2015 National Park Tour Blog #8 - Yellowstone, Crater Lake and The Grand Tetons

Sad to leave the Redwoods, but promising to come back, we pointed Conestoga Lite towards Yellowstone National Park. On the way, we made a quick stop at Crater Lake. Surrounded by state and national forests in south central Oregon, Crater Lake is a caldera that formed when a major volcanic eruption occurred on the top of Mount Mazama. At 1,943 ft, it is the deepest lake in the United States and the ninth deepest in the world. Because there is no sediment brought in by rivers, the water is very clear. Snow melt and rain provide a continuous fill. The Crater Lake area receives about 533 inches of snow every year - that's about 44 ft of snow! 

The water in Crater Lake considered to be among the top clearest in the world. To determine this, a black and white measure disk is lowered into the water until a person can no longer see it. The world record measurement at Crater Lake is 152 ft. This depth of clarity reacts with light, turning the water a deep indigo blue color that is unique and breath-taking. Unfortunately, Doug did not have enough time to capture this beauty in a painting, so we put it our list to return to Crater Lake some day. 

Driving from Crater Lake to Yellowstone, we drove over countless miles of open space consisting of rolling hills and desolate plains. There was no population of any kind for the vast majority of our trip. We were glad we filled our gas tank before we left because it took about 4 hours to reach a gas station with nothing else around. We were amazed that mile after mile of vast solitude still exists in this day and age.

After a long drive, we arrived at West Yellowstone in the rain where Doug's sister Deb and her husband Mike joined us again, this time with their own trailer instead of a boat. The nighttime temperature there was about 45 degrees and daytime between 65 and 75 degrees. We relished in the cool air as we watched the rest of the country, and particularly the east coast, heat up for the height of the summer. 

There's two phrases that describe our Yellowstone experience: un-freakin' believable and "buffalo traffic jam". Yellowstone is our nation's first national park. It covers 3,468 miles miles and a 34 by 45 mile area within the park is actually the caldera of an ancient super volcano that is still smoldering, but not presently active. Everywhere you go in the park, there are geysers, hot springs and fumaroles (steam vents) spewing sulfur-filled mineral water and steam. The whole area of the caldera contains patches of thermally heated ground. All of this makes for a very rare and unique terrain. In the caldera zone, there are geysers spewing water and steam, with Old Faithful being the most famous. There are also pools of heated water among brightly colored sediment caused by the various minerals and algae. Some examples are pictured below:

Surrounding the caldera area of Yellowstone, there is a phenomenal landscape including mountains, multiple rivers, beautiful canyons and over 300 waterfalls. These are interlaced with gorgeous expanses of open green and gold meadow lands. This brings us to the topic of "buffalo traffic jams"

Yellowstone is a sanctuary for multiple rare and endangered species like grizzly bears, wolves and bison. Other species include elk, moose, black bear and bald eagle. These animals wander freely throughout the park and are not intimidated by humans. Buffalo in particular, can be seen walking close to or even in the middle of the road. When this occurs, traveling cars slow down or stop to take pictures, causing a buffalo traffic jam. Sometimes they walk right down the middle of the road and we, as visitors, respectfully give them the right of way. This, of course, also causes a traffic jam. The buffalo prod along with proud indifference to cars, which makes us wonder if they just might be doing it on purpose as a payback for our intrusion into their lifestyle. No one seems to mind. What would normally cause road rage anywhere else is considered an awesome shared experience in Yellowstone.

The buffalo are amazing creatures. They have massive shoulders and heads for pushing aside snow to feed on grass in the winter. When you are near them, you can hear a low guttural growling sound and they are quite intimidating. We came across a heard of buffalo at Hayden Meadow. They were feeding three feet from our truck and although we were inside a metal box, we were still wary. We heard that some lady got out of her car to take a selfie too near a buffalo. She was thrown in the air and almost trampled, lucky to escape with minor injuries.

All of the wild animals roam freely out in the open at Yellowstone. The people next to us in the RV park said they witnessed a grizzly bear kill an elk and then leave. A second grizzly came by and buried the carcass, only to have the original grizzly come back and dig it back up. Travelling through the park is truly like being in an episode of "Wild Kingdom". When out of the car hiking and painting, we carried bear spray, as rangers recommended.  

With two weeks to explore Yellowstone, we decided to take a worthwhile side trip to see the Grand Tetons. The Tetons are near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, an attractive location for celebrities and royalty.  This mountain range is the newest formed in the Continental United States. They were named by French explorers who thought the mountains rising out of the plains looked like womens' breasts (Teton means breast in French). The earth is like a hinge underneath the Tetons, pushing them up as craggy, rugged rocks of granite. Doug did a painting of Mt. Moran - named after his idol, Thomas Moran. He thinks there ought to be an Albert Handell mountain too!

    

Needless to say, Doug was quite prolific in his painting during our Yellowstone stay. One scene he had to paint was Yellowstone's Grand Canyon, in the footsteps of Thomas Moran. For all of you Plein Air aficionados, there is no actual scene to match Thomas Moran's painting "The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". He apparently created that painting as a composite of his many works. Doug's paintings show the upper and lower falls. 

Doug also painted thermal springs and river rapid scenes. When you look at Doug's paintings of the thermal springs, you'll notice the bright yellows, oranges and reds. This vibrancy, usually not found in nature, was a common theme of these fiery cauldrons.

One day, we were only able to get seven miles into the park due to a buffalo traffic jam. At first, we were a bit frustrated and anxious to get to the "gorgeous views" ahead. After an hour of creeping along, we noticed that the Gibbon River was running along our right side the whole time, so we pulled into a small picnic area. When Doug got out of the car, he immediately saw this beautiful scene of weather bleached logs lodged in the river and rushed to get his gear.  What a metaphor for life! Sometimes we get so focused on the promise of what lies ahead that we miss life's beauty surrounding us all the time. For another two hours, we watched the weary buffalo traffic jam drivers creep along, as Doug painted and Sue enjoyed the peaceful scene around us. Here's the painting:

On our last night at Yellowstone, we had a brief thunderstorm and were blessed by a beautiful rainbow. As we looked across the street, we saw it fall behind the huge Grizzly Bear statue pictured above. What a great way to end our trip!

Our next stop is Glacier National Park for a week-long family reunion with relatives from Doug's family, including children, grandchildren, siblings, cousins and their families one remaining aunt from his mother's generation.