Giant Geyser cone.

 We did however catch some of the fun little geysers between Grand and Castle. Including Spasmodic and Penta along with some more interesting thermophiles.

Penta,a small but amazing geyser.

Spasmodic is super sweet with its many vents and constant play.

 

Some more interesting thermophiles, with ephyrid flies that live on the thermal mats.

As the day was coming to an end for us we made our way to Castle Geyser. The sun was going down and it was getting ever so chilly by the minute we waited for over an hour and were about to give up and we (the lady friend and I) and one other gentleman were the only people that lasted, got a private show, totally worth the wait!!! A Castle major!

 

Castle Geyser is one that is predictable to a point but can be finicky.

 

We wanted to stay for Grand but it was getting cold out and the sun was going down. So we decided to hit the road for the long ride home. On the way back we got stopped in another bison jam which could have lasted longer but my superior hearding skills paid off and we got off easy. Thanks for reading and until next time. Sleep tight, be safe and always be bear aware, they're just waking up!