Yellowstone National Park Review

Yellowstone is legendary. As the nation's first National Park, it sets a very high standard for exploring wildlife and natural attractions.

In our case, it lived up to it.

We were on a coach tour from Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. It started about 8:00 am and ended at about 4:00 pm.

Along the way, we stopped at the West Thumb, where we saw small geysers and bubbling mud holes on the edge of massive Yellowstone Lake.

The Park Service provided walkways over the area of the hot springs, so we could see them closely without the possibilty of scalding. Park guides cautioned us to say on the walkway. Even though the ground looks firm, there are places where the crust is very thin and a foorfall could go through into a steaming hot spring.

From West Thumb, we visited Great Prismatic Spring. This is a wide pool of steaming blue water with streams of thermophiles running down to rivers and leaving vibrant colors behind.

From there, it was Firehole Spring, a park and picnic area at Madison, where we enjoyed a box lunch provided by the tour operator. We also saw a very large herd of bison, including calves.

Of course the highlight of the tour was Old Faithful, the geyser and the lodge. The geyser spouted on schedule to a height of 60 feet. It was an amazing site.

Nearly as a amazing is the Old Faithful Lodge. It was built from local timbers with a soaring cathedral ceiling inside. Balconies with railings of logs picked for their curving shapes overlook the lobby. The cynic in me was equally amazed by the crowds moving through the lodge lobby. It resembled an anthill more than anything else. We were glad we were there just to see Old Faithful geyser and not to stay.

There is a porch from which one can watch the geyser erupt. That was where we sat, in relative comfort.

On our way back to Grand Teton we passed elk and a grizzly bear just off the road.

In my opinion, no one should leave this earth without have seen this earthly jewel.  Make a point of it.