Day 4: Yellowstone National Park

Pooh enjoys sunrise at Grand Teton National Park

Today started out with sunrise pictures of the Grand Tetons from Lunch Tree Hill.  This required another 5:30 AM alarm and the beds at Jackson Lake Lodge are really comfy so this alarm was not well received! But in order to maintain my status as serious amateur photographer,  I had to drag myself out of bed and get out the door.  Katie wallowed in her comfy pillow top bed but promised she'd be right behind me.  From the window of the cottage we were in it was difficult to tell if the skies were clear as predicted or not so I expressed my worries as I was leaving.  Before I was half way across the parking lot it was evident that there really wasn't a cloud in the sky anywhere so I texted Katie lest she was using my fear of an overcast sky to stay in and catch some more shut eye.

The view from our breakfast table.

 I made it to the top of the hill before any sun had hit the peaks of these majestic mountains but by the time I had my tripod setup the top portion of Grand Teton mountain was lit by the sun and it wasn't long before most of the peaks were in bright sun as well.  As I snapped a few pictures to check exposure and framing, Katie and Pooh joined me on the hill.

After I was done with the morning shoot we returned to the room to shower and pack and then make our way to the lodge for a breakfast buffet in the Mural Room.  This restaurant is famous for its magnificent views of the mountains through the west facing wall made up entirely of ceiling to floor windows.  We, being a party of 2, were fortunate enough to be seated right next to one of these windows and our breakfast was consumed with continued viewing of the Grand Teton Range aglow in morning light - magnificent!

Old Faithful near the end of its eruption

We checked out of the lodge as soon as we were done with our breakfast and began the short drive north to the southern entrance into Yellowstone National Park.  Shortly after entering the park we ventured to the first visitor center along the road and discovered that Old Faithful was due to erupt at 10:21 +/- 10 minutes.  A glance at our watches indicated that it was around 9:15 and knowing that it was 35 minutes from this visitor center to the Old Faithful region of the park, that looked like a perfect plan A opportunity.  We made our way over to the location and after spending some time finding a parking spot (which turned out to be a primo spot) we walked into the arena where Old Faithful was located.  We found a seat that looked promising and sat down around 10:05 to wait for the event.  The people around us were very fun to listen too and kept us entertained while we waited.  As the time got passed 10:11, Katie figured we were in the alloted time window and the thing could (and should) go off at any minute.  I planned to snap as may pictures as I could with my Nikon and asked Katie if she would be willing to shoot vide with my panasonic point and shoot.  She said, "maybe".  Well, my little camera now has 9 false start videos and one actual video of Old Faithful going off.  You see every once in a while as the actual eruption is getting ready the thing will bubble a bit and shoot some water up 2 or 3 feet, everyone gets excited and starts their camcorders only to have it die back down.  This is where everyone jokes about how unimpressed they were and try to convince their children that are growing more impatient after each false alarm that the last one was the real thing and wasn't that exciting.  My child wasn't buying that.  As 10:21 came and went, Katie exclaimed that the geyser has less than 10 minutes to stay within the alloted time or its name was in jeopardy.  At 10:25 Old Faithful blew and its name was safe once again.

Emerald pool at Biscuit Basin

After leaving Old Faithful we pulled into Biscuit Basin, an area of hot springs and other geothermal phenomena, to check things out and actually take a hike on one of the numerous trails in Yellowstone.  This particular trail begins halfway around the boardwalk that circumnavigates the basin full of hot springs.  The trail is a 2.5 mile loop that will take you up to a bluff that overlooks the basin and affords a view of much of the valley including the Old Faithful region.

Mystic falls

From the overlook the trail loops around and brings you to the Mystic Falls, a 70 foot waterfall on the Mystic River.  The hike was a nice break from sitting in the car all day and the only major downside was Katie forgot to put sunscreen on and she is paying the price as I type this in our hotel in Butte Montana.  After we left the falls we returned to the basin and finished our walk around the boardwalk and left the area and headed north towards Mammoth.
Along the way we made a couple of stops along the road to see some of the sights, including Gibbons Falls.  By the time we made it to Monmouth it was 2:30 and we hadn't eaten anything since the wonderful breakfast at 7:00 AM.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the Mammoth Terrace Grill.  After consuming our chicken sandwiches, we visited the Mammoth General Stores for some potential souvenirs before exploring the hot springs.  We walked around the hot springs for an hour or more before deciding it was time to leave this enormous park in order to continue the real purpose of this trip - getting Katie (and Pooh) to Seattle.
As we left Mammoth we made one last stop at the visitor center because we saw an Elk grazing on the lawn adjacent to the parking lot.  As we approached it to take pictures, we noticed that an entire herd of nearly 30 were laying down in the shade of the trees across the street in the center of town!  Evidently this is fairly common as the Elk believe they are the rightful residence of this town and us humans were just visiting.  Well, that is certainly the case for Katie, Pooh, and I and we cannot wait for another opportunity to visit again soon.

Pooh wishes he didn't have to leave this enchanted forest.