Our Day in Yellowstone

I didn't get to post an entry last night because I could not keep an internet connection at our KOA near Yellowstone Park. So I decided to call it an early night and get caught up on my sleep. As I write, we are in Missoula, Montana and have had a long day visiting Glacier National Park. But more about that in the next post. Also from now on when I add new pictures to the slide show, I have decided to put the new ones first so viewers don't have to go through all the old ones. If you watch, when you get to a picture of Jeryl in the red jeep, that is the beginning of the "old" slide show. I have not added any new pictures yet but will try to do so on Saturday night. So just watch the video below for now.

We stayed Wednesday and Thursday night at our KOA near the west entrance to Yellowstone. On Wednesday we saw Old Faithful erupt. It was pretty neat to witness something I have only seen on TV or in movies my entire life. Here's a little info about the geyser.

Eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of boiling water to a height of 106–185 feet lasting from 1.5 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 145 feet. The highest recorded eruption was 185 feet high. Eruptions often occur about 90 minutes apart, but this interval can range from 45 to 125 minutes on occasion. More than 137,000 eruptions have been recorded. Old Faithful is not the tallest or largest geyser in the park; that title belongs to the less predictable Steamboat Geyser.

There is a seating area about halfway around the geyser and when it gets close to time for an eruption, the seats fill quickly. We sat and waited about 20 minutes before the "show." It was well worth the wait and pretty exciting.

On Thursday we also came back and spent the entire day in the park, visiting other less-known geysers and fumeroles and mud pits. We drove about 100 miles that day, stopping for picture moments and to ooh and awe along with everyone else at what Mother Nature had created. We also saw an abundance of wildlife and, like everyone else, we stopped our car to take pictures of the buffalo, moose, elk or deer. Another thing I noticed in the river as we drove along were the fly fishermen. They looked just like a magazine picture in their waders, funny hats, casting their lines far and wide in the hopes of snagging the perfect fish. It looked like alot of fun.

We also went back and got another "show" from Old Faithful and this time I videoed it for your viewing enjoyment. So what follows is a video of many of the natural features we saw during our visit. It might be a bit long but I hope you will have time to watch it. Until tomorrow, happy trails.....R & J