YellowStone National Park - America's Best Idea

It was finally the long awaited weekend. After 4 months of hibernation, it was finally spring and I have my chance at the outdoors. My friends were coming over here to Boise, my place and we would be heading over to Yellowstone National Park which is just around a 7 hours drive from Boise.


Yellowstone National Park , the worlds first national park, is one of the wonders of Mother Nature. This place has half of world's geothermal features, numerous waterfalls, abundant wildlife and a Canyon too. All of these with a active volcano deep beneath it. Though end of May is still a season, with chances of lot of snow still remaining in most parts of the park,this is the best time of the year to visit yellowstone. Why? In late spring, not only the roads open, but you get to see a lot of wildlife as there are still snow up the mountains and wildlife  come to the road sides for food,  making it an excellent time to view them.
We reached Yellowstone on Saturday evening our first day. Contrary to the scary weather reports, that day was a bright sunny day. Our first stop for the day was the Upper Geyser basin at Yellowstone, which houses the the famous Old Faithful Geyser. Old Faithful Geyser is one of the tallest(not the tallest), geyser, which can be predicted. This erupts around every 1.5 hrs and its frequency is dependent on the time and duration of the last eruption. True to their prediction, Old faithful erupted exactly at 8:45 PM as predicted. It was a spectacular sight to see water and steam boiling at 1000 degrees , gushing throught the air.  We then moved on to The Old Faithful Inn for a short view at the age old Lodge. Built entirely of wood in 1905, this Inn  is a marvel that you ought to see. If you pocket is fat, book a room and stay for the night there. The Inn has a lobby, that gives unrestricted views of Old Faithful Geyser.
We then moved on to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. Though it had started to darken by this time, we were able to see, the beauty and awesomeness of this great place. The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the United States. This huge pool of water, has a varied colors that is rendered by growth of bacteria at those temperatures, forming what is called as the Microbial mats. With having seen the two most important landmarks of the southwest part of yellowstone. , we headed to West Yellowstone Montana , just outside the Yellowstone National Park for our night accomodation.
The next day morning with a light snowfall outside, we started to see the remaining of Yellowstone, through the Grand Loop Road.

We started on a along the road that is called the Grand Loop Road.  This road was first taken by the early vistors to the park, and still is the best and the quick way to cover all the major attractions of the park.The first stop the day was at the at the Artist Paint Pots on the way to Canyon Village Vistor Center. After a brief hike of about 0.3 miles, we reached at the spot where mud boils . There are in general four types of geothermal wonders in Yellowstone , first the Hot Springs Hot springs are pools of hot water that have seeped to the Earth's surface to form small ponds -much like a spa tub. Second is the Geysers. Geysers are bursts of steam and extremely hot water through the pores in the rocks. The third one are the Fumaroles, or steam vents, are hot springs with a lot of heat, but so little water that it all boils away before reaching the surface.  The fourth are the mud pots where hot water is limited and hydrogen sulfide gas is present (emitting the "rotten egg" smell common to thermal areas), sulfuric acid is generated. The acid dissolves the surrounding rock into fine particles of silica and clay that mix with what little water there is to form the seething and bubbling mudpots. Artist Paint pots are of the fourth kind . Due to microbial reactions these come in a colorful variety. After having stopped there, we then started off to the Canyon Vistior Centre for a brief lunch. 

     From there we started on to the Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way there we were lucky enough to see a Grizzly bear Cub, grazing the pastures not covered by snow. Mammoth hot springs are a fusion of nature art work done by limestone and water. These have kept changing through ages and continue to change. There are a quite a number of terraces that are formed due to this reaction and an extensive trail system through them would help you cover them in around 2 
hours.

        From the Mammoth Hot Springs we moved to the Canyon Village to visit the Majestic Grand Canyon of Yellowstone from its many vantage points.  As you drive the North Rim Drive and the South Rim Drive near the Canyon Village Visitor center, you can visit various view point that gives you breathtaking view of the the Canyon , the Upper Falls and the Lower falls.The feather on the cap of this drive is the Artist Point, a view of the Upper falls, which has been immortalized in many paintings and had impressed the Congress to create a national park out of this place. 


We then moved on our way to the the Grand YellowStone Lake through the Hayden Valley. Hayden Valley apart from Lamar Valley is one of the places where wildlife are in abundant and there is a good chance that  you might encounter a elk, bear , a bison or a fowl. 
We stopped briefly at what I believe was the most unbelievable thing that i have ever seen.The Sulphur Caldron. Yellowstone’s Sulphur Caldron is a geothermal feature that broils with acid waters and bubbling mud. It is literally a pool of Sulphuric Acid,  that impressed me a lot.Very near to it was also the Dragon mouth Spring that emits steam of a small cave like structure giving it its famous name. We then continued on our way to the Grand Yellowstone Lake. On May 30th 2011, it was still frozen and covered in snow. After a brief break at the Grand Lake Visitor center for a coffee break, we finally came to an end of the Grand Loop tour of Yellowstone. We headed off the  Jackson Hole for the night, after which we would be returning to Boise the next day.


Quick Tips on Yellowstone:

• Most people coming to US do not bother to visit this place. To my knowledge, this is the best place ever in this country as like Niagara Falls. DO NOT  MISS IT if you are visiting here. You will see sights that you have or never ever will see in your life again
• During Summer (July-August-September) are impossibly crowded. You can wait for hours in traffic jams and spend a fortune for lodging. If possible avoid this time. Fall is the perfect time for yellow stone and if you dont mind the snow, Spring(April-May). 
• Give atleast 2 days to visit this place.  You can club it with a visit to Grand Teton national Park which is pretty near.
• Accomodations can be done inside the park(usually are booked a year ago) or at West Yellowstone MT near the western entrance or at Gardiner Montana near the north entrance. Jackson Hole is a cheaper option about 1 hr drive from the south entrance.
• Remember no amount of photographs or videos can prepare you for what you will see here. Things you see here are guaranteed to blow your mind off. Yellowstone has every thing to offer, from Canyons to Geysers, from Wildlife to  Water Falls. Go on take a trip of your lifetime.