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Day 41: The Emotions of Yellowstone

Your heart beat begins to quicken, causing an involuntary gasp for air. The emotion is one on high. You feel at peace with the world, like you could imagine being no where else, while at the same time being nervous about what it can bring. It is a treat for the eyes, yet it somehow entices you to close them as if it is too much to take in. You take another deep breath. The scent is relaxing, a freshness you can taste. Although it seems impossible, you feel warm and cold at the same time. Something so grand plays out in front of you that you want to immerse yourself deeply in everything it offers.
It is hard to imagine leaving this spot in time, but you know what comes next can be greater than the last. Letting your heart beat calm, and taking a last, deep breath, you push yourself forward so you can see what comes next. That step forwards sends you through the waves of emotion all over again.
This is the experience of travel. Of taking in something so much bigger than yourself.m It is amazing how a landscape can evoke feelings so akin to love. When you first round that corner as you drive up to a new place you can feel overwhelmed. The speedometer slows down as you try to take it in. Maybe you even pull over. All the while you are having these warm feelings of joy- but you also have fear. Steep, dangerous cliffs….aggressive animals that aren’t afraid of people…swift currents ready to take you away… hot steam boiling out of the ground unexpectedly. The very fact that you are standing inside of a super-volcano can be a rush itself- At any moment everything could become nothing.

These are the most rewarding moments in life. When you feel these emotions you open yourself up to what they offer. You expose you vulnerability. Something so beautiful somehow overcomes the fear, making the dangers a palatable cost. No one climbs a mountain, risking their life as they push themselves up steep ravines and cliffs, to see a land fill. We take risks to get to those ultimate feelings, and as uncomfortable as they are, we live to push our limits for a chance at achieving them.  Heart racing, uneven breathing, warmth and cold washing over you in waves.
Yellowstone is one of the ultimate places to visit- it has so many different faces  to evoke those feelings. From the geysers to the waterfalls, from the fields of bison to the tall, snow capped mountains, Yellowstone is a series of emotions waiting to happen.

The Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces.Yellowstone National Park. June 18, 2011.

Today we continued our journey through the park, making our way to the different waterfalls, and eventually ending up at Mammoth Hot Spring where calcite terraces tower into the air like sculpted snow, steam rising. We saw Inspiration Point, a place aptly named for what it surely does for many visitors. We drove over mountain passes with snow piled up along the side of the highway taller than our vehicles, and watched as we transitioned down and that snow created magnificent waterfalls cascading down the stone into deep cutting rivers.

One of the many rivers in Yellowstone, carving down through the richly colored rocks and sediment. June 18, 2011

We soaked it in. Took the deep breaths. Felt our hearts flutter.

If I could stay here for an eternity I would. I didn’t want to imagine being without this. Like so many days during this trip, it was a battle to leave. Whether it was on the account of my friends leaving me, or because I couldn’t get enough of the scenery I can’t tell you.
I can say this: I’m going to take that one last, deep breath. Slow my heart beat, and take that next step. I think we all know that around the corner it will start all over again. It is hard to imagine getting better than this- All that I’ve seen this far has been amazing. I think we all know, from past experience, it only gets better than this. The world awaits to make my heart skip a beat….. join me tomorrow as I continue my way.

…and don’t forget to breathe.
<3 Nicole

A Yellowstone Survey marker. I think I have a whole collections of photos of survey markers...lol
Yellowstone's petrified tree. There used to be a second, but early souvenir collectors took all of it, bit by bit. Now only this one remains. June 18, 2011

 

Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs June 18, 2011

 

One of the (slightly comical) warnings about the wildlife. "Don't get gored by the buffalo". (Please click on picture to see undistorted & in full size)
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Day 39: Devil’s Tower and Little Bighorn Battlefield- The trek towards Yellowstone

Today we had a long drive ahead of us to Yellowstone National Park, but that wouldn’t stop us from sightseeing along the way. There were two main things to see on the trek Westward: Devil’s Tower and the site of Custer’s Last Stand, Little Bighorn Battlefield. I jumped into my Jeep, and my two friends into their truck, and we began our journey into the wild west.

Devil’s Tower is one of the geologic sites of importance that we are required to learn the location of as geology students. Today I would actually get to see this place in person, and among reading the theories of the development of Devil’s Tower, also the native stories (and there are many) that accompany it.

Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. June 16, 2011

There are numerous versions of the story, and I read at least 4 different versions within a couple hours. All of them have this in common: some natives (whether they be children, villagers, sisters, etc) were trying to get away from a bear (that may or may not have been a young girl shortly before attack on the village) and the gods raised them up, the bear scratching the rock as it rose into the sky. They became a constellation in the sky.

The geologic theories are also vary, and come in three main flavors.While all theories include that it is an igneous intrusion, how it came to be as it is today has several different possibilities. Some geologists believe it to be a laccolith, an igneous intrusion that was beneath the surface of sedimentary rocks which were later eroded to expose what we see today. Others believe it was a plug of long-gone volcano that used to be in the area, and others still believe it to be other forms of igneous intrusions, the original surroundings long gone due to erosion. I guess you can take your pick as to which you believe…maybe you’ll even go with the bear story.

 

The Devil’s Tower was the first National Monument in 1906, and thus made Wyoming the state to host both the first National Monument and Park (Yellowstone). It is surrounded in history, an important landmark for the Plains indians. In more recent history (and to my amusement) George Hopkins decided to parachutes from an airplane in 1941 and land atop the Devil’s Tower just to show it could be done. Nevermind the fact that he was trapped there for 6 days until climbers could make their way up to rescue him.

Who can pass up drinking water from a fountain with claims like these? Devil's Tower, June 16, 2011

After climbing up the boulder field to get the closest view of Devil’s Tower you can get without a permit, and drinking the water that was ostentatiously claiming to be pure and of excellent drinking quality, we headed a little northwards so we could swing by Little Bighorn Battlefield before making our arrival, fashionably late, in Yellowstone.

The site of Custer's Last Stand. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial, June 16, 2011

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial is located in Montana, and it is the site of the famous Custer’s Last Stand, where the U.S. troops were defeated by the natives. It is full of historical information about the battle, and the fields are flagged with white markers indicating where soldiers met their fate. It was a pretty interesting place, and if we didn’t have somewhere to be and the weather wasn’t misting upon us we may have stayed longer to learn a bit more.

Little Bighorn Battlefield Memorial. The marker colored in black is Custer's memorial (Although he isn't actually buried here anymore, his body was moved in 1877 to another graveyard)

The last long haul to get to Yellowstone was a long, scenic drive. Montana is full of open space, where you can literally see as far as the eye can see. The mountains eventually begin to jut out of the ground as you near the western half of the state, breaking the golden sunset with snow-capped mountains. The view was beautiful, and with how honey-golden the sun was shining, I imagine it wasn’t difficult for the pioneers to be dreaming of gold in the western frontier.

A Western Montana Sunset. June 16, 2011

When we arrrived at the campsite deep within Yellowstone, the Canyon Campground, we were more than fashionably late. It was near midnight, and the near 2 feet of snow and lack of open space to set up a tent weren’t exactly encouraging. It was the middle of June and there was still an significant amount of snowpack on the ground- who knew!?

Our Canyon Campground site we "slept in" (our vehicles) on June 16, 2011 Yellowstone National Park

Well, we decided to sleep in our vehicles and see what the next day brought.

-Nicole