Crinkly's Good Ole American Family Road Trip Day 10: Yellowstone stay-cation day 1 (9/5/15)

After having a quick breakfast, we head into the park to check out the thermal activity along Firehole drive/river. We first stop at Fountain Paint pot where we walk the path and check out some of the mud pots and some hot springs that change the color of the ground due to the minerals being deposited.

Crinkly and I about to go into the steam lands. Wish us luck.

  

Crinkly thinking about going swimming. wouldnt let him as I couldnt save him if something happened.

Look at the gradation that results from the heat.

Kinda a cool looking pool. Water so hot it cant be smooth.

How amazing does this look? Desolate, yes but in its own right, beautiful.

Ever wanted to see a hot spring erupt? Here ya go.

My amazing parents reading the plaque together. You ever wanted to know what rock stars look like, look no further.

Crinkly, his friend Sam, and myself enjoying the warmth of the steam room.

Crinkly is ready for his steam bath.

Crinkly is starting to disappear as this steam gets thick

Thank you wind for saving us from the steam clouds.

Steam coming from everywhere!!!!

This thermal pool seems to be getting close to that road. 

The steam fields. Pretty ominous if you ask me. 

OF should be erupting. Maybe she got stage fright today.

OF erupting a little bit. Let it begin.

Lil panoramic view of the surrounding area of OF

For those who havent been to yellowstone yet, here is Ole Faithful in his prime.

Crinkly wanted a pic with Ole Faithful 

Ole Faithful doing what she does with her beautiful surroundings helping make it more beautiful.

I think we made it time to catch the next showing... lets wait and see.

We were one of those people. Its amazing looking at the eruption from this vantage point. 

Crinkly wanted to watch OF erupt just like the rest of us from this awesome view.

As we were walking down from the summit, we ran across this random pool just chilling right next to the forest. 

Starting to make our way back to the gang after our walk around.

I was wondering what the inside of those holes look like. How cavernous it must be under there that we will probably never get to see due to the heat.

As we walked around, you could see the results of the heat coming from the earth. No vegetation here.

This pool had more color than steam coming from it. Looking pretty cool.

Another of the pools of thermal water as we walk around the grounds of ole faithful.

Cool to see the steam come out from all the holes/pools in the ground. After that we go spend some time around ole faithful. First we check out the visitor center which has a nice museum exhibit about how the thermal activity is able to cause geysers, the different type of formations they have in the park, and other information like that. After exploring that we watch a quick video about Yellowstone which looks like it was made in the 80s but they mentioned the reintroduction of the wolves in 95 so clearly it is relatively new. After that we got our places to watch OF erupt; it teased us quite a bit by pretending to erupt until it finally did the full eruption 2 minutes from the end of the 20min window the rangers gave (cutting it close). After that we ate at the cafeteria in the lodge that overlooks OF where we got some sandwiches (I got a Philly cheese steak sandwich which was pretty decent for cafeteria food). After lunch dad and I walked up to the overlook, where we were able to see the eruption from afar. Nice little nature walk as we go through the forest to see a few more geysers and hot springs. After walking around a bit, we go back to base camp to meet back up with the ladies and then we head out to see some of the spots we missed on the way in.

So pretty and blue. Though I am sure it would kill anything that fell in there.

Made it to the crater. Look at that bad boy. Wonder how hot it is down there.

Panoramic view of the crater. It takes the whole panoramic panel. MASSIVE!

So it turns out this crater has a pretty bad ass name.

All that water has to flow somewhere.

Some of the shallow pools around the glacier. Pretty cool how expansive they are.

All the steam coming out of mordor/hell/the crater.

The water creating these shallow pools provide an excellent little mirror.

Such beauty as you look away from the wasteland caused by this geothermal energy. 

Panoramic view from the walkway. Look at all that steam. People leave one steam room for another.

First we go to Biscuit basin to see a couple cool formations (sapphire spring which is bright blue – very pretty) and then continue on to the Midway basin which is pretty cool  as you have a ton of hot water falling over the ledge into the river and the midway geyser exploded years ago leaving a crater. This crater and the other formation in the area give off huge steam which as you walk through slightly gags you with the sulfur smell but the condensation gives you a warm/cool sensation mix with the outside air and the steam. Kinda cool. After that we go into town to get some groceries and a present for the cabin's family grandfather as he will be hosting us for dinner tomorrow. We then get back to the cabin to relax and plan the next couple days.