Old Faithful

I took one hundred and five pictures today. I will include some in this posting, but will also include a link to a folder in my Kodak Gallery. I left Billings at 6:45 AM and did the first one hundred miles in one hour and twenty-two minutes. Time flies on Montana highways. I once again followed the Yellowstone [brick] River; this time right to its source. The scenery in Montana improves greatly improves west of Billings. I enjoyed the ride. I actually went on I-90 to Livingston so that I could enter Yellowstone Park from the north entrance. I enjoyed the trip and the driving was easy. I stopped at a roadside rest area along the Yellowstone River (is there any other?) to have my yogurt and blueberries. I had to put on a jacket since it was only 51 degrees in the early morning. By the time I got to Jackson, it was 66 degrees.

I knew but didn't know that much of Yellowstone Park is a volcano caldera. I was surprised to find only a few views of mountains in the park. I was overwhelmed by the hot springs and geysers and the remaining amount of surface activity generated by the volcano still looming below the park. Today being Saturday and a beautiful day at that, the park was full of visitors. When I got to the Old Faithful area, there must have been over one thousand people waiting for the next eruption. Fortunately, I arrived on site with only fifteen minutes to spare before the "scheduled" display. As tacky as it seems, the display was awesome. Standing downwind from the eruptions was a poor idea.

I spent about four hours in Yellowstone and another two in the Grand Tetons. I will head back to the Grand Tetons tomorrow to do some mild hiking and collect more photographs. I did see buffalo and elk in my travels. I also saw about one hundred fly fishermen!

Here are some of today's pictures:

My breakfast stop on the Yellowstone River.

Roosevelt arch at the north entrance to Yellowstone Park in the town of Gardiner, MT.

I am arrived.

This is not snow, but mineral deposits from a very large hot springs area.

I chased this fellow on foot for twenty minutes and tired him out.

A hot springs. The water, just below boiling, looks about ten feet deep. I overheard a guide say the color is due to bacteria in the water. Perhaps, or maybe Lysol Bowl Cleaner.

Nice color contrast.

Old Faithful, two minutes late. It shot up over one hundred feet high.

People got here by every means of transportation you could imagine.

Dick Mauer said I spent so much time in my car, I ought to have a picture in the blog.

I crossed the continental divide three times. This was the lowest passage. The highest was at over 8,300 feet.

This is some falls whose name I have already forgotten.

Jackson Lake is very large and most of the Grant Tetons are on the west side of the lake.

Mount something or other.

Looking across Lake Jackson .

Here is the link to my Kodak Gallery:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=16tr4m3e.643wlkfa&x=0&y=-df4yb&localeid=en_US