Week Three: Hot Springs, Sacajawea and Old Faithful

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Summer Solstice

We packed a lunch and headed out to Yellowstone Park. On the left side of the 80 km drive to the park, snow topped mountains and the Yellowstone River followed the highway, on the other side, rolling hills sprinkled with farms and livestock; Black Angus. A big sign on the side of the road read, MONTANA SPORT CIGARS. We knew Cuban Cigars, RITMEESTER and WILLEM II, but this was a new one to us.

We drove through Yankee Jim’s Canyon and the panoramic views were spectacular. The river ran wild, cascading down huge boulders and downed trees.

Soon, we entered the State of Wyoming. At the Albright Visitor Centre in the town of Mammoth, the line ups were out the door and we continued in the direction of the Mammoth Hot Springs. The town reminded us of Whistler, BC, with Mountains on either side and thousands of tourists. We finally found a parking spot at the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces.

Albert went up to see the hot springs first, because Bijke wasn't allowed in any of these areas, but when he returned, he suggested we would have a better view if we drove to the top. The view from the Upper Terrace was amazing. The sign read, Travertine Terraces. The interactions of water and limestone create the Chalk-white travertine. These terraces are among the fastest changing features in the park, emerging quickly and drying up just as fast. The smell of sulphur was pungent. Steam rose from many different areas and white limestone terraces looked like the landscape of a alien planet.

After lunch we drove south to Norris, but before we reached the Steamboat Geyser, we made many stops along the way, to watch the beautiful lookouts at Sheepeater Cliff and Roaring Mountain. The Fumaroles at Roaring Mountain are the hottest hydrothermal features in the park. The small amounts of water flashes into steam before it reaches the surface. Fumaroles hiss, whistle and thumb through restricted pathways.

The Steamboat is the world’s tallest geyser. By the time we had visited the Steamboat Geyser, we realized that there wasn't enough time to visit Old Faithful. It was still a long drive and traffic was extremely slow. We decided to take the road to Canyon Village and finish the loop by visiting the Calcite Springs at Tower-Roosevelt and come back a second day. On the way out of the park we saw two Grizzlies and more Buffalos. We drove through snow and zig-zagged down the winding road, back to the town of Mammoth.

By the time we got home to the campground, we were exhausted from all the impressions; images of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles and cliffs, wildlife and lookouts.

On Friday, we extended our stay at the campground by another night. We couldn't leave this area without a visit to Old Faithful.

We had a quiet day and in the afternoon we walked the trail along the Yellowstone River. We watched the ospreys feed their two chicks, saw some pelicans on a sandbar in the river and went to Sacajawea park. We discovered the bronze statue of the Shoshone guide Sacajawea. The young woman is seated on a horse with her baby, Pomp. It was during the time that captain Clark was temporarily separated from Lewis, who was traveling down the Missouri River to explore the Yellowstone River Valley. On July 15, 1806,  Clark, Sacajawea, her infant son, and ten men arrived in Livingston. The young guide accompanied the expedition all the way to the West Coast. She helped navigate the group, negotiate with other tribes for safe passage and help buy horses. The statue was created in honour of Sacajawea’s braveness and excellent guiding skills.

Back at the campground we met a couple from Nanaimo, who were on their way to Ontario to visit their children. They gave us some excellent tips on the ferry crossings to BC.

Bijke: First A and M made me spit out something furry, that I was not allowed to eat, but they didn't give me a treat when I did let it go. When we were close to the snail home, I puked on the road. M said, “Better here than inside the snail house.” Again, no swimming for me in the fast churning river.

A super light weight travel trailer has many advantages, but strong wind gusts during a thunderstorm, is not one of them. We were rocking, when a storm hit us at 1:30 in the morning. Bijke didn't understand and tried to snuggle with us, in which he partly succeeded.

We left early for our second visit to Yellowstone Park. Our goal was to drive the 225 km to Old Faithful and then track back to other interesting sights. We had no idea what time the Old Geyser would blow, all we knew was that it happened every 90 -120 minutes.

But the convoy of cars made their first stop at Beryl Springs, a basin that emits steam from a spring that is very close to the boiling point. The colour of the water was a gorgeous turquoise and the smell of sulphur strong.

We stopped for a picnic at Fountain Flat Drive, a popular area for fly fishermen.

We decided not to visit the Lower Geyser Basin or the Midway Basin, but to go directly to Old Faithful. Easier said, than done. There was no parking space in the large area close to the geyser. We drove around and around until we found a spot beside a school bus next to the woods.

But where was Old Faithful? There were so many people and several large buildings, but no signs. “Let’s follow the crowds,” Albert suggested.

