Hayden Valley Where the Buffalo Roams

Bison really do walk along side and between your cars. Lots of them!  The older gentlemen above walked past my car window.  You never know what may agitate them so I stayed quiet as a mouse and rolled up my window.

Heart of the Caldera Yellowstone

The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes known as the Yellowstone super volcano, is a volcanically active region in Yellowstone National Park.  You can get a glimpse of the crater from the overlook.  Yellowstone, like the Hawaiian Islands, is believed to lie on top of one of the planet's few dozen hotspots where light hot molten mantle rock rises towards the surface.  Within the past two million years, it has undergone three extremely large explosive eruptions, up to 2,500 times the size of the 1980 Mount St. Helen's eruption.  There is a documentary film that I watched based on "what if there is an Yellowstone Volcanic eruption" and it basically will destroy the entire North America continent and beyond.  That bare tree is a symbol of events to come.

Yellowstone's Grand Canyon

These pictures are of different angles of the Grand canyon.  It is roughly 20 miles long and is the primary geologic feature in the Canyon District. The aqua color water of the Yellowstone River against the golden canyon made a spectacular scene.

A Winding Yellowstone River

 

The Yellowstone River curves and winds its way through the valley.  A bison resting among the wildflowers was a lovely sight to behold.  Such a large and powerful animal resting peacefully among the flowers.

Yellowstone Lake

 



 

We tour Yellowstone from the south entrance and drove up the Grand Loop Road to Yellowstone Lake.  The lake is very large at 132 sq. miles and has a west thumb, south and southwest arm.  The water was a very deep blue.  These pictures were taken from Gulf Point.  It was a very bright day even though there were many clouds that formed over the lake.  The mountains in the distant is the Absaroka Range.