My first WorldCon, etc., #3
Aug. 16th, 2008 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmegaeraOur third day in the Park we drove up to Norris Geyser Basin and around to Canyon. Norris was another place M had missed last time due to being sick, so we walked around Porcelain Basin and listened to the roaring fumaroles and the hissing sputs (they rather sound like someone blowing a raspberry [g]), then she went back to the car while I walked out around the short loop at Back Basin. I hadn’t realized what I’d been missing by always walking the long trail at Back Basin, and got to see some new springs that I’d never seen before. Cistern Spring in particular was lovely, a clear green that was much less blue than came out in the picture. I stopped at Steamboat Geyser on the way back to the car. It was doing its usual 40-50 foot spraying, but, just like all the other times I’ve walked past it, it didn’t do what it’s really capable of. I swear I would die happy if I could just see Steamboat erupt (it goes off about every 3 to 50 years, so it really would be sheer luck, but when it does it goes up more than 300 feet, the largest geyser in the Park).
Canyon was lovely, of course. We stopped at the upper falls overlook, and at Artist Point, with its classic Moran view of the lower falls. Then we went to the Canyon dining room for lunch, a Mexican buffet, which was the best food we’d had so far on the trip. The sopapillas for dessert were particularly good. Then we drove down to Hayden Valley to see if we could find some bison, since, strangely enough, we hadn’t seen any yet (I don’t know if it was the heat – upper 80s most of the time we were there, or just the time of year, but we only saw elk twice and bison once in the entire five days this time, and none of either in the geyser basins). The first bison we saw was perched on top of a road cut, and, as we watched him from below, he started to roll in a dust bath. I swear I thought he was going to land on Kestrel’s roof, but he didn’t. Then we came across a lush, green meadow covered in bison, looking, as they always do, like they just got through filming their parts in Dances with Wolves. After that we had to turn around because the road was closed down by the lake and we couldn’t make the loop.
On Saturday, our fourth day in the Park, we drove up to the Lower Geyser Basin to see Great Fountain Geyser. The window for Great Fountain eruption predictions, like the window for Grand Geyser, is about four hours, and we wound up waiting most of that. Fortunately, we were prepared with reading material, and Great Fountain was well worth the wait. It was only the second time I’d ever seen it, and while it’s not in the same league as Grand (which really is my favorite geyser of all time), it was gorgeous.
Sunday was our last day in the Park, and I spent most of the time out in the Upper Geyser Basin, wandering around waiting for things to go off [g]. I saw Grand for the second time, and Riverside, and Daisy, and Castle, and ran into a bunch of Geyser Gazers (http://www.geyserstudy.org/), waiting for Fan and Mortar. I stuck around for about an hour, but the hot period ended without an eruption. I later heard it went off in the middle of the night [sigh].
On to Denver in the next post.
Steamboat Geyser
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Cistern Spring, bluer than in real life, alas
Porcelain Basin at Norris
Canyon was lovely, of course. We stopped at the upper falls overlook, and at Artist Point, with its classic Moran view of the lower falls. Then we went to the Canyon dining room for lunch, a Mexican buffet, which was the best food we’d had so far on the trip. The sopapillas for dessert were particularly good. Then we drove down to Hayden Valley to see if we could find some bison, since, strangely enough, we hadn’t seen any yet (I don’t know if it was the heat – upper 80s most of the time we were there, or just the time of year, but we only saw elk twice and bison once in the entire five days this time, and none of either in the geyser basins). The first bison we saw was perched on top of a road cut, and, as we watched him from below, he started to roll in a dust bath. I swear I thought he was going to land on Kestrel’s roof, but he didn’t. Then we came across a lush, green meadow covered in bison, looking, as they always do, like they just got through filming their parts in Dances with Wolves. After that we had to turn around because the road was closed down by the lake and we couldn’t make the loop.
On Saturday, our fourth day in the Park, we drove up to the Lower Geyser Basin to see Great Fountain Geyser. The window for Great Fountain eruption predictions, like the window for Grand Geyser, is about four hours, and we wound up waiting most of that. Fortunately, we were prepared with reading material, and Great Fountain was well worth the wait. It was only the second time I’d ever seen it, and while it’s not in the same league as Grand (which really is my favorite geyser of all time), it was gorgeous.
Sunday was our last day in the Park, and I spent most of the time out in the Upper Geyser Basin, wandering around waiting for things to go off [g]. I saw Grand for the second time, and Riverside, and Daisy, and Castle, and ran into a bunch of Geyser Gazers (http://www.geyserstudy.org/), waiting for Fan and Mortar. I stuck around for about an hour, but the hot period ended without an eruption. I later heard it went off in the middle of the night [sigh].
On to Denver in the next post.
Steamboat Geyser
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Cistern Spring, bluer than in real life, alas
Porcelain Basin at Norris
