Epic Road Trip, Yellowstone: Norris Geyser Basin, Black Bear, Lamar Valley

On Sunday, June 2nd, we headed down toward Norris Geyser Basin. We wanted to visit the National Museum of the Park Ranger, but it wasn't open yet. There were some bison nearby, but otherwise, we had the area to ourselves that morning.

Norris Geyser Basin is the most dynamic of Yellowstone's many thermal areas. It features hot springs, geysers, steam vents, and rare acid geysers.

Emerald Spring

The world's tallest active geyser, Steamboat Geyser, had erupted less than 24 hours before we were there and was still steaming. I could only imagine witnessing the eruption! It is pretty unpredictable.

 The Norris basin had boardwalks so we could safely view many of its thermal features.

Cistern Spring is near Steamboat Geyser and is obviously connected because when the geyser erupts, the spring completely drains. It was starting to fill again when we were there.

One of my favorite photos of this weird landscape

We were lucky to see Vixen Geyser erupt while we were in the Norris basin!

We spotted some animal tracks through this geyser crater and couldn't tell if they were made by bison or bear.

We walked a lot of Norris before rainclouds began developing, so we headed back to camp. On the way, we came upon a bear jam! This time, we could see a black bear browsing not too far from the road.

 

We cooked lunch at camp and relaxed awhile before heading back into the park to try to see evening wildlife. We stopped to take in some beautiful scenery on the way!

 

Tower Fall

A great place to see wildlife is traditionally Lamar Valley, in the northeast part of Yellowstone National Park. We saw giant herds of bison and their calves!

We packed sandwiches and had a little picnic while we hoped to see bears or wolves.

Instead, we saw Canadian geese...

...and bison.

We were treated to another beautiful rainbow!

On the way back to Gardiner, Noah spotted what he thought looked like a bald eagle nest. We got out the telescopes, binoculars and cameras to take a look. Mom was convinced we were looking at a juvenile bald eagle, but we later looked at my photos and consulted the bird guide to determine that it was an osprey, although in an unusual location in a tree by a river instead of on cliffs.

That wraps up another incredible day in Yellowstone!