Tag: Yellowstone National Park

American Northwest Trip, 2017: Virginia Cascades and Firehole Canyon in Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

These photos are from two drives I took off the beaten path in Yellowstone National Park, both narrow, one-way roads along the sides of canyons. The first was the Virginia Cascades Drive, which does not appear to get much traffic, but still enough cars to make it difficult to pull over for good views of the falls, so the highlight of this drive ended up being my stop at the pretty, quiet meadow above the falls. The second drive was Firehole Canyon, which is a bit more popular but still relatively quiet compared to the main attractions of the park, with more places to pull over for beautiful views of the canyon rapids and falls. There is also a swimming area here, though I did not partake.

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Virginia Cascades Falls
Firehole Falls
Firehole Falls
Firehole Falls
Firehole Falls

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

These photos are from my hike of the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, a geyser-rich geothermal area that includes the Old Faithful, Beehive, and Castle geysers, along with more than four-hundred others. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, walking among all of these cones, boiling springs, bursting geysers, and steam plumes really drives home the reality that you are standing on top of a super volcano. I didn’t have time to explore the entire basin, but I saw a good portion of it. Toward the end of my hike I caught the eruption of the Lion Geyser from a distance, documented in a couple of the photos.

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Castle Geyser (background), Lion Geyser group (foreground)
Lion Geyser (left)
Sleeping bison.
Boiling water in geyser.
Spasmodic Geyser
Firehole River and geysers in background.
Firehole River, geysers, and Old Faithful Lodge
Firehole River and numerous geysers visible along the banks.
Boiling hot spring.
Castle Geyser
Hot spring.
Castle Geyser
Castle Geyser with boiling smaller geyser in foreground.
Eruption of Lion Geyser.
Eruption of Lion Geyser.
A brief green respite before hitting the mostly barren basin.
Hot spring with Old Faithul Inn in the background.
Old Faithful between eruptions.
Castle Geyser
Beehive Geyser
Minor eruption (foreground), Firehole River (background)
Castle Geyser and Firehole River

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Old Faithful

Michael Rappa

These photos are from my two visits to Old Faithful to watch the famous geyser erupt on its reliable schedule. I took shots at various stages of eruption and the final one has a nice rainbow alongside the geyser plume. The birds in some of the photos were actually very large, which helps put the size of the eruption in perspective.

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Large crowd gathering for the eruption.
The eruption grows…
…and grows.
Peak eruption.
Eruption waning.
Probably wouldn’t want to be standing under that shower of steam.
Steaming water, no big deal for this guy.
Keeping in mind that these are very large birds helps provide a sense of scale to the size of the eruption.
Looks like a steaming tea kettle.
Old Faithful and a rainbow towering over the crowd in the distance.

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

These photos are from the Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest thermal region in Yellowstone. Walking among an abundance of craters, geysers, and steam plumes really drives home the reality that you are standing on top of a super volcano, and the beautiful blue pools and multicolored springs give the place an otherworldly feel.

This is the area of the park where a man died the year before my visit when he fell into one of the springs and his body dissolved. He had left the boardwalk to engage in “hot potting,” an illegal activity in which people look for hot springs to bathe in. He slipped and fell while taking the spring’s temperature and was never seen again. So, if you ever visit the thermal areas of Yellowstone, you might want to stay on the boardwalks–they were put there for a reason.

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Around Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

This is a collection of miscellaneous photos from my visit to Yellowstone that didn’t fit into the themes of any of my previous posts, including various wildlife encounters, landmarks, scenic pullouts, and some buildings. The shots featured here run the gamut from the Montana to the Wyoming ends of the park.

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The famous Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance.
Roadside bison encounter.
Roadside bison encounter.
Roadside bison encounter.
Just outside Lamar Valley.
Cars look like ants next to this rock.
Tatonka.
Squirrel!
Large bird in tree near Norris Geyser Basin.
Lake Yellowstone Hotel
My home for the final three nights in Yellowstone.
One photo to commemorate the half-dozen times I crossed the Continental Divide at various locations on this trip.
Old Faithful Inn
Old Faithful Inn
Kepler Cascades
This beautiful specimen was standing right in front of the lobby door of my hotel and then dashed off as soon as I opened the door. I should have taken a picture of him through the door when he was still just a couple of feet from me.
One good thing about it raining upon my arrival: I was able to get iconic shots at the entrance without other people around. One bad thing about the rain: I was only able to take one quick shot of the entrance sign that didn’t come out very sharp.

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Yellowstone’s Mud Volcano Area

Michael Rappa

The Mud Volcano Area of Yellowstone National Park is filled with hot springs and boiling pools of acid and mud, as well as the unmistakable rotten-egg odor of sulfur that bombards you as soon as you exit the car. The sulfur smell is abundant throughout the geyser basins and hot spring/caldron areas of the park. Nearly all of the pools of liquid in these photos would dissolve you instantly were you unfortunate enough to stumble into them.

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Butterfly (center). Also a bee to the upper left.
Thick, boiling mud of the Grizzly Fumarole.
Sulphur Caldron Overlook
Mud Volcano
Dragon’s Mouth Spring. It actually does look like a dragon’s mouth from this angle.
Dragon’s Mouth Spring
Mud Caldron
Mud Caldron

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Lamar Valley, Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

On my first day in Yellowstone National Park I detoured to Lamar Valley to take these photos before checking in to my hotel. Lamar Valley is supposed to be another prime wildlife viewing area, but in my case it proved to be less fruitful than Hayden Valley. Nevertheless, I did see a couple of bison herds here. On my way back out of the valley I stopped for a few shots of the Yellowstone River.

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Yellowstone Lake

Michael Rappa

These photos are from different areas of Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. The West Thumb photos were taken near where I stayed in Grant Village and the Lake Butte Overlook photos were taken on my way out of the park on the day I drove across Wyoming into South Dakota.

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Yellowstone Lake: West Thumb
Yellowstone Lake: West Thumb
Yellowstone Lake: West Thumb
Yellowstone Lake: West Thumb
Yellowstone Lake: Lake Butte Overlook
Yellowstone Lake: Lake Butte Overlook
Yellowstone Lake: Lake Butte Overlook
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake: West Thumb

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Hayden Valley, Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

These photos are from my visits to where the buffalo roam: Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park. There were herds of bison everywhere I looked—it’s easy to see why Hayden Valley is sometimes referred to as the American Serengeti. On a good day you can also see many other animals passing through the valley, but I wasn’t lucky enough to spot a wolf or bear. When shooting bison (or any wildlife) it’s helpful to have a good zoom lens because you definitely don’t want to get too close to them. They look mild-mannered enough but will charge you if they feel threatened. I saw some people with smartphones getting way too close for comfort.

I went a little nuts with the photos (what can I say, I love animals)—I took so many that it was quite a task to cull them down to the smaller batch I’m sharing here. I forgot to switch over to shutter priority for the action shots, so they’re not nearly as crisp as I would have liked, but I still managed to get some decent ones. In addition to the bison photos I captured some avian wildlife (including a great blue heron) and snapped a few landscapes along the Yellowstone River.

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Buffalo don’t give a shit.
Dust like this sometimes kicks up when they’re fighting. I thought I captured a face-off on camera, but I must have missed it.
I caught this guy doing a lawn dive.
Time for a drink.
Time for a swim.
The only manly way to shoot animals.

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Mammoth, Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

These photos are from the town of Mammoth in Northern Yellowstone, where I stopped for dinner shortly after entering the park. The main attraction here is the hot springs. I didn’t have time to visit the springs but I took a few photos of them from a distance.

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I had dinner in this restaurant.
The hot springs.
The hot springs.

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