Hello from Yellowstone! It's Day 16, and the Snyder's have increased our herd by two! Aunt Pat and Cousin Paul have joined us for a two-day stay in the park. This is great news for me because it means Paul and I can hit some trails my folks are unable to hike! Thrilling!! Unfortunately for him, he's pretty much my babysitter for the next two days. Poor guy!
Before we headed out to the park, we had breakfast, and Paul gave me a quick lesson on mining for Montana sapphires. Turns out, you can buy bags of dirty lookin' gravel and search through them using various separation techniques. We found several small sapphires and a pretty decent ~2 carat green sapphire. Paul is going to see about having it cut for Mom. If we're lucky, the sapphire will be good enough quality to make something pretty.
Above: Paul lookin' for Montana Sapphires!
Now, on to Yellowstone!!
Thankfully, we had a short drive into Yellowstone:
Day 17: Bozeman, MT to Yellowstone National Park, WY
Map courtesy of maps.google.com
Just prior to entering the park, we ran across a grizzly bear hanging out on the hillside. We were a good distance away so the pictures are a bit hard to make out, BUT I was about as close as I ever want to be to a grizzly. There was no way I was getting out of the car! They aren't the kindest animals, you know!
Above: Grizzly Bear enjoying the sun on the hillside. Yikes!
We also saw several buffalo on our trip today. I had never seen one before and could not believe how large they are in real life. They are truly impressive creatures, and it's pretty clear they own this park! People create massive buffalo jams just to catch a few glimpses of these fantastic animals! While sitting in on of those jams, we had one cross the road directly behind our car. Below are a few shots of bison roaming the park:
Above: Buffalo in Yellowstone National Park. They're park celebrities... complete with paparazzi!
Once we made it through the bear and buffalo jams, we found our way to Old Faithful. I called David to check in (NOTE: this is pretty much the only place in the park with cell service). According to him, we had timed our arrival perfectly. Old Faithful was set to erupt in 20 minutes! I spent some time talking with him trying to figure out where the Old Faithful webcam was located such that he could take a screenshot with me in it! It took what seemed like forever, but we found it. I stood there looking like a fool so I could get this shot to share:
Above: Screen shots of me from the Old Faithful Webcam! I'm circled in red, btw!
The geyser that is erupting in the background of the first screen shot is NOT Old Faithful. I believe it is Beehive Geyser. Below are a few "live" shots of Beehive without me in them:
Above: Beehive Geyser. It erupts every 12 hrs or so.Here are the pictures I took of Old Faithful (some are from the ground and others are from the Old Faithful Observation Point):
After watching Old Faithful, Paul and I walked around the boardwalks of Upper Geyser Basin. We saw Solitary Geyser and a few other features. I'm not gonna lie to you, folks. It was pretty awesome!
Above (Clockwise starting from left): Thermal features in the Upper Geyser Basin - Castle Geyser, Solitary Geyser, Pump Geyser, unknown feature
Above: Returning from our hike up to the Old Faithful Observation Point and a stroll around the geyser basin - I was tired, can't you tell?
By the time Paul and I were done with our stroll, I was exhausted, and it took very little encouragement from my parents to convince me we needed to head to our cabin to get some rest. So we set out for Canyon Lodge to check-in and get settled for the duration of our stay in the park.
Above: Our cabin at Canyon Lodge - a bit outdated but good enough for me!
I'll post more of Yellowstone soon! Tomorrow is sure to be a BIG day. Until then, take care!
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