Moose!!

July 9, 2002 – Yellowstone National Park

I woke up early this morning and went for a walk around the Geyser Basin by myself. I think it was around 6:30 when I went out and the temperature was in the upper 30’s or low 40’s. With the cool air there was much more steam than there was the evening before. I caught Castle Geyser erupting. It erupts for about an hour twice a day, a water phase eruption for about 20 minutes and a steam phase eruption for about 40 minutes. I missed the water phase but the steam phase was in full swing.

I completed my circuit of the basin and went back to the room to get the rest of the crew out of bed. We had breakfast in the dining room at the Inn. It was a beautiful place to eat, with a gorgeous painting of Old Faithful hanging over the fireplace and a wall of etched glass separating the dining room from the bar.

With full bellies, we set out driving north to go clockwise around the southern loop of the Yellowstone “figure 8”. Our first stop was the Midway Geyser Basin where we saw the Excelsior Geyser crater and the Grand Prismatic Spring as well as several other geysers, springs, and pools. The Grand Prismatic Spring was spectacular. From a distance the steam rising from the spring appeared blue as it reflected the colors from below. The blues and greens of the spring combined with the oranges and reds of the surrounding algae beds made for a truly awesome display of color.

Next, we went to Firehole Lake Drive. We arrived just before Grand Fountain Geyser was predicted to erupt, so we waited, and it was well worth the wait. Unlike Old Faithful with its fairly continuous flow, Grand Fountain is very sporadic. It shoots a cone of water for several seconds, then is dormant for several seconds. A guide leading a tour group near us said that it does that for an hour. We didn’t stay to verify that information, but we did watch it for a while. We also figured out how it got its name. As the water came out it flowed down over the ledges in the hill surrounding the geyser and it had the appearance of a fountain you might find in a city park.

From Firehole Lake Drive it was on to Firehole Canyon Drive, where the Firehole River flows through a small canyon and over some falls. Then on to Madison Junction where we saw some elk and our first of many bison. We went into the ranger station at Madison Junction and Delaney signed up for the Junior Ranger program.

By now it was after 1:00 and we were hungry, so we drove to West Yellowstone for lunch. On the way we saw the tell-tale sign of wildlife in Yellowstone – a bunch of cars pulled over to the side of the road. It was a herd of elk – about 10-15 females and 8-10 calves either wading in the Madison River or grazing on the bank. We watched them for a while before heading on to West Yellowstone and lunch at a little café.

After lunch it was back to Madison Junction to continue our clockwise trek around the loop road. The road was under construction between Madison and Norris. We spent a lot of time stopped in traffic but enjoying the surroundings. Once we got past Norris we stopped at Virginia Cascades and as we pulled back on the main road from the cascades, we saw a large buck elk cross the road. He made his way into the trees before we could get any pictures, but he was magnificent to behold.

As the day turned to late afternoon we decided to continue back to Old Faithful, but as we passed through Hayden Valley we saw huge herds of bison and stopped a couple of times to look and take pictures. We continued along the western shore of Yellowstone Lake, which is supposed to be prime moose territory. We drove slow and watched the woods more than the road, but alas, no moose.

After a long day we were getting close to Old Faithful when we saw the wildlife indicators again – parked cars. We stopped to see what the attraction was this time and it was….A MOOSE! It was a cow and a calf in a swampy area, right where you would expect them to be. Chrissy’s 10-year quest to see a moose was over! I’m not sure who was happier, her for seeing the moose or me being happy for her. She was so excited she couldn’t take any pictures. All our pictures of that pair were shot by me.

After the great moose experience we went back to the Old Faithful Inn to celebrate with Shirley Temples, Roy Rangerses, and ice cream. A great end to another great day.