Yellowstone – Blue water and pine forests

We didn’t come here to sleep so we don’t complain about not getting enough of it. We get up early again today, do some work and then at around 8am leave the hotel to head into Yellowstone again.

Today we turn south in Madison, and then we turn right into Firehole Canyon Drive. We first drive along the river to the Firehole Falls once there we climb over rocks and boulders while the sun rays are reaching more and more of the waterfall and further down into the canyon. From there we head towards Old Faithful, this area of the park is dominated by geysers, we are once more fascinated by the colors of these basins and the absolutely clear water, one of the most beautiful ones is the Black Sand Basin. We feel very close to mother earth and we actually get the impression that the area is much more active and alive than in previous years, a lot of the smaller geysers which we remember as being “quiet” are now bubbling and throwing fountains of water in the air.

At Old Faithful we stop to get a sandwich and a coffee and then we drive on towards Yellowstone Lake. Most of the shoreline of the lake is pine forrest, only here and there we see a golden aspen tree, shaking it’s leaves in the wind. The lake is spectacular, since it is very windy the surface is rather rough. We follow the shoreline all the way to the Fishing Bridge, but then go north along Yellowstone River. At LeHardys Rapids we take another walk along the river to get to the rapids (a sign says that in June and July you can see the cutthroat trouts jump up the rapids to go to the spawning place further the river, close to the lake). Then we stop several time in Hayden Valley to watch out for animals but besides Buffalo and Canada Geese we don’t see anything special.

It is already late afternoon but we still have about 2 more hours before sunset. Therefore, we decide to take the 0.5 mile walk to the Ice Lake, a gorgeous lake in the middle of the forrest with no street access. It is completely quiet back here and had we not been worried about a possible bear encounter it would have been very peaceful.

About an hour earlier than yesterday we drive to the Virginia Cascades to enjoy the last rays of the sun for today. We are back in West Yellowstone about 30 minutes after sunset, at 7:30. We park directly in front of the Restaurant and have a quick pizza before returning to the hotel to look through the roughly 800 pictures we (Marco) have (has) taken today.