Misty Mountains
Anyway today we'll be heading south of Yellowstone National Park. and the 1st stop was the drive through the Firehole valley. Through that drive we got to see a mini waterfall. And that morning was deary and misty...but my sister said that such weather are the best for capturing great waterfalls pictures.
Fast flowing river flowing through the Firehole Valley
Firehole Waterfalls
As we drove further south, we saw some geyers erupting and the Fountain Geyser in massive display. I must say that I'm pretty lucky to see the geyser in action. Coz the geyser only erupts like once a day or once every few hours. after viewing the geyser we headed south and reached the middle geyser basin. well... there are really lots of geysers in display here... and some of them just keeps erupting and erupting. when we were at the carpark, we saw a herd of bison eating and resting in the grass plains. anyway back to the basin, not only were the geyers activating erupting, some of the thermal pools there were really colourful.
Baby Bison suckling
'Blop Blop!' Boiling mud
1 of the many geysers seen
Shoot for the skies
Huge black raven looking for food
Fountain Geyser in its magnificent glory (luckily I managed to catch this. Coz it only erupts once every few hours or perhaps once a day or once every few days....)
This should have been taken at the fountain Geyser region (can't remember)
'Let's stretch!' skinny trees clustered together
Picnicking time. That's dad & my sister. I'm behind the camera and mum's in the car
Reflections on puddles after a downpour at the carpark
The its time.... we head to Old Faithful. As we drove there, it started to rain and the rain just gets heavier. its almost similar to a downpour. When we reached Old Faithful, we made a few turns in the carpark, trying to locate where is the entrance. Coz my sister kept commenting that its not what she saw the last time she was here... and she kept saying its the wrong place. Until we told her to just get a lot and go and enquire at the visitor center.After she enquired and came back to the car, she said this was the right place. and the visitor center cum education center was recently built. Apparently there are exhibits in the visitor center and there was also an auditorium. Because we just missed the eruption of Old Faithful, we had quite a bit of time to kill. If you don't know yet, Old Faithful erupts every 1hr 20min. So technically we got about 1hr and 20min. We decided to view a video that showcase the history of Yellowstone and how Yellowstone was formed. I must say the video was really really educational and informative. Likewise for the exhibition. It showcase on the mechanisms of the geysers, and how the caldera rims came about and they also exhibited the different kinds of rocks that can be found only in Yellowstone and the different pHs of pools to be found in Yellowstone.
Soon the time for Old Faithful to erupt approach. However, it was still raining. But weird thing was... it wasn't really rain. Coz when u observe carefully, the expected rain drops that drop onto the ground would be absorbed and leave a wet patch. Instead of being absorbed, the drops bounced on the floor. Yeah it was raining hailstones. As the temperature dropped to about -3 degrees, it became snow. Soon the floor was covered with snow. At least its better than rain. I headed out to stand in front of Old Faithful in the hopes of capturing it in its glory. Soon lots of people also came out and stand in front of Old Faithful. Just before Old Faithful erupted, the snow stopped and the sun came out. We saw a rainbow appearing over Old Faithful. It was a beautiful sight!
Rainbow over Old Faithful
"Woosh!" Old Faithful has erupted. And u can basically hear everyone exclaiming in awe and cameras clicking away. Finally I'm able to see the real sight of Old Faithful erupting... coz in the past i know about it and seen it from my Secondary textbooks and pictures on the internet. Nothing beats the real deal. hahaha....
Old Faithful aiming for the skies
After Old Faithful finished erupting, we decided to walk around the Upper Geyser Basin. And its over here that u can see some really wonderful and beautiful thermal pools and also lots of geysers. Particularly 1 geyser, the Grand Geyser. Its eruption was longer and much majestic as compared to Old Faithful. However, the interval between eruption was much longer than Old Faithful. the 1st colurful pool we saw here was the Beauty Pool & Chromatic Pool. I tried my best to capture the pool emitting the strong and clear colours.
Anemone Geyser
Upper geyser basin
Grand Geyser
Chromatic Pool
After that we headed further north to view the famous "Morning Glory" Pool. All the while we can see that the skies is darkening. When we reached the Morning Glory Pool, I must say that this is one of most clear and prettiest pool. The blue colour was really very blue and clear. But the board that provides information of the pool states that the Morning Glory Pool is not as clear and vibrant as it used to be. Coz in the past, people had thrown rubbish, coins into the pool. Resulting in choking up the vent where the thermal springs was emerging from. Hence the park caretakers had to use machinery to siphoned out the debris....
Morning Glory Pool
We tried out best to capture the best photos... and soon... the rain came. and as time passed, the rain got heavier... and we had to walk about 35min-45min in the rain back to the car that was parked at the Old Faithful visitor carpark. Luckily we wore waterproof jackets, hence our upper bodies was relatively dry, however, our jeans clad legs were literally drenched. and worse of all, rain seeped into our shoes, hence our feet were also drenched (except for my sister who was wearing high cut hiking boots).
warning of wildlife. But we did not see any during our walk
Once we were back in the warm and safe confine of the car, we headed back to West Yellowstone Town. However, my sister said that we shld also pay a visit to the famous and iconic Prismatic Pool. I must say we were silly to have listened and believed her. Coz there was so much steam all over the place and rain was just pouring down like the buckets. I could not see any signs of the vibrant blue and yellow of the pool! In fact I couldn even make out the pool. So instead of being able to capture the pool, I took the board with the picture to compensate.
Prismatic Pool This was what I saw then. Couldn't make out the pool due to the steam
That the board with the real prismatic pool that we should see if there is no steam. Gotta get onto a plane to get this top down picture
I must say that today had been a pretty eventful day.... but it would have been even more eventful if it did not rain. But certain things just can be prevented or stopped. Tomorrow we'll be leaving Yellowstone and heading for Grand Teton National Park. Not sure when I'll have the opportunity to visit Yellowstone again. But definitely if i were to come here the next time, definitely Yellowstone National Park would have changed. Adios Yellowstone and Hola Grand Teton!
Bison crossing the road
Caldera Rim speckled with snow
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