Day 21 (Part One) - Staring into the Abyss

We took the morning off. We had packed a lot of sight-seeing into the past two days and we all needed a little breather. Plus, we had little luck with seeing any wildlife in the morning, so we figured we would give the evening a whirl. We spent the morning doing a whole lotta nothing. After lunch, we hit the southern loop of Yellowstone.  We began at the Madison Visitor Center because it is the "Junior Ranger Station" and the kids were ready to turn in their books to earn their sixth and final Jr. Ranger badges of the trip.

The ranger here was really good. You could tell that he was used to working with the kids and interacted with them more than most of the other rangers have done. At the gift shop, we found lanyards with attached compasses that they can pin their badges on. There is still room for plenty more, so we're on a mission to visit as many national parks as we can in the next few years.

This visitor center was cool because it was geared toward kids and had a bunch of bones and fossils on display for the kids to touch. There were also casts of footprints of the animals found in the park.

The bear was how big??

We then took the Firehole Canyon Drive, which took us along the Firehole River to the Firehole Falls. Are you sensing a theme here?

We missed out on the Lower Geyser Basin a couple of days ago, so we stopped there next. Geysers and mud pots and paint pots, oh my!

Silex Spring

Mud Pot a bubblin' away

Red Spouter - It was particularly angry-looking hissing out that hot steam

A small geyser that I don't remember the name of was erupting...

So, let's walk through it! Photo by Bob

Since we had hit the canyon, the river, and the falls, we figured we shouldn't miss out on the lake, so onto Firehole Lake Drive we went. We stopped at the Great Mountain Geyser. It was estimated that it would erupt that day, but when we arrived the sign said it should go off sometime between 4:30 and 10:30 pm. We weren't willing to hang around quite that long to wait, so it was on to the White Dome Geyser.

Then, it was back to the truck to drive to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. There is a lot of thermal activity in this area and a gorgeous view of Yellowstone Lake.

Fishing Cone - Back in the day, fishermen would catch fish in the lake then toss them right into this steam vent to cook them. They stopped after the cone unexpectedly spouted steam and a guy cooking his dinner didn't fare too well.

Black Pool - It has obviously changed color since it got its name, but it is very deep.

Abyss Pool - The reflection of the sky makes it difficult to see, but this is one of the deepest pools in the park. It's also very dark in color and you cannot see the bottom.

About this time, we decided it was time for a dinner break. I'm going to take a break now, too, so I'll leave you to stare into the Abyss :-)