/tags/yellowstone.rss en-us There's so much to see and do in Yellowstone National Park, which is bigger than the states of Delaware or Rhode Island, that it would be easy to spend a week there and still not see it all. If you don't have a week, then some of the best experiences can be found in the Upper Geyser Basin in the southwest corner of the Park. All of the geysers, pools and wildlife make it a truly unique place to visit. One of the more popular sites in Yellowstone is the Morning Glory Pool, which sits at the end of a boardwalk trail that easily meanders throughout the geyser basin. The trail to the Morning Glory Pool begins near the parking and lodging area for the famous Old Faithful geyser. Several other geysers and pools line the trail as well as a lush forest. Occasionally wildlife, which can be found in abundance throughout the park, will surprise you and make an appearance on the trail, thus offering great photo opportunities. And with vibrant colours of blue, orange and yellow, the trail ends at the beautiful Morning Glory Pool—a favorite of most Yellowstone Park visitors. Mrs. E. N. McGowan, wife of the Assistant Park Superintendent, named the Morning Glory Pool in 1883 due to the striking similarity it holds to the morning glory flower. The beautiful blue and orange colours in the Pool are due to bacteria that live in the water. Unfortunately, littering by tourists is causing the Morning Glory Pool to lose its beauty as junk clogs the Pool vents and thus limits the water that flows into it. The hotter water in the bottom once prevented the yellow and orange microorganisms from living so far down, but now because of the pollution they are able to spread and thus change the appearance of the Pool. Due to this disregard, the Morning Glory Pool should be considered an essential visit as soon as possible. Yellowstone National Park can also experience seismic activity at any time due to the fault lines that run under it. These lines helped shape the Park and its beautiful scenery and interesting geological sites, making Yellowstone one of the quintessential family road trip options for Americans. Although it's an incredibly rare occasion, these active faults can cause the Morning Glory Pool to erupt like a geyser. Don't count on seeing a pool eruption though, as this is not at all common but more likely a fortunate and amazing experience that can be had if you're lucky. The Morning Glory Pool in the Upper Geyser Basin is an area of unique beauty and wonderful opportunities that should be a headline of any trip to America's first national park. Yellowstone National Park has so many great experiences, just like this one, that are waiting to be discovered. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to explore the vast Park. You won't regret it; I know I didn't! Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:01:26 +0000 http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/morning-glory-pool http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/morning-glory-pool The Old Faithful geyser is the quintessential Yellowstone National Park experience. It sits at the head of the Upper Geyser Basin, which is home to the majority of the geysers in the Park. Yellowstone on the whole holds more than 60 percent of the geysers in the world, but none more famous than Old Faithful. The Old Faithful geyser, named during an expedition in 1870, shows off the power of nature every 65 to 90 minutes, depending on the length of the previous eruption. An eruption can shoot up to 8,400 gallons (32,000 litres) of water 185 feet (56 metres) high. The internal temperature of the water has been measured at 244°F (118°C), with steam at 350°F. Old Faithful erupts about twenty times a day, but seismic activity in the area can change this, as it was measured at twenty-one times daily before an earthquake in 1959. Old Faithful doesn't appear to be getting any less reliable though, as the eruptions can be predicted with approximately 90 percent certainty. Ranger programs entertain and inform the gathering crowd in-between eruptions. These programs take place on a boardwalk just outside the three lodges that surround Old Faithful. There are benches available, but in the summer months the crowd can be so large that it's necessary to get there well in advance to secure a spot. The Old Faithful geyser can easily be spotted from the back of the crowd, along the boardwalk, and in other areas of the park and too. Enjoy the like-clockwork plume of Old Faithful at Yellowstone along with the collage of bubbling hot spots, lurking animal herds and remote waterfalls. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:43:07 +0000 http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/old-faithful http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/old-faithful As traffic slowed to a halt we stuck our heads out of the windows to see what could have caused a traffic jam on the East Entrance Road at Yellowstone Park. Eventually, we glimpsed a dark brown mass milling about on the road. It was a herd of bison. Their gigantic 2,000 lb bodies grouped together blocked both directions of traffic as they plodded along. Unable to drive forward or backward, we pulled out our cameras, and from the relative safety of the car we nervously shot a few photos of these majestic but fearsome animals as they passed us by. If I had either the courage or the stupidity (and had not been prohibited) I could have reached through the window and touched one of those woolly brown bodies. As we learned from the official Yellowstone Park guide, Bison petting is strictly forbidden. Every year, tourists who venture too close to the bison at Yellowstone Park are gored by these creatures that—despite their heavy bodies and seemingly placid movements—can move up to 30 miles an hour. The Yellowstone Park guides strongly caution visitors not to approach wildlife within proximity of 25 yards. Yellowstone Park is the home of innumerable geysers, pools of boiling mud and rainbow-coloured hot springs. Every year millions of tourists flock to see Old Faithful regularly spew steaming hot water hundreds of feet into the air. With two-thirds of the world's geysers, Yellowstone Park is literally a hotbed of geothermal activity. In addition to its geothermal wonders, Yellowstone Park is also home to the greatest concentration of mammal wildlife in the lower forty-eight states. Fortunately, we were not in such a rush to get to the next geyser that we missed the sight of beautiful tawny elk grazing in golden fields of grass as pine-covered mountains loomed in the background. And while we were not treated to a personal encounter with a grizzly bear, or stalked by a gray wolf, we did see numerous little foxes trotting around Yellowstone Park unconcerned by the tourists staring at them. Yellowstone Park is one of the most successful wildlife refuges in the world. Sixty-seven different mammal species live in the Yellowstone Park including the gray wolf, which was almost eliminated in the early 1900s but has since been successfully reintroduced back into the Park. There are currently at least 124 wolves in Yellowstone Park. Yellowstone Park is also the only place in the contiguous forty-eight states where bison have lived since prehistoric times, and it is a refuge for about 250 bighorn sheep which were hunted down to a few hundred in the U.S. during the early 1900s. Visitors to Yellowstone Park may even get the rare opportunity to see the almost mythical (so rare as they have become) lynx and wolverine. Although encounters with Yellowstone's wildlife can often be a matter of luck, you may have a better chance of seeing animals in the early morning or evening when they are feeding. Viewing Yellowstone Park wildlife must be done from a distance, and it is illegal to willfully approach or remain near wildlife within a proximity that disturbs or displaces the animal. Tourists must not venture closer to bears than within 100 yards; and within 25 yards to other wildlife. Nevertheless, for the visitor armed with a pair of binoculars, there are ample opportunities to view the famous diversity of Yellowstone Park's wildlife. Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:37:59 +0000 http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/yellowstone http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/yellowstone