Tuesday 6 August 2013

Yellowstone National Park

Squeezed in a little vacation over the weekend to Grand Teton, Wyoming and Yellowstone, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, with Yveon and family. Yellowstone's so huge that it terrorized 3 states. It's also the first National Park in America. I really need to share about this trip, which was absolutely magnificent! 

I've discovered so much more about nature and its beauty since our stay here, the access to these inspiring beauties has moulded me to become an extreme nature lover. I'm now a fan of National Parks. Yellowstone has been the best seen so far. Every park has it unique characteristics, I know. But let me be bias for now.

Yellowstone is home to a large collection of geysers, hot springs, rivers, lakes, wildlife and the different elements of nature. We spent about 1.5 days in the park, and had to sadly call it an end, for homecoming. I wished we had more days, it's so huge that we couldn't cover every point.

Less words, more evidence. Let me impress with pictures!

Old Faithful Geysers: There were many larger geysers in the park, but this was the most faithful of all. It's  rather predictable and erupts consistently. Wonder how geysers erupt? Just think a giant pressure cooker. For technical terms, Google it. 

Old Faithful geyser

 

Grand Prismatic Spring: Love those beautiful bands of yellow and orange colours surrounding the hot spring to give its prism effect.

Grand Prismatic Spring

 

Mammoth Hot Springs: Beautiful terraces as water well up and deposit large amount of travertine daily. Travertine is a white mineral, that when in contact with warm water structures colourful bacteria and algae.

Mammoth Hot Springs

 
Hayden Valley: Known for the abundance of wildlife. This was a journey where we were hoping to catch sight of, as many wildlife as possible. In fact, animals watching was one of my excitement to look forward to during this visit. Yellowstone is home to many Bison, moose, deers, elks, wolves, coyotes and bears! Rather disappointing to not see Bison in herds, but, at least we caught sight of some in solitude. 
 
 
A Bison

With a moose

 

Grand Canyon: My favourite of all, and probably the most breathtaking sight in the park. I wished we had more time to soak ourselves in this part of nature. That waterfall, blends so well with the surrounding rocks. Truly magnificent! 

Grand Canyon

Mud Volcano: Welcomed by the strong ordour of rotten eggs, hydrogen sulfide gas. I like that pleasing smell though. Muddy boiling pots may not look appealing, but still, a beautiful unique sight of nature.

Boiling mud pots

Norris Geyser: Where the world's largest and tallest active geyser is found, steamboat geyser, and yes, it really looked like one humongous pot of steaming soupy food. It had been stagnant for 8 years before it finally decided to erupt on 31st July 2013. We were there on 3rd Aug, and so we managed to catch sight of its still roaring steam.

Steamboat geyser

These were the main highlights of what we've covered, in the casual and leisure manner. We did a little hike at Grand Teton, prior to Yellowstone, and I'm just so glad that Jazz used her walking feet throughout, even in Yellowstone. Maybe, my girl has really grown up. Jare, as usual, loves being kola-ed to me. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the sights.


Grand Teton behind us

 
Nature existed long before our presences, but I felt so alienated standing among them. They are not just an appearance, they have a story to tell. I'm glad for the opportunity to tour and acquire knowledge about these impressive elements of the world. I'm beginning to miss my geography lessons during school days... and yes, I'm hoping to visit Yellowstone sometime again.

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