Yellowstone in Winter - Part 6 - Thermal Features

Thursday, 25 January 2018

On our way from Mammoth to Old Faithful, we made short stops at Roaring Mountain and Blacksand Pool, and took more time at the Norris Geyser Basin.

Roaring Mountain is the first thermal feature you encounter heading south from Mammoth Hot Springs. The mountain is full of "roaring" fumaroles.

Steam escaping from the vents coats nearby trees with rime (frost, hoarfrost).

Our next stop was the Norris Geyser Basin. This is an overview of Porcelain Springs.

A milky turquoise pool in Porcelain Springs.

Frost and snow coat rocks near Steamboat Geyser. Steamboat is the tallest geyser in the park, with eruptions measured to 300 ft. It erupts at unpredictable intervals. The most recent major eruption was on 3 September 2014. 

More "snow caps" near Steamboat Geyser. I think these look like very large mushrooms.

A steam and water vent just below Steamboat Geyser. I loved the red color in the vent.

Trees with large accumulations of rime in the Norris Basin.

Our final stop before Old Faithful was Blacksand Pool, where we laid on the warmish ground to feel and hear distinct thumps as gases exploded below and made their way to the pool. Yellowstone uses all your senses (sight, sound, smell, touch -- taste isn't generally recommended!) to experience its wonders.

We circumnavigated Old Faithful while waiting for the eruption. The historic Old Faithful Inn in the background is closed in the winter.

The Chinese (Laundry) Spring is between Old Faithful and the Firehole River (in the background). The pool is just the right size and temperature for a laundry tub, and in the early days of the park, it was used to launder clothes.

Just before sunset, Old Faithful erupted. It was difficult to see the steam and water in a snowfall against a gray sky. 

Yellowstone in Winter - Part 5 - Wolves!

Thursday, 25 January 2018

Wolf-watching is one of the highlights of a trip to Yellowstone. Wolves were re-introduced to the park in 1995, and the current wolf population is around 100. We had the opportunity to see wolves three times, but today's view was by far the best. Yesterday the Wapiti Lake Pack had taken down a bison calf near the road. Yesterday evening there were reports of 17 wolves feeding on the carcass. Today we saw three wolves eating on the remains. We watched for about 30 minutes until the last wolf wandered off into the forest and out of sight.

Wolves always bring out a large group to watch their behavior. Spotting scopes and mega-lenses are out in force.

A bald eagle flew in in hopes of getting a bit of the carcass.

One of three wolves we saw here.

The wolf on the right is a yearling and was recently fitted with a tracking collar.

The wolves didn't seem to mind that ravens were also feeding on the carcass.

There's still meat and bone marrow to be had.

Gnawing on a bone.

The carcass is just about picked clean.

Moving on.

Yellowstone in Winter - Part 4 - Getting Around and Waterfowl

Thursday, 25 January 2018

Today we traveled by snow coach from Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful. Both the lodging facilities at Old Faithful and the transport mode have vastly improved over 1978!

Yellowstone winter transportation, 1978 style.

Yellowstone winter transportation 2018 style. The 4-wheel track system makes it possible to travel on snow-covered roads.

Alternatively, some vehicles use over-sized snow tires for winter transport. This truck is used to transport luggage and supplies between Mammoth and Old Faithful. Guided snowmobile tours are also popular. Only 4-cycle snowmobiles are allowed in the park: they are much quieter and much cleaner than 2-cycle snowmobiles.

Electric Peak, as seen from the Swan Lake pull-out is the highest peak in the park at 11,969 ft.

A trumpeter swan with cygnet (immature) and a duck swim in a bend of the Gibbon River.

Common goldeneye ducks swimming in the Firehole River. These are all females.

The American dipper is a passerine (perching bird or song bird) that is adapted to eat insect larvae that live in cold fast-flowing mountain streams. As you can see in this video, its feathers are so highly oiled that water literally rolls over the bird.

Yellowstone in Winter - Part 3 - First Day Wildlife

Wednesday, 24 January 2018

We saw six of the eight ungulates (hoofed mammals) that inhabit the area: bison, elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer (black-tailed deer), white-tailed deer, and bighorn sheep. We didn't see moose or mountain goats today (but those come in later days).

We saw pronghorn antelopes just before entering the park. After that, we never saw another one. They like to spend the winters in place that have the least snow.

Pronghorns are beautiful creatures, with striking marks in their fur.

Their name comes from the forward-facing spike on their horns.

Elk are fairly common throughout the area. This is one of the few times we had a chance to see a large male at a fairly close distance.

