Yellowstone Trip

From Sept. 20 through Oct. 2 2008 my sister, her husband and I took a trip to Yellowstone.

The Big Picture	I met Bill and Mary Ann at the Bozeman airport on Sept. 20. We spent 2 nights in Bozeman, then drove down 191, entering Yellowstone near the town of West Yellowstone. We drove past Madison, Old Faithful, and West Thumb to Yellowstone Lake where we spent 3 nights at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We then drove past Canyon Junction, Norris Junction and Madison to Old Faithful, where we spent 4 nights at the Old Faithful Inn. We then drove back past Madison and Norris Junction to Mammoth Hot Springs where we spent 2 nights. We then drove back up 89 to Bozeman, where we spent our last night, and then flew out the next morning.
Bozeman	Bill, Mary Ann, and I met in Bozeman. Here Bill and Mary Ann have their picture taken with a local.
3 Forks Area	Just west of Bozeman is the 3 Forks Area where the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin rivers join to form the Missouri.
3 Forks Area
3 Forks Area
3 Forks Area
3 Forks Area
3 Forks Area
3 Forks Area
Bill, Mary Ann, and Mike	Here Bill and Mary Ann pose with Mike the dinasour at the Museum of the Rockies natural history museum in Bozeman.
Mike and Me
Heading toward Yellowstone	We are heading south on 191 towards the the west entrance of Yellowstone.
Big Sky	We stopped at the Big Sky resort area.
Big Sky
Big Sky
Big Sky
Yellowstone Park Map	This is the park map for the upper part of Yellowstone.
Yellowstone Park Map	This is the park map for the middle part of Yellowstone.
Yellowstone West Entrance	This is the Madison River as we enter Yellowstone from the west entrance. We just came from lunch in West Yellowstone, just outside the park entrance. We will drive past Madison, Old Faithful, and West Thumb to Yellowstone Lake and the Lake Yellowstone Hotel.
Yellowstone West Entrance
Yellowstone West Entrance
Yellowstone West Entrance	This is the first of many buffalo we saw, grazing by the Madison River.
Yellowstone West Entrance
Yellowstone West Entrance
Midway Geyser Basin	This was our first of several visits of Midway Geyser Basin on our way to Yellowstone Lake.
Yellowstone Lake	This is a evening shot of Yellowstone Lake at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We have just arrived at the end of our first day in the park, and will spend 3 nights here.
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone River	Here we are at the Yellowstone River coming out of Yellowstone Lake. This is the morning of our second day in the park and we are heading for the canyon area.
Yellowstone River Canyon
Canyon Map
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls	This is a shot of the Yellowstone Canyon Lower Falls from an observation area about 1 mile down the canyon.
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls
Yellowstone River Canyon	This is a shot down the canyon from the same observation area.
Yellowstone River Canyon
Yellowstone River Canyon	During our time in the park the weather was clear and cold. Here Bill and Mary Ann are bundled up with the lower falls in the background.
Yellowstone River Canyon Upper Falls	This is a shot of the upper falls from a trail we took between the upper falls and observation area below the lower falls.
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls	There is a side trail into the canyon from the main trail which I took. This is a shot of a rainbow formed by the lower falls.
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls	The trail doesn't go all the way to the river. This is a shot down canyon from the end of the trail.
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls	This is a shot of the falls from the bottom of the trail.
Yellowstone River Canyon Lower Falls	This is another shot from the trail bottom.
Yellowstone River Canyon Upper Falls	Bill and Mary Ann pose at the rapids just above the upper falls.
Yellowstone River Canyon
Yellowstone River Canyon
Mud Volcano Area	We stopped at the Mud Volcano Area on our way back to Lake Yellowstone Hotel from the canyon.
Dragon's Mouth Spring In Mud Volcano Area
Dragon's Mouth Spring
Mud Volcano Area
Mud Volcano Area
Mud Volcano Area
Lake Yellowstone Hotel	We just arrived back at the hotel from the canyon trip. This is one of 2 black tail deer that were grazing in the area.
