Yellowstone National Park

I went to Yellowstone over the labor day weekend in 2008, Aug 28^th – Sept 1^st. We were 9 of us – Deepak, Shahin, Chinky, Boka, Archana, Kartik M, Saujanya, Janhavi and I. After logistical confusions, flipping schedules, surprise additions, and prolonged discussion parallel only by India-US Nuclear Deal, was the plan actually set in motion. After all the 9 of us were converging on Yellowstone from 4 cities and that’s no joking matter for UCIDesiTimePass Grp!!

Day 1: Salt Lake City

Deepak, Shahin, Janhavi and I left from Long Beach Airport for Salt Lake city on Thursday evening. We were lucky to get on the flight as Delta had some mechanical trouble and only lucky 50 of the 70 booked on the flight could fly. That was a close call – the whole trip was almost doomed had we no got on that flight. Chinky came from Oakland and met us at SLC Airport. We rented 2 cars at the airport. Boka & Archana joined us much later that night from San Jose. We stayed at Courtyard near the airport for the night.

Day 2: Grand Teton and South Yellowstone

Next day after a delayed start we left from SLC for Grand Teton. After a 6 hours drive that took us clear thru Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and into Montana, we entered Grand Teton from the south entrance. Driving in Grand Teton is interesting in that, the road divides the forest on one side and the Snake River & mountains on the other.

The mountains are high and steep and there is a complete lack of a foot hill. They just take-off from the riverbed and go sky high. Also, these are some of the spikiest ranges I have seen – razor sharp. The high mountains, meandering river, clear lakes and forest on one side make this an interesting drive.

We drove along highway 89 and stopped at 3 scenic spots. First we stopped to simply admire the beautiful scenery and were lucky to see a moose and her cub. Moving along we stopped at the Jackson River Dam - Still Waters at one end, rushing at another. We didn’t have time to go along the Jackson Drive but we did stop at one point along the lake and even managed to wade into the cold water. Memorable incident: Chinky tried to record the sound of the water on the lake shore but wit Deepak around what was he thinking. The idea was doomed from the start.

Next we left Grand Teton for Yellowstone and entered the park from the south entrance. I had doubts of how different the two parks are going to be since they are situated so close by but those doubts were expelled only a few miles into Yellowstone when I saw deep gorge of the Yellowstone River, a small waterfall, the beautiful scenery and thick forest. Yellowstone makes Grand Teton look quite unimpressive! Another mile or so and we saw a deer run across the river and disappear into the thick forest – this was National Geographic stuff only seen on TV!! Seeing it live was a great feeling. I guess the message was clear we are in Yellowstone and there is wild life every where.

We were running out of time to have dinner so we couldn’t make any more stops but the scenery along the way was just as beautiful. We had dinner on the shore of the Yellowstone Lake and then the best part of the day – clear night sky! I hadn’t seen so many stars so clearly before. It was just the most amazing thing to experience. I had read up on the Yellowstone night sky on blogs and websites but nothing would have prepared me for this! The Milky Way was clearly visible – a band of stars across the sky, the great bear and countless other stars. Few of us saw breaking stars and even satellites that day. It only helped the next day was the new-moon day. Finally, after much gazing we left for our hotel in West Yellowstone. Having checked in I came out once to see if the sky was the same from the hotel but it wasn’t. The stars were drowned in the city lights. We were fortunate to see the clear sky today since the next 2 days it was cloudy and we didn’t get to see anyway near the same sight again.

Day 3: Old Faithful & Geyser Basins.

So, finally the ‘Yellowstone adventure’ had begun. After another delayed start, we left for

the south loop to see some geysers in the upper and lower basins. We saw Bison grazing along the  river and stopped for pictures. It was the third encounter in 2 days with a wild animal up-close. Fantastic! Truth be told, by the end of the trip, we were fed-up with the damn Bison. They are everywhere and dumb as dumb can be.

Our first geyser stop was a small unnamed one just outside the lower basis. In the distance was a much bigger one spewing hot steam. We stopped for few pictures and then I decided to do the dumbest thing of the trip. 50mts sprint with Chinky – he won and I pulled my hamstring. Boka came to rescue and the pain went away but the discomfort lasted the next 2 days and it hurts even as I write this blog.

Moving on, we stopped at the Lower Basis for the first major geyser of the trip – the emerald geyser aptly named from its blue color. Here we saw a mud-pot, a regular huffing-puffing one and one that spew hot water and steam about 10-15mts even few minutes. The scenery was equally good – flat meadows stretched miles to the base of the mountain at a distance.