At last, around the corner of the Education Centre, we spotted rows and rows of spectators. A tiny steam plume rose from the rocks. We couldn’t get close but suddenly a tower of steam burst into the sky. It was magnificent! The crowd roared. Again and again the steam rose up into a white sizzling pillar before it fizzled out and died down. We were in awe and couldn’t believe we had witnessed this phenomena. How was it possible that we had timed it exactly right. As the parking lot emptied it became clear to us that all the other visitors had known Old Faithful’s schedule. Ignorance is bliss, I guess, or was it serendipity?

Bijke: A and M wanted me to watch the old geyser, but I was much more interested in sniffing the other dogs and to be petted by little humans.

We left Old Faithful and continued north to Yellowstone Lake and the West Thumb, where we saw some magnificent Hot Springs and the Abyss Pool with its frothing, turquoise water.

Again, time had raced ahead of us and we needed to drive north, but not before we took a picture of the Sulphur Caldron. The smell of sulphur was overwhelming and made my stomach churn. We traveled up Mount Washburn with a peak height of 3122 metres. Traffic ahead of us stopped at every lookout. The views were spectacular. We were part of a convoy zigzagging up the mountain, before twisting and turning down the winding road.

At one point traffic stopped. A black bear had been spotted beside the road and within seconds there was chaos and a traffic jam, with people hanging out of their cars, standing on the road to take pictures. A wildlife officer arrived on the scene within ten minutes and she directed traffic quickly and the problem was resolved. An hour later, the same thing happened when a coyote stood in the middle of the road. We saw many buffalos along the way down to the town of Mammoth.

In Gardiner we stopped for coffee. We still had an hour drive to the campground.

It had been an amazing experience to visit Yellowstone Park, where nature’s artistic creations were on display in so many incredible ways. From canyons to waterfalls, rapids, hot springs, lakes  and geysers, to rock formations, snow covered peeks, grasslands, woodlands and desserts. It’s hard to imagine that at the heart of Yellowstone's past, present and future lies a Supervolcano. Huge volcanic eruptions occurred here, the latest about 631,000 years ago. The centre of what is now the park collapsed, forming a 48-72  km wide basin. The heat powering those eruptions still fuels the park’s geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mud pots. As humans we felt insignificant in this park’s diverse ecosystems.

Happy Anniversary! The first email we received that Sunday morning was from our sister-in-law, Lolkje. We looked at each other and burst out laughing. Neither one of us had even thought of the significance of this day. We realized how special it was to celebrate our anniversary in a small trailer traveling through the States and Canada. How fortunate we are to have been together for 47 years. Many of our friends and family never reached this anniversary. It became a day of reminiscing and reflection. We planned to find a restaurant and order takeout. But the Thai Restaurant we had chosen, wasn't there anymore, so we made rice curry instead and celebrated with Bijke in our little snail house.

On Monday morning we headed out early, direction, Missoula. The road became steep, with twists and turns at Bozeman’s Pass, elevation 1750 meters. The white capped mountains, the valleys with farms on one side and the rolling hills on the other side of the highway made the trip very pleasant. Past the town of Butte, elevation 1940 meters, the landscape became more flat. We reached the campground in Missoula in the afternoon. Our corner site, with one end submerged in water and no privacy, was tiny, but the campground was packed, so we didn't have any choice and decided to stay.

Bijke: I like this campground. There are so many rabbits here. I wonder if they live here or if they are on holidays, too. I sniff them everywhere and really I want to chase them.

The next day we visited Cara Park at the East Fork River. The path along the river was tempting for Bijke. Close to the bridge, we watched surfers for a while, admiring their balancing acts, before they were swept away by the strong current.

We visited the world’s fastest carousel. It had many similarities with the North Bay Heritage Carousel. It was built the same way. Marla mentioned, that one of the wood carvers from Missoula, had helped the carvers in North Bay get started on the carving of the horses. She told me to try and sell our carousel book at the gift shop. But unfortunately, the lady at the store wasn't interested in a picture book about the North Bay Carousel.

Wednesday, June 27/18

“Happy Birthday dear Loesje, Happy Birthday to you!” We were fortunate that the wifi was strong enough so that we could FT and sing to her. Two years already. Two more weeks until we can hold her.

The highway twisted and turned west off Missoula. The Clark Fork River looped around the highway and crossed underneath many times. We noticed many signs along the highway, reading, CHERRIES and FIREWORK, FIREWORK and CHERRIES. It sounded like a great combination.

Just before Coeur D’Alene, we turned off the highway to the campground. The campground was sloped down in terraces. The tent sites were close to the lake, but the trailers and motorhomes were up on the hill. We ended up on a  site close to an old unoccupied trailer. 

Bijke went crazy as he smelled the water of the pool and the lake. He even barked at the kids in the pool. As soon as we were settled we took him for a swim to Lake Coeur d’Alene. He was much calmer after his swim. It was one of the warmest days, 29 C.

At 9:30 that evening a giant fifth wheel from Texas tried to back in beside us. It took the driver a few tries, but he succeeded and we did have a quiet night.