Yellowstone Day 2

So day two in Yellowstone has been action-packed, a great day of seeing the sights, but at a leisurely pace. Part driving, part strolling around the board-walked areas framing the infamous Geysers (now pronounced Gee-zers, FYI) we have seen them all - quite literally.  Check out the photo gallery for the full range, and their sometimes comical names.

One of the many colorful lakes along the geyser trail

The Prismatic Spring  from the top of the nearest mountain.
Its colors come from the bacteria that forms around the edge of the pool

We are now officially experts in all things thermal and thought we would share some interesting facts about geysers- 

Yellowstone is set inside a large Volcanic caldera which is why the park has such an interesting landscape. The heat from the magma continues to fuel the park's geyser basin, where water 1000ft below ground is 450f.

A few main ingredients make geysers possible: abundant water, a heat source, a certain kind of plumbing and rock strong enough to withstand serious pressure.

The layout of any one geysers plumbing may vary, but we know that below each vent is a series of fissures and chambers that prevent water rising to the surface. As the underground water heats up, these constrictions and the cooler water cap the whole system, keeping it from boiling over and increasing the underground pressure. When a few steam bubbles eventually fight their way through the constrictions, the result is like uncapping a shaken-up bottle of fizzy drink and the released pressure causes the geyser to spray.

As for Yellowstone -  being the home of geysers, it can make a lot of claims:

• Old Faithful is Yellowstone's most famous geyser, though not its largest.
• It erupts almost reliably every 94 minutes, up to 180ft.
• Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser can shoot water 350ft into the air
• Grand Prismatic Spring is the third largest hot spring at more than 370ft across.
• Prismatic Spring gets its color from bacteria that gathers around the edge. This bacteria has assisted scientists in the development of DNA fingerprinting and NASA uses the park to gain intelligence into extraterrestrial life.

(Ok, we have to admit that came mostly from Fodors Complete Guide to National Parks of the West - our manual for the trip)

Driving back from the geysers, we decided that we could try and encourage some bear sightings by composing a few Yellowstone wildlife themed songs - here are a couple from the soon-to-be-launched first album:

• Some-bear Out There
• Are Yogi gonna go my way
• The Little-ist Boo-Boo
• Buffalo Soldier
• Summer Bears
• Yellow(Stone)
• Bear It
• The Bears of Summer

So, on getting back to camp, we embarked in our last camping supper - spaghetti bolognese cooked by Joanna, accompanied by an expert fire built by Sherrie. 

Spaghett Bolognese al la campsite

Another professional Trecker fire...

Early night for us ready for another 4.30am start to head off to Lamar Valley to see if we can spot an elusive bear before we head off to Montana, our last State!

Sherrie and Joanna