Yellowstone Stories

We saw more elk around human habitats
in Yellowstone than in the wild.

For our one-year anniversary, Simiao and I went hiking in Yellowstone.  I'd always wanted to visit this national park, and I've never seen so many alien landscapes in such close proximity to each other:  thermal features, beautiful canyons and waterfalls, wildlife, petrified trees, and black obsidian beaches. If you decide to go to Yellowstone, I highly recommend that you go in the first week of the off-season.  Lower prices notwithstanding, the size of the parking lots gave me an idea of what a zoo the park must be during the summer with traffic jams, impossible parking and screaming children.  When we went in the first week of October it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves.

These are a few of my favorite photos.  I do have more related to an awesome side project I've been working on for almost a year now, but it's still not ready and needs some more work.  It'll be awesome when it's ready, trust me!

A toothpick-like tree at the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Watching this spooting thermal feature at the Artist's Paint Pots was like watching a natural lava lamp.

A squirrel fattening up for the coming winter.

The obsidian beach at Yellowstone Lake, the world's highest alpine lake.

A trio of fluffy gray jays were stalking us around Yellowstone Lake.

A fiery sunset over Great Fountain Geyser, which declined to erupt for the occasion.

A tree grows on top of a petrified tree stump on an incredibly steep trail on Specimen Ridge.

A view of the Lamar Valley from Specimen Ridge.