The Grand Tour

Finally got on the Canyon Day Tour today, this is a roughly ten hour tour of the southern loop of the park. We stopped in West Thumb (my summer home), Lake, Hayden Valley, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This is going to be an extremely long post, enjoy.


Firstly, West Thumb Geyser basin. This is only about two miles from Grant Village where I lived all summer. Very small basin right on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. On a clear day (not this day sadly) you get thermals, the lake, and mountains all in one shot. The great white expanse in the background of these pictures would be Lake Yellowstone (the largest Alpine lake in the Lower 48).

Fishing Cone (people used to catch fish then cook them fresh in here), I threw in a summer picture for contrast):

Random handful of shots:

Few shots of Lake Hotel, the oldest (and yellowest) hotel in the park along with a few more cool shots of the lake.



Hayden Valley, large glacially formed valley. During the summer it is thronged with Bison and water fowl. This large rolling valley is cut by the Yellowstone River and the snow adds amazing relief to the rolling hills that make up the valley. It is worth noting that this may be one of my favorite pieces of the park.

The "Bomb" or Bombardier snow coach the main method of transporting guests in the winter. All of these are roughly 50's-60's vintage with newer V8 engines. Worth noting that this was one of those dumb shots that came out pretty awesome looking...

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Not a lot to post here seeing as I discussed it this summer. However, the Lower Falls are 308ft, upper about 109. Canyon itself is roughly 1500ft deep on average. Again the contrast of the snow is amazing. Note that the lower falls are a single channel rather than two larger ones due to ice...