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| Grasses growing in a very acidic environment at Mud Volcano area |
Before we headed for a bike ride, we stopped at a geothermal feature very close to camp - Mud Volcano. I'm still amazed at what is able to grow in these very acidic areas, but the acidity does provide for some vibrantly colored grasses.
As a National Park, Yellowstone is a hiker's dream. The options are seemingly limitless. If you're a mountain biker, not so much. I suppose there are lots of good reasons for the lack of biking trails - the first that comes to mind is the speed at which you may approach wildlife. That could make for a dangerous encounter especially since chatting and purposely making a lot of noise isn't what happens on a mountain bike on a trail. So of the half dozen approved riding areas (which are basically older roads that aren't paved and out of use) we chose Fountain Flat Drive. With "Flat" in the title, I figured it would suit Annalise just fine and I figured right.
I believe we left camp at 10:00 and as we finally got to Fountain Flat Drive at 12:30 (after our short detour at Mud Volcano) it really hits you how big this park is. We essentially drove from the eastern side of the park to the Firehole Canyon area on the west side and by the end of the day we drove over 100 miles round trip. Before our ride, we had another picnic at the same parking area where we could start our ride and despite the fact that we had our pick of tables, the kids wanted to eat on the grass with our picnic blankets instead. We had another stream to wade in and it was good to get some food in us before our ride.
The ride itself was a good one for Annalise - she did the entire 5.5 mile road. I rode with her for a good chunk of the ride and then Maribeth escorted her to the end. I ended up riding the road 3 times - the first time we all got to see an elk and the third time I was alone and saw my first coyote. He was a little one, but it was cool to see one.
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| Grand Prismatic Springs viewed from our biking trail |
I'm going to backtrack a little bit to Craters of the Moon. We hiked and explored the caves for a bit with three guys from Seattle, Washington. When we told them our next stop was Yellowstone, they immediately said we had to see Grand Prismatic Springs. Since we knew today was going to be our trip to that area to ride, we were able to bike around to the back side of Grand Prismatic which has to be one of the most spectacular views of a hot spring in Yellowstone. Grand Prismatic is eye candy when you're standing near it, but from behind it appears like a blue dome. Now, when we started biking, I had no idea that Grand Prismatic was going to be viewable from our trail - I only knew it was somewhere nearby and we would end up driving there after our ride. But the minute I could see it from the trail, I thought that this had to be Grand Prismatic. Those dudes from Seattle were dead on - the most spectacular hot springs in the park and must see if you ever get to go. As spectacular as Grand Prismatic was, I'm going to share the most un-spectacular aspect of Yellowstone - the visitors. It's sad really. The park is big and wide, but if you're going to look at the hot springs, etc. you have to deal with what I think had to be the most ill-behaved people on the planet. We saw a half dozen people, at least, that were approaching bison on foot despite the warnings.
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| Hot springs draining into to river. And people waded in it anyway... |
At Grand Prismatic, there were kids in the river despite the fact that acidic hot springs are draining into it only 50' away and there are posted signs about not swimming in the water. AND there parents were taking pictures of them! It was shocking and this kind of behavior was more the rule than the exception. Bad drivers, people taking up an entire board walk instead of walking in single file, people purposely walking in areas that are marked, "Dangerous and unstable". It was pretty bad. When we return, we may be taking back country hikes exclusively to put some distance between us and that 2% of the park that is developed...
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| All the family at Grand Prismatic |
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| Grand Prismatic Springs from the boardwalk - the most stunning hot spring in Yellowstone - in my opinion |
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