Lake Yellowstone Hotel
Lake Yellowstone Hotel
Lake Yellowstone Hotel	We are just leaving Lake Yellowstone Hotel on our 3rd day in the park and have encountered a buffalo herd. We will take a day trip South to the Grand Tetons, and then back.
West Thumb Geyser Basin	We stopped at West Thumb Geyser on the south end of Yellowstone Lake.
West Thumb Geyser Basin
West Thumb Geyser Basin
West Thumb Geyser Basin
West Thumb Geyser Basin
Elk at West Thumb Geyser Basin	This small herd of Elk was the first we saw and we were quite impressed. Little did we know about the Elk we would see later.
Elk at West Thumb Geyser Basin
West Thumb Geyser Basin
Lewis Lake	We had a picnic lunch at Lewis Lake, on the way south to the Grand Tetons.
Lewis Falls
Lewis River	This is the river just below the falls.
Lewis River
Grand Tetons	This is a shot of Jackson Lake with the Grand Tetons in the back taken from the north end of the lake.
Grand Tetons	These are aspen by a picnic area we stopped at.
Grand Tetons	This is another shot of Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons taken from the picnic area.
Grand Tetons
Moose at the Grand Tetons	We saw this Moose and her calf from the balcony of a hotel overlooking the Jackson Lake.
Grand Tetons
Grand Tetons
Jenny Lake and the Grand Tetons	We took a small side road to Jenny Lake which is south of Jackson Lake and at the southern end of the Grand Tetons.
Jenny Lake and the Grand Tetons	From Jenny Lake we headed back north to Yellowstone and the Lake Yellowstone Hotel.
Back In Yellowstone
Lake Yellowstone Hotel
Leaving Lake Yellowstone Hotel	This is our final morning at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We will go past Canyon Junction, Norris Junction and Madison to Old Faithful and the Old Faithful Inn.
Mary Ann by the River
Wildlife
More Wildlife
Virginia Cascade Falls
Virginia Cascade Area
Virginia Cascade Area Picnic	We had another picnic lunch by a meadow near the falls and these 2 birds perched in the tree next to us looking for handouts.
Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin
Main Basin at Norris Geyser Basin	We stopped at Norris Geyser Basin, on the way to Old Faithful.
Main Basin at Norris Geyser Basin
Main Basin at Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin
Steamboat Geyer at Norris Geyser Basin
Artist's Paint Pot
Gibbon Falls
Elk on the Road
Old Faithful Area Map
Old Faithful Area Map
Old Faithful	We have arrived at Old Faithful Inn where we will spend 4 nights. This is our first view of many of Old Faithful erupting.
Midway Geyser Basin	We are back to Midway.
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Firehole Lake Drive
Firehole Lake Drive
Great Fountain Geyser
Firehole Lake Drive
Hot Lake on Firehole Lake Drive
Firehole Lake Drive
Fountain Paint Pot
Fountain Paint Pot
Fountain Paint Pot
Fountain Paint Pot
Fountain Paint Pot
Fountain Paint Pot
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Old Faithful	Old Faithful Inn has a second story deck with a view of Old Faithful.
Beehive Geyser	Beehive Geyser sits across the Firehole River from the Old Faithful Inn. I saw it erupt while sitting on the upper deck at the inn, and it shot up almost as high as Old Faithful.
Old Faithful Area
Firehole River in Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Inn
Old Faithful
Biscuit Basin
Biscuit Basin Mystic Falls Trail
Mystic Falls on Biscuit Basin Trail
Mystic Falls on Biscuit Basin Trail
Biscuit Basin Mystic Falls Trail
Biscuit Basin Mystic Falls Trail	The trail climbed up a ridge and gave a spectacular view of Upper Geyser Basin.
