Wednesday, June 19
It was another cold night sleeping. I didn’t get much sleep on the fold-out couch in the van. It was 25 degrees outside and 42 degrees in the van when we got up just before 6 AM. I washed up and had some yogurt and we left by 6:30 AM. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was nice and sunny and clear. We stopped in the Grand Teton NP at Cunningham Cabin pullout for views of the entire range and then again at Oxbow Bend, where there was a nice reflection of the mountains in the Snake River.
We got gas at Old Faithful Lodge and just missed the 8:57 eruption of Old Faithful. We could see it as we were pumping gas going off in the distance. We got a nice parking spot by the Lodge and went inside to use the bathroom, buy a postcard, etc. We had a late breakfast at the van with this big guy right in front of us.
Then we went and sat with our fleece jackets on the benches by Old Faithful, waiting for the 10:35 AM eruption. It was probably the nicest Old Faithful eruption I have seen. It lasted about four minutes.
Then we trucked it down to Daisy Geyser, but missed its 10:58 eruption by only a few minutes. We walked on the boardwalk to Grand Geyser. We waited there for a long time talking with some people who were from NC. At 12:15, the Grand Geyser erupted for a solid 11 min. Just before it did, we heard a familiar voice said “Here it comes, 12:15.” It was our old chemistry professor from Albright Jim Scheirer, who retired at age 62 from teaching and has been observing geysers as a "geyser gazer" in Yellowstone most summers since at least 2008. He was even on the Today Show once. He is now pushing 80 yrs old and had his nephew with him. Same old Jim we saw maybe five years ago or more at the same geyser. He did not recognize us until we explained the name. Then he did. Highlight of my day. The geyser was awesome too. Much much better than Old Faithful and you are closer to it. It just keeps going and going. We waked to Castle Geyser next where he was headed and said goodbye.
Then we drove to West Thumb Lake and Yellowstone Lake. We had a picnic at the latter at a picnic table that was half in the water. On to the Mud Volcano area, where we saw the Mud Volcano itself, Dragons Mouth Spring, and Mud Cauldron.
We were behind schedule as we entered the Hadyn Valley. Here we saw bison down below in the valley and then a little farther up the road crossing right in front of traffic. There was a bison jam there. We were part of it. The Hadyn Valley and the twists and turns of the river are always so photogenic. And always bison are there.
We continued to the Yellowstone Canyon and Falls at Artists Point. Got some great shots there, maybe better than any other time. A stranger took some very nice ones of us.
Then we drove over Dunraven Pass. We saw mountain goats there high up on a hill, first time I recall seeing these in Yellowstone instead of Glacier NP. There was also a bear jam for a grizzly in the not too far distance but safely off the road. The bear jam was as entertaining as the bear if not more so. I think I saw mother first and then cub later but never both at once.
On to Tower Falls where we only did the overlook. I always love the dyke formation and columns near Calcite Springs right there at Tower Falls. We heard there was a black bear sighting on the road near there.
We drove on to the Lamar Valley, where they are doing some major construction of a new bridge it appears. Out this road after 5 PM, there was a pronghorn close up, some grizzlies that we did not see but heard others pointing to in the far distance (one had stalked a young elk), and a black bear right up by the road. On the drive to Mammoth Hot Springs we also saw another black bear with its cub not far off the roadside. We cfound a pulloff in the NF off Rt 89 with another Promaster along the edge of the river. Some traffic noise, but also rushing water noise. It was a full day for sure.
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