A few weeks ago I had the luxury of being able to spend a few days at Yellowstone National Park. I flew out from Milwaukee Airport on the afternoon of Sunday Sept 7^th, and arrived at Jackson Hole airport in Wyoming late Sunday night. It was a three hour drive from Jackson Hole to my very modest motel in West Yellowstone in Montana, just outside the national park. I was up early on Monday morning after 3 or so hours of sleep.

Travel around the Park is accomplished mainly by driving ‘the main loop’ road system – basically a giant figure eight about 40 miles high and 20 miles wide. Travel off the main loop road was possible along numerous trails that go off into the countryside, but with many warnings about bears (both black and grizzly) I dared to venture off the road only twice! (When driving I constantly hoped to catch sight of a bear; when outside the car I constantly hoped I would not see a bear!)

On the East side of the Park is a large waterfall known as the Lower Falls (photo). This waterfall is about 300 feet tall and can be viewed from several vantage points specifically located to enjoy this magnificent sight.

On the south west part of the Park,  known as the Upper Geyser Basin, is a large hot water springs area containing many geysers – including the most famous, Old Faithful. This is because Yellowstone Park sits on top of a huge volcano that erupted many centuries ago. There are a total of about 150 geysers in this area alone (and the Park has at least 5 distinct areas of geysers comprising about 60% of the world’s geysers). Of the 150 geysers in the Upper Basin only 5 vent predictably. Most of the geysers bubble gently, but quite a few bubble more obviously (photo), and some send up a water spray 20-40 ft in the air.

I got up very early on the Friday morning I was returning back and drove the 3 or so hours from the Park to Jackson Hole. The city is adjacent to a lovely range of mountains known as the Grand Tetons. As planned I arrived in the Jackson Hole area at dawn and was able to capture something of the grandeur of the Grand Tetons during the morning. One particularly beautiful spot was Schwabachers Landing. This place had streams that ran into the nearby Snake River. The polarizer filter on the lens really brought out the reflection of the blue sky in the water (photo).