Let's see if we can wrap up our time in Yellowstone with this post. If you couldn't tell we really enjoyed the short time we spent there. Hard to believe it was only a day. As Nicole's Mom pointed out it is a good thing we are in the digital camera age or this event would have used a whole lot of film rolls!
This is Beryl Spring and oh what a beauty.
It gets its name from the blue-green color (like the gemstone beryl) that shows up at times.
The sounds at this location were quite something and the spring itself very pretty, as well!
On the Firehole Canyon Drive we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the river
and the falls.
We sat for a while and enjoyed the water rushing over the rocks.
On the way to our next stop...
we spotted a herd of bison hanging out in a field.
Our final stop was yet another beautiful spot and a great way to end our day. The Lower Geyser Basin is the largest geyser conglomeration in the park.
The colors at the Lower Geyser Basin were quite rich.
It was hard to capture the vastness of this orange bacteria mat.
Different species of thermophiles (heat loving bacteria) bring about different colors.
All of this orange led to
the very pretty blue
of the Celestine Pool. You could see right down inside this beautiful (yet deadly) pool.
It may look serene and possibly good for a swim but if you fell in it would provide you with 3rd degree burns in a matter of seconds.
The naturally made patterns are just as pretty as the rest of the scenery.
Why so blue? Because water scatters the blue wavelengths of light more than others, reflecting blues back to our eyes.
The sun was getting ready to set on our day at Yellowstone
so we skipped some other scenic spring sections of the boardwalk and opted for the section where the water was dancing.
Loved the layers of mountains as the backdrop of this area.
This was a wonderfully active section of the park. Sometimes you didn't know where to look.
We actually had our backs to this area when this one decided to get everyone's attention.
On this day though the most active of them all was this one.
Clepsydra is its name and it erupts nearly continuously to heights of up to 45 feet.
It's name comes from the Greek word for water clock.
We mostly watched Clypsedra but there were others going off all around.
This little one behind Clypsedra kept trying to get our attention with spouts
and steam.
Dancing water...
And, with that, we headed off to find a place to park our home for the night.
We ended our day in Yellowstone the same way it began, with an elk sighting.
This time a nice bull on the side of the road had brought all traffic to a halt. Now that's the kind of traffic jam you don't mind having!
Hope you enjoyed our Yellowstone National Park experience as much as we did. Thanks for coming along!