Upon entering the park we stopped for pictures of the Yellowstone Park sign. We had done some pre-planning for the Yellowstone part of our trip but we still didn't know exactly what to expect. We drove along the road stopping at a bunch of sights. First up was a small waterfall. Yellowstone is full of waterfalls. These waterfalls are one tell tale sign that you are in an area formed by a volcano. As we continued we saw a giant elk (although it was sitting in the woods so you couldn't get a good picture), tons of bison, a gray fox, a couple of bear jams (gridlock caused by a bear sighting), and the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This is where our Yellowstone adventure truly started.
For those of you that don't know, Yellowstone sits on top of a huge volcano. Yes, you read that right. Hot lave flows 3-8 miles underground a majority of the park. The steam escapes in hot spring, mud pots, geysers, and steam vents. All of which were on display at the West Thumb Geyser basin. We had read about this basin in our tour book but nothing prepares you for the real thing. The colors are beautiful and it's so neat to see these pools of water bubbling. The neat thing about this geyser basin is that it is right next to Yellowstone Lake. If you look closely at the lake's shoreline you can see underground hot springs. This is one of the many reasons swimming in the lake is not encouraged. The cause of the beautiful colors is bacteria that can sustain life at extremely hot temperatures.
After touring the basin we continued driving along the Lake. We found a cool sandbar where you could walk out into the Lake. It was there that we really got the sense that we were on a volcano. The sand is black and there are lots of rocks that could only come from a volcano.
We continued on our travels, stopping at Lake Village for lunch. Along the way we saw lots of beautiful views. We drove all the way to Canyon Village, where we would be staying for two nights. The Village area is bustling and the Lodge itself is a blast from the past adding to it's charm. We were hungry but we decided to go to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone while it was still light out. We hiked down about 600 feet on a switchback trail to the base of the Lower Falls. Wow is all I can say! The power of the water rushing over the falls was amazing. We stayed for a quite a while because we were both in awe.
After hiking back up we headed back to the Lodge to have dinner in the Lodge's dining room. We both ordered the bison ravioli...delicious! Then we headed back to our small, but very manageable, cabin. We woke up in the middle of the night freezing because we had left the windows open. Woops! It had gotten all the way down into the 30s.
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