Bison are the most common large animal in the park. Large males can weigh up to 2200 lbs. It seems that bison really like to travel on roads and pay no attention to vehicles. (Of course, all wildlife has the right-of-way.)

Bison can make very effective road blocks.

Although bison look docile, they do charge and can run as fast as 35 mph. You don't mess with bison!

Bison like the warmth of the thermal areas. Here they are wandering around Canary Spring in Mammoth Hot Springs. However, they really don't understand how thin and unstable the ground can be. More than a few hot springs contain bison bones where a bison has broken through the ground and fallen into scalding hot water. Bison may have an easier life in the warmer areas, but the silica in the plants around the springs grind down their teeth early, and many springs have excessive fluoride, which in the quantities found in the park can weaken bones and teeth. As a result, they live shorter lives than bison in other areas.

It's not uncommon to find other animals (pronghorn here, but also elk and moose) in the middle of bison herds.

Sunset over the Blacktail Plateau.

Yellowstone in Winter - Part 2 - Mammoth Hot Springs

Wednesday, 24 January 2018

Mammoth Hot Springs lives up to its name. There are three sets of terraces: lower, main, and upper. Today we walked most of the main and lower terraces. Unlike much of the rest of Yellowstone, these hot springs come up through limestone and deposit travertine. The terraces can build up to 22 cm (8 1/2 inches) a year. The water flow is constantly changing. Springs go dry, new ones pop up, and old ones revive all the time. It's never the same place twice.

Relatively new terraces forming at the top of the main terraces.

Canary Spring. The next few photos are closer views of different features of this spring. The colors are mostly due to bacteria, archaea, and algae that grow in different temperature waters.

Terraces about mid-way down the spring.

The overhang at the top of the terrace.

Water drips from the left-hand side of the previous photo.

The right-most portion seems to have dried up. While the "fangs" look like icicles, they are really stalactites formed by the drips of calcite-laden water.

Moving on from Canary Spring, we walked by Jupiter and Mound Terraces that pretty much merge together.

A top-down view of the terraces.

A close look at a terrace.

As the water paths change, trees get covered with calcite and enveloped in the travertine terrace. 

Palette Spring is one of the lower terraces at Mammoth.

Palette Spring has also enveloped trees.

At the bottom of the springs, along the road, stands Liberty Cap -- a long-dormant spring that built up a cone.

Yellowstone in Winter - Part 1 - Entering Yellowstone

Wednesday, 24 January 2018

We took a one-week tour of Yellowstone National Park with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Yellowstone hosts over 4 million visitors each year, but the vast majority of them come in the warmer months (May through September). During the winter, several park roads are completely closed, but most of them are "groomed" for snow machine travel -- no regular vehicles allowed.

This is a special visit for us because we went to Yellowstone in December 1978/January 1979 on our honeymoon. A number of things have changed -- most notably, us(!), The lodging and food have vastly improved over the years. But perhaps the biggest change is in camera equipment. Last time we were here we had film cameras, and had to ration our photos carefully to fit our budget. Now with digital photography, it's "click, click, click" and just delete the mistakes and bad photos. Not to mention that you get instantaneous feedback on how well your photos are turning out.

The Paradise Valley lies between Livingston, Montana, and Yellowstone National Park.

I liked the disturbance in the clouds above the mountain.

A closer look at the clouds in the photo above that seem to reflect the underlying topography.

Although Yellowstone became the world's first national park in 1872, the official arch entrance wasn't built until 1903.

The inscriptions on the arch.

A view of the Absaroka Mountains as we enter Yellowstone.

We stayed the first night (and the fourth through seventh nights) at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. This is an overview of the hotel area from the top of the main terraces of the hot springs.

Next to the hotel is the Fort Yellowstone area. It was originally built as a military fort (the military ran the park for a number of years before the National Park Service was created), but it's now used for administrative offices and staff residences.

LOVE at Humpback Bridge

I had about 30 minutes to spare between appointments in Covington earlier this week, so I decided to stop by Humpback Bridge. This arched covered bridge just west of Covington is one of the area's landmarks.

The bridge itself is in pretty good shape. There are picnic tables on both sides of Dunlap Creek, and in the summer it's a favorite spot for water play.

The LOVE artwork is new since the last time we visited. The "L" is made from local bricks, the "O" is a gear from an old paper machine from the WestRock Covington mill, the "V" is a wonderful sycamore tree, and the the "E" is made from railroad ties.

For more about "Virginia is for Lovers" (which goes back almost 50 years now) and other "LOVE" art around Virginia, visit the Virginia Tourism website.