An Adventure at Yellowstone

With Cy from July 21 to July 26, 2013

In West Yellowstone, MT, we visited the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center.  These are cubs, 500  pound cubs, playing.
All the kids on this trip were between 8 and 11 years old, and they are posed just before entering the Grizzly Discovery Center.
With the bears carefully locked in their dens, all the kids went through the compound and hid grizzly bear food, so the bears could come out later and find it.
All around the town of West Yellowstone, we saw painted sculptures of bison, painted.  This is just like the shark sculptures in San Jose and hearts in San Francisco.
Inside Yellowstone Park, the vistas are impressive.
And the geysers are even more impressive.  Here we have two geysers erupting simultaneously.  The Morning Geyser is on the left, and theFountain Geyser is on the right.
If not geysers, then fumaroles.  They just sit there and steam.
Boiling hot springs sometimes look like a beautiful blue swimming pool, but they are far too hot for even testing..
Yellowstone is famous for its thermophilic bacteria.  The different colors are indicative of the different water temperatures and pH values.
One big activity was kayaking.  Cy is in the center, and everyone is choosing their boats for a one hour paddle along the shore of  Lake Yellowstone.  Lake Yellowstone is reminiscent of Lake Tahoe, but without  all the development along the shore.  Geysers, yes; mansions, no. Oh yes, after sandwiches and splashing on the beach, it was another paddle back.
Of course, we had to watch Old Faithful.
Our West Yellowstone Lodge didn't really compare with Old Faithful Inn.  Maybe next time.
Across a geyser field from Old Faithful, the Castle Geyser honored us with a show that went on for 10 or 15 minutes.  Old Faithful didn't have anything like that much stamina.
The only elk I saw were in the distance, but one came within feet of the bus while Cy and I were hiking the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
The Madison River proved a perfect mirror on Wednesday morning.
Another geyser field, this time Porcelain Basin.  Dozens of geysers of all sizes and shapes.
Our intrepid hikers at Porcelain Basin.
In Hayden Valley the buffalo still roam.  Lots of cows and calves in the distance while this old bull walks down the road.
From Artist's Point, you can look up the Grand Canyon  of the Yellowstone River, accented by the Lower Falls, 308 feet high.  That is about twice the drop of Niagara Falls, butthese falls are only one tenth as wide as Niagara.
Another view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  Very colorful and articulated.
We hiked the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from below the Lower Falls to above the Upper Falls, and a rest break was clearly welcome.
A closer view of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.
The Upper Falls are only 108 feet, but very spectacular because we got within a few feet of the precipice.
Cy found Gabe as a friend on the first day.
Finally, back to the Madison River.  Every slide show has to end with a sunset.  What you are not seeing are my forays into mountain bike riding and horse riding.  Be glad.