Biscuit Basin Mystic Falls Trail
Biscuit Basin Mystic Falls Trail
Biscuit Basin
Biscuit Basin
Black Sand Basin
Black Sand Basin
Black Sand Basin
Emerald Pool at Black Sand Basin
Emerald Pool at Black Sand Basin
Black Sand Basin
Black Sand Basin
Old Faithful Inn
Mary Ann at Old Faithful Inn
Castle Geyser in Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Grotto Geyser in Old Faithful Area
Grotto Geyser in Old Faithful Area
Grotto Geyser in Old Faithful Area
Morning Glory Pool in Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Midway Geyser Basin Hike	I took a day hike in the Midway Geyser area.
Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Fairy Falls on Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Fairy Falls on Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Fairy Falls on Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Fairy Falls on Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Fairy Falls on Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Midway Geyser Basin Hike	At the furtherest point on my hike I ended up at the spring that was the source of a stream the trail had followed. It consisted of a small pool containing a spring that would erupt every few minutes.
Midway Geyser Basin Hike
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful Area
Old Faithful
Sunset Lake at Black Sand Basin	We returned to Black Sand Basin.
Emerald Pool at Black Sand Basin
Emerald Pool at Black Sand Basin
Elk at Black Sand Basin
Elk at Black Sand Basin
Elk at Black Sand Basin
Elk at Black Sand Basin
Elk at Black Sand Basin
Old Faithful
Firehole Canyon Drive	We have checked out of Old Faithful Inn and are on our way to Mammoth Hot Springs by way of Madison and Norris Junction. Here we are taking a small side road through Firehole Canyon.
Firehole Canyon Drive
Firehole Falls
Firehole Canyon Drive
Twin Lakes
Gibbon Falls
Artist's Paintpots
Artist's Paintpots
Artist's Paintpots
Artist's Paintpots
Roaring Mountain
Obsidian Cliff
Sheepeater Cliff
Sheepeater Cliff
Gardner River at Sheepeater Cliff
Gallatin Range
Gallatin Range
Golden Gate Falls
Golden Gate
Golden Gate
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs	We have arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs and are taking the first of several trips through the Terrace.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Undine Falls	We are taking a day trip to the Tower Fall Area and this is our first stop.
Wraith Falls	We took a small trail off the main road to Wraith Falls.
Blacktail Plateau Drive	We took a dirt side road that parallels the main road.
Blacktail Plateau Drive
Blacktail Plateau Drive
Blacktail Plateau Drive
Petrified Tree	We are back on the main road and stop at a petrified tree.
Petrified Tree
Yellowstone River in Tower Fall Area
Tower Fall Area
Tower Fall Area
Mountain Goats in Tower Fall Area
Mountain Goats in Tower Fall Area
Mountain Goats in Tower Fall Area
Mountain Goats in Tower Fall Area
Mountain Goats in Tower Fall Area
Tower Fall Area
Tower Fall	We took a trail down to the Yellowstone River. About half way down you can see the falls. There is a side trail leading to the falls, but it was closed.
Yellowstone River Below Tower Fall	I went down to the river on the Tower Fall trail.
Yellowstone River Below Tower Fall
Yellowstone River Below Tower Fall
Undine Falls	We again stopped at Undine Falls on our way back to Mammoth Hot Springs.
Mammoth Hot Springs	We are back at Mammoth Hot Springs and walk up to the terrace from town.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs	This is a good view of the town from the terrace. Mammoth Hot Springs is very close to the north entrance of the park.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs	The town is full of Elk. There is a herd of at least 100 that roams through the town at will.
Mammoth Hot Springs	This is a small elk directly outside the door of the small bungalow that we stayed at.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Leaving Yellowstone	This is the gateway at the north end of the park as seen from the small town of Gardiner, just outside the park.
Outside Bozeman	We returned to Bozeman on our last full day of the trip. We took a short side trip into the local mountains, following a mountain valley. The next day we flew out early, Bill and Mary Ann heading east and me heading west. This was a spectacular trip which Bill and Mary Ann did a great job of organizing.

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