Next we went to the Mid Way basin, the home of the most beautiful geysers in Yellowstone. The large sapphire geyser was just great. Its different shades of blue color were mesmerizing but it paled in comparison to the Prismatic which was just out-of-this-world. This one had shades of blue, yellow, orange, brown; all thrown into the mix with beautiful greenery in the background. What colors!

Memorable Incident: I met my good and old friend Heramb Nirgudkar at the lower basis. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana! It’s just serendipitous to meet him there out of no-where in Idaho.

Next we went to Old Faithful. Mukti and his wife Saujanya, who we met for the first time had entered Yellowstone from the south entrance after spending a night in their car and were waiting for us at Geyser. After some socializing, we were back to main attraction of the day – Old Faithful. Fortunately for us, the Geyser was supposed to go off in 15mins or so. We didn’t have to wait very long. Supposedly, it is un-natural for a geyser to explode with such a degree of predictability. We watched the geyser with Heramb as it shot about 200mts in the air with steam and hot water.

After lunch we left on a geyser trial. We saw the old Faithful again, this time for the back and this time it erupted higher and longer. There were so many geysers with different shapes, sizes and each with its own uniqueness. Most notable amongst them, Beauty Geyser – sort of like prismatic but smaller, Giant & Riverside Geyser – both have fantastic explosions twice everyday or so. Unfortunately for us, we were 10min too

 late and could only see them from afar. Morning Glory, at the end of the trail is another colorful one. Castle and Groto Geysers have weird shapes! Groto is particularly an active one. Again, we just missed the explosion of Daisy Geyser but got to see the ‘punch bowl Geyser’ really up close. By the time we finished the trail, only Chinky, Janhavi and I were left. Rest left for our next stop – Yellowstone Lake.

The Yellowstone Lake is big & tranquil and matches the scenery of a lake in any major national park. It certainly didn’t find it too appealing. A few quick stops and we headed towards Lakeview Village where we had a up close sighting of the Bison. Our first of many encounter of Bison invading the road.

Our final agenda for the day was watching some wild-life in Hayden valley but the closest we came to anything wild was a mad-dash by Chinky down a steep close to the riverbed about 100mts below the road. Jokes apart – we didn’t see much besides some Bison. A gentleman told us how he has been watching the animals for a week and has only spotted 2/3 so far. Not a very encouraging statistic!

We ended the day with another night gazing adventure by the road side. It was cloudy and we couldn’t see the same wonder as yesterday but it was still pretty good. Boka showed us a satellite.

Day 4: Lower Falls and Mammoth Hot Springs

Today, Janhavi and I decided to get a head start to the day to go south to visit the ‘Biscuit and Black Bay Basins’ which we had skipped yesterday. Mukti and Saujanya also decided to join.

These basins are not spectacular like the upper/lower basins but they give an up-close and personal encounter with the geysers. Also, it was a bit chilly in the morning, so the steam from the geysers was that much thicker. In fact we couldn’t have seen the geysers had it not been for a bit of wind that blew every now and then. At the biscuit basin a bridge goes between 2 big geysers and it was as if were in a Sauna. There are mud-pots and hot springs at Biscuit basin that are worth a visit. The Black Sand Basin has other geysers up-close. One Shell Geyser, we saw come to a full boil with water pouring out of its banks and then just cool off – the water disappearing inside the geyser! There was another one that spewed hot water out on the boardwalk and almost got us wet. Last one was spew steam with a loud noise. These geysers erupt more frequently than the upper/lower basins and I will take that than wait for hours for the next huge eruption. We were luck at this basin that as we walked along the trail the geysers erupted. Unlike, yesterday when we were 10min behind every major eruption.

Memorable Incident: As we got off the car at Black Sand Basin, I saw a stationary bird in the air which I thought was peculiar. And moments later it took a nose dive towards the river flowing nearly by as if it was dead. Splash! It went into the river and came out with a fish in its beak!! AWESOME…this was national geographic stuff!! Seen it hundreds of time on TV but seeing it live is something else.

We made a stop at the Lower basin after Janhavi and I gave the Prismatic Geysers raving reviews and Mukti just had to see it. Moving north we made way towards the Norris Basin. The rest of the group was supposed to meet up with us here. Here we visited the porcelain basin

– probably named that way because it’s completely white. The most interesting thing here is a geyser that bellows steam high in the air but steam engine sort of noise. Some other geysers here are ordinary but the algae forming an orange/green trail from a geysers’ discharge is worth it. We skipped the steamboat geysers since it wasn’t about to erupt anytime soon. This is supposedly the tallest geyser in Yellowstone.

Memorable Incident: We went down to the porcelain basin because we saw a group of 5 desis and thought they were our group. Turned out they were a bunch of hyderabids – a huge diss for Deepak.

