Wednesday, July 31, 2013 – Yellowstone National Park
Wow, what a day we had today. Once again, when we rolled into Yellowstone it was pouring rain. As we set up camp, the rain died down and this morning the weather was beautiful. So, our luck with the weather is holding up. It was a bit chilly in the low 60s but we layered up and were prepared for the warmer weather that was supposed to come.
First a few facts about Yellowstone National Park; it is huge. The park is divided into 2 parts and Upper ring and a lower ring. Each ring is circumnavigated through a series of roads that roughly form a figure 8. To put into perspective just how big the park is – because if you are like me, 2 million acres is just a big number. The thing that helped me understand how big it is, is the fact that each ring is about 120 miles in circumference – or maybe the fact that 3 of the state of Rhode Island would fit into the park. Because it is so big, we opted to take a narrated tour that stops at a number of the key sites. I’m so glad we did this. If I had to drive, I don’t think I would have seen nearly as much. Our tour company was Buffalo Bus Touring Company and they did a great job. They picked us up at 8:25, we made another pick-up and we were at the Park entrance by 9:15. We learned so much about the park. Here is a quick list of facts that you may also find interesting.
Yellowstone was the very first National Park. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the law establishing the Park and the Park Service in 1872.
The Lewis and Clark expedition passed only a very small part of the park in 1806. They chose not to explore it. In 1807 Lewis and Clark were returning to the East to report on their explorations. When they got to what today is Bozeman a gentlemen by the name of John Colter who was in the Lewis and Clark party opted to head south to explore the area that is today Yellowstone. Colter went back to the East and described what he called the “boilings” and the holes that belched boiling mud and the spewing geysers. The folks back East thought he was crazy. It wasn’t until notable explorers such as Kit Carson came back and recounted similar stories, that the western migration had to come and see it for themselves.
Before it was a National Park, the railroad had established a hotel on Lake Yellowstone in 1879. That hotel is still in operations and it was annexed into the park.
Yellowstone was formed in the caldera of ancient volcanoes. The lower ring largely resides on the caldera of the volcano that erupted 630,000 years ago. That blast was the equivalent of 1000 Mt. St. Helens. The rest of the park sits on caldera that came from eruptions that occurred 1.3 mill and 2 million years ago respectively. So the place blows every 650 to 700,000 years apart. So we’re due.
There are only between 6,000 and 8,000 bison in the park. They keep the herd thinned, occasionally opening the park to hunting. Native Americans can hunt buffalo without a permit.
When wolves were reintroduced to the Park, there was a furor with environmentalists claiming that it would decimate the buffalo, moose and elk herds. It has had the opposite effect. Prior to the wolves, the elk would over populate and over graze leaving insufficient food for the bear and the moose. Since the reintroduction of the wolves, it has better managed the Elk population and the bear and moose populations have improved.
There are no venomous snakes in the park.
There was a huge earthquake in 1959 that altered the course of rivers and streams
There was a huge forest fire in 1988 that burned 40% of the park. Surprisingly, very few of the large animals (bear, moose, elk, wolves) were lost. They sense fire early and flee.
The soil in the park is poor due to the volcanic content. The Lodge Pole Pine does well here. This tree produce 2 types of pine cones; one that opens and can be germinated and the other will only open at temps above 120 degrees – so fires are needed to repopulate the forest.
The temperature of the steam coming up from the earth can be as high as 280 degrees. The water in the thermal pools can reach 200 degrees. In 2006 a man’s dog was off the leash and fell into one of the thermal pools. The man went in trying to save the dog. Both man and dog died and were boiled to death.
The coldest recorded temperature in the park was -66 degrees below zero on the Fahrenheit scale – that’s -53 degrees Celsius. The rivers do not freeze because of the amount of thermal water entering them. The lake does freeze.
There are 3.4 million visitors to the park in the summer and 40,000 in the winter.
There are numerous small animals that inhabit the park such as mice, gophers, voles, and other rodents – the rangers refer to these critters as “snack food” for the larger park animals. The rabbits are referred to as “fast food” 😉
Old Faithful erupts approximately every 92 minutes and spays between 80 and 180 feet into the air. The eruptions last about 2 to 5 minutes and it can expel between 3500 and 8500 gallons or water. The Old Faithful Inn overlooks the geyser and was constructed in 1902. It remains the largest log structure in the world.
Tomorrow we will head up to the Upper ring to visit the Mammoth Thermal Springs and the Grizzly Bear and Wolf Discovery Center.
Photo 1 – We didn’t see as much wildlife as we would have liked. We saw a herd of elk grazing in 7 Mile Valley and in Hayden valley, we also saw osprey, ravens and buffalo. But disappointingly, we did not see any bear.
Photo 2 – A view of the falls on Firepot River.
Photo 3 – 5 – we stop at the Lower Geyser field and see thermal pools, mud pots, geysers and steam vents – or fumeroles. Photo 5 is a bacterial net consisting of thermophilic bacteria that thrive in the boiling and acidic water near the thermal pools and geysers. Scientists have only been able to classify 1% of the different types of bacteria that thrive in these waters.
Photo 6 & 7 – Old Faithful erupts
Photo 8 & 9 – Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River as seen from Artist Point forming the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
Photo 10 – we come across a lone bull buffalo crossing a river.
Here is a link to more of our Yellowstone photos…
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