Yellowstone aka "Wet Earth Farts"

While visiting Grand Teton National Park, we also visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Yellowstone National Park is quite a famous national park. It is the world’s first national park, established in March 1872. Yellowstone is also famous for their geysers, most notably Old Faithful.

This year Yellowstone National Park is celebrating 150 years. They have been having a rough year due to the massive flooding that hit in June. I was worried when planning this trip that we would not be able to visit. However, by the time we went in the end of July the flooding was not an issue in the areas we were going to be visiting. We did see signs of the damage mainly on the roads into the park. There were some that had huge ruts or were completely washed away.

Upper Geyser Basin

Once we arrived at the Upper Geyser Basin, Michael and I went to the gift shops to hunt down the special addition Yellowstone Bourbon Landmark edition. This bourbon is one we heard about while watching Youtuber Greg on How to Drink. Greg has been showcasing various cocktails to honor Yellowstone’s 150 years. Cocktail recipes that Michael and I want to try sometime in the future.

While also visiting the gift shops, we stopped by the Old Faithful Visitor Center. The visitor center is a helpful spot to figure out the predicted times of various geysers. It is also a way to learn about the history of the area and also what is happening under the ground. They have a few short videos to watch in their auditorium about Yellowstone. By the time we got done with the video and checking out the visitor center it was time to walk to Old Faithful.

We manage to find a spot for us to sit in front of Old Faithful and waited for this famous geyser to erupt. After many near eruptions it finally erupted. We were able to see other geysers erupting around the area while we waited.

After lunch, we went to Observation Point Trail. This trail is relatively little used compared to the surrounding boardwalk trails around Upper Geyser Basin. From the Observation point, you can see Old Faithful and Old Faithful village.

Observation Point - Yellowstone National Park — Observation Point of Upper Geyser Basin

Continuing the trail, we stopped at Solitary Geyser. This geyser erupts about every four to eight minutes. Originally this geyser was a hot spring, but, when the water was diverted to a swimming pool causing the water level to lower, it began erupting. Even though the diversion of water has stopped and the level returned to previous level, the eruptions continue. When I was reading the sign about this geyser, it started erupting causing me to jump in surprise. Michael laughed at me and then the wind turned where he declared that he was going to wait for me down the trail because of the smelly “wet Earth farts.”

Solitary Geyser - Yellowstone National Park — Solitary Geyser - Observation Point Trail

We walked down the trail back to the main parts of the Upper Geyser Basin area. We had decided that we were going to view some of the other geysers and pools in the area. It was fascinating to view the pools with their various colors of orange to blue. We found out that the lighter the blue color of the spring the hotter it is.

Some of the geysers we viewed were Sawmill Geyser, Spasmodic Geyser, Beehive Geyser, and Castle Geyser. Sawmill Geyser (below left) is named for the whirring sound it makes during its eruption. It was probably the most active geyser we walked by since it kept spouting out continuously. Spasmodic Geyser (below middle) is a few feet away from Sawmill Geyser and we watch as it's two craters bubbled constantly. Beehive Geyser (below right) had some steam coming out while we passed it but sadly it didn't erupt while we were there.

Castle Geyser kept looking like it might erupt any time while we were in the area. The large and tall geyserite cone around the geyser really looked like a castle. This huge cone means that this geyser is thousands of years old. Castle Geyser drastically changed it surroundings by altering the soil chemistry, which destroyed part of a pine forest turning the area into a thermal desert. The large cone surrounding it has entombed tree skeletons.

Castle Geyser - Yellowstone National Park — Michael at Castle Geyser

Cascade Creek Trail to Terraced Falls

Michael and I learned about this hike from the bartender at Flagg Ranch. We were telling him of the various things we had done in Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. We mention that we had a “free” day the next day and were trying to figure out what to do. He told us of a fairly flat 3.9-mile hike that had around a 100-foot waterfall, and we would have the trail all to ourselves.

The next day, Michael and I jumped in our car and made our way to the trailhead from Flagg Ranch. The road out to the trailhead is about 12 miles on a gravel National Forest Service Road. The views from the car to the trailhead was really beautiful. We could see old wildfire damage. We also passed many campsites. The road was very rough and narrow in some spots.

Once we got to the parking area of the trailhead, we were excited to start hiking. From the trail you could hear water rushing and as we made our way down the trail, we ran into an entering Yellowstone National Park sign. We had no idea we were going to be hiking in Yellowstone!

Continuing on to the Terraced Falls trail when we reached the junction, we closely followed Cascade Creek. Along the trail, we stopped to view many other smaller waterfalls and enjoy the beautiful scenery. We talked loudly to notify any bears since we had this trail all to ourselves. We had bought bear spray when we first got into Jackson, Wyoming a few days pervious. Luckily, we didn’t see any wild animals while on the hike.

When we started hearing lots of running water we knew we had to be close. We noticed a large canyon and carefully looked over and saw the falls. Although the view from where we were at was less than ideal, it was still quite a beautiful site to sit and have a snack. After enjoying the falls, we retraced our steps back to the trailhead.