Luckily we met up with the rest of the group (cell phones weren’t working) and decided to go to the Upper/Lower Falls first and do Mammoth later – a wise decision. First we went to Upper Falls. This was like watching Niagara Falls from the American Side. The falls themselves are not visible but one gets a top view of the water going over the cliff. Next we went to the lower falls. Here Chinky decided to do a trail by himself while the rest of us went to ‘Uncle Tom’s Trail’. This strenuous trail has some 350 steps that descend half-way from the top of the falls, to give a spectacular view of the fall and experience the power of the falling water. This trail is definitely worth the effort for anyone in reasonable health. It’s absolutely do-able & there are platforms along the trail to rest and catch breath.

Again a good decision to choose this trail over ‘Rim of lower falls’ trail which, just like the upper falls’ gives a view of the falls from the top only. After catching our breath and doing a short-way along the cliff overseeing the falls, we went to ‘Artists spot’ – apparently named so since it has every color in an artist’s palette. The view is extremely beautiful not only because of the vivid colors along the valley walls but also because this point gives amazing views of the lower falls in a distance. We just sat in silence soaking in the beautiful view. One can spend hours watching the view and still not be satisfied.

Finally, constrained by time, we left for Mammoth Hot Springs. The road to Mammoth Hot Springs is goes thru meadows, forests, valleys and along cliffs. It is truly a wonderful drive. Unfortunately we were too pressed for time to stop at all spots but we did make a stop for an Elk sighting and hexagonal rock formation – one that is usually associated with a rocky beach but this was along a cliff and upside down. Really, this place has it all!! Had we more time, I am sure we’d have stopped at a lot of scenic lookouts – may be next time.

Finally we reach Mammoth Hot springs! In our race against the Sun, we could only do the upper terrace, which I was told is better than the lower ones. A winding, narrow, one-way street goes along the upper terrace. The unique feature of Mammoth Hot Spring is that the geysers here discharge a snow white calsite which creates amazing shapes and patterns. First stop a large geyser – shaped like a squatting Mammoth due to the Calsite discharge. Is this geyser the reason why this place is called Mammoth? Next Angle Geyser – this one is really snow white with a trail of orange/purple algae along the flow of water. We saved the best for the last – Canery Spring.

This one has to be seen to believe. Words or even photos don’t capture the beauty of this one. White expanse of hot springs that forming terrace like formation with colorful algae growing along the banks. At one point the hot spring just seems to jump off the cliff and its here that it’s most beautiful. The calsite curves along the cliff forming a semi-circular cap around the cliff and in the process creating a heaven for algae. There are so many shades of color here – red, brown, orange, black, purple, green!! For Janhavi Canery Springs took the crown among geysers (I’d give it to Prismatic).

After an eventful day we returned home – tiered as would be expected. No night gazing today.

Day 5: Return to Salt Lake City

Our final day! We headed for Salt Lake City. It was uneventful drive except we stopped for one ‘Potato Museum’ in Idaho. Unfortunately, it was closed for Labor Day but we manage to get into the ‘Ohio State Fair’. We were the only Indians there in probably 10K people. Ate a lot of oily food and headed back towards SLC. Somehow we were able to sneak-in a hasty tour of Salt Lake downtown and Morman temple before our flight back to Orange County.

Great Trip. The park is truly amazing. It has everything, forests, meadows, rock formations, rivers, valleys, gorges, lakes falls, abundant wild-life and not to mention spectacular geysers! Another striking feature is that most attractions in the park can be driven to. No extensive hikes required.

I’d love to go back sometime but this time I’d like to spend more time in the park. In retrospect, I’d fly into an airport closer to the park than SLC, the extra cost of the ticket would be worth every penny for the time gained in the park.

Other Moments:

Dennis the Menace: Our good old Dennis (Chinky) did 4 stunts in the trip. Thats 4 for 4 days. (1) Running on Geyser bed to collect hot water in a bottle. Lucky to have got away without injury or puplic ridicule.(2) Mad dash from the road to river bed. (3) Solo hiking trip at Lower falls. (4) This one takes the crown! Althought I didn't witness this I felt the aftermath. Supposedly, chinky ran on the Geyer bed at Canary Springs about 200mts in to get a upclose picture of a geyser. A gora couple took exception and alerted the rangers. now, I did'nt witness the first part but the rangers spotted Mukti's car ( 4 indians who matched the description) and asked us about the incident. We ofcourse didn't know anything but Karti's suspicion that it probably was Chinky was 100% correct.

(2) Mukti on steam blowing and foul smelling geysers: Sala, Earth ko gas ho gaya hai aur pura duniya use dekne aaya hai.

(3) Boka and his search for Coffee at Canyon Village.

by Kartik Gupte