On the long weekend of July 1--4 I traveled to Wyoming to attend a photo seminar which took place
in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks located in north-western part of the state
( see map below where the location of parks is marked with red bar ). The Yellowstone Park occupies
very north-western corner of the state, while Grand Teton Park lies about 60 miles ( 100 km ) to the south.
Occupying significant part of American North-West, Wyoming is the least populated state though its
nature is wonderful. The residents of Wyoming mostly look belonging to middle-class and live mostly in
single houses surrounded with large backyards. The land is cheap there what is not surprising for such
underpopulated area.
To get to the parks, I flew from Baltimore MD to Salt Lake City UT and then drove about six hours following Rt 89
in northern direction through northern Utah, south-eastern Idaho and western Wyoming. This road is not a highway,
it goes through mountain passes. It is not the fastest way to get to the parks but its sights are real worth to see.
I planned to arrive to Salt Lake City on July 1st late night and be in the Park on July 2nd early
morning but unfortunately I lost the whole night in the airport : the plane got broken and my travel was interrupted
in Cincinnati. So, instead of Saturday July 2nd morning I got to Wyoming in the late evening only. Taking
into account that I had to depart from the park by Monday 4th noon, I had less than two full days there, though
even this time was enough to get unforgettable impressions including two main impressions which I got in Yellowstone
Park : the geysers that looked like beautiful Earth's Eyes
as well as the wild buffaloes loitering across the parking lots.
The place of stay of our small group was Jenny Lake campground in Grand Teton Park. It was a neat campground nearby
lovely lake with the same name. The weather was nice : in the daytime the bright clear skies beautifully
contrasted with the snowy tops of mountains and emerald meadows, while in the night the masses of shiny
starry jewels filled all the space above the head.
Regarding the temperature, the elevation of the place made its daily changes rather sharp : the air was very
dry, and in the daytime we enjoyed middle 70s ( 23-26°C ), while in the nights the temperature dropped to the
freezing point and even below, so each mornings we used to get out of the tents shaking because of cold.
My shock of Yellowstone Park was the buffalo loitering about the parking lot : just among the cars !
Well, I have never seen such a big wild animal so close to myself. The more so, not in the zoo where the fence
separates animals from people but without any barrier able to prevent the buffalo from doing whatever comes to
its mind...
Just in case, when the buffalo was approaching I promptly jumped into my car, closed doors and started the engine,
but fortunately nothing happened ! Regarding other people around, they didn’t look surprised or scared, so I think such
things are usual in that place...
Nevertheless, at the Park entrance each visitor was provided with a poster cautioning that the buffaloes are wild,
dangerous and unpredictable animals and urging not to approach them. So, I can't exclude that the scenes represented
on the poster had ever taken place in the reality...
Not only buffaloes but also the bears are close neighbors of people in Wyoming.
! YOU ARE IN BEAR COUNTRY !
Such posters were everywhere at the campground urging visitors to hide the food and leftover since
the eatable stuff might attract the bears to campground and even make them to enter the tents and cars,
especially in night time...
Fortunately, I didn't experience such invasion, though -- who knows ? --
may be I just was sleeping too heavily...
Actually, the geysers were my main impression and my main amazement. I have never seen the geysers before
and the World's largest concentration of geysers I encountered in the Park had really dazed me...
What had captivated me most was even not the geysers that were boiling or erupting the masses
of water, but those calm ones that looked like beautiful eyes : Eyes of the Earth itself...
A single view into the deep depthless of such eye was able to charm you and to make never forget it...
Northern outskirt of Salt Lake City; Rt 89
Bear Lake is a large, natural lake with a striking turquoise color. Limestone particles suspended in the water are responsible
for the interesting hue. Bear Lake straddles the Utah/Idaho border in the upper northeast corner of Utah. It is located at 6000ft ( 2km )
elevation and has the size of 20miles ( 30km ) long by 8 ( 13km ) miles wide.
Mountain pass at Utah/Idaho border on Rt 89
At the campground
Sunrise over the Teton Mountains
Wild animals
Sights around the capmground
Mountain view
Burnt canyon
Road through burnt forest
Wild animals crossing the road
Everybody is getting prepared to watch the eruption...
The eruption ! This time it lasted 1-2 minutes...
General view of Upper Geyser Basin
Actually, the scientists distinguish three types of geysers : Classic Geysers ( the ones that erupt
water, "volcano" in my terms ) occur when underground constrictions increase the pressure of the water until
it finally erupts; Hot Springs ( "pans" in my terms ) have no constrictions, so water rises, cools,
and sinks. Mudpots ( "eyes" in my terms ) are acidic hot springs with limited water. The acid and
microorganisms decompose surrounding rock into clay and mud.
Some geysers looked like beautiful eyes of Earth :
Green...
Blue...
Greenish-Blue...
Greenish-Brown...
Hazel...
Brown...
Grey...
So many different eyes...
Other geysers looked like pans with boiling water...
This one was simmering for a while but eventually came to the boil...
Another pan...
Another pan progressing from simmer to rapid boil...
One more boiling pan that eventually boiled away...
Many different pans...
Even a good jacuzzi...
Other geysers were reminiscent of ancient castles...
Or small volcanoes...
While some geysers just looked like dirty shallow pools;
other ones looked like holes, or produced rivers of dirt and colored chemical...
That's all about geysers...
The sights of evening journey to campground completed the day...
Short stops
Snake River running along Rt 89 was accompanying me almost two hours...
