| (Yellowstone Trip - June 9 to June 24, 2000 - Part 11) | |
| Tuesday,
June 20, 2000
We rose slowly – so slowly that in spite of the cold, all evidence of snow was gone by the time we left Grant Village. We did a quick sweep of the West Thumb Geyser Basin. We didn’t see any geysers there, so maybe it should be called "West Thumb Hot Spring Basin." Apparently the geysers that are there are pretty much dormant at present. |
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| Last year when we were there, the lake
was frozen and snow was falling, so this year we were impressed by the
improvement sunshine mades in the colors we saw - and
in our disposition! |
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| The clouds look threatening, but they were soon on their way. | |
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| Such interesting colors! |  |
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| We checked
out some trailheads on the way to Old Faithful: DeLacy Creek for
the next day's hike and Lone Star for the Mom moose and calf that Steve
H. saw last week. They must have just been there for him, for they were
nowhere in sight for us.
The day’s big event was meeting Matthew (the Funkygeyserman) McLean for a geyser tour. We arrived at the appointed time (high noon) and place (Ham Store), but no FGM. After about 20 minutes we were questioning our memory, so Carol went to up the Inn to check for him there. Meanwhile, Beehive was erupting, the cameras were in the car, and Carol had the keys. Hrrmmmph! Shortly after Beehive finished, a young man wearing a Cincinnati Bearcats jacket entered the Ham store….could it be anyone else? Apologizing, Matt cites Beehive’s tardiness for his delay. Of course - we should have guessed that's where he was! Carol returned soon, and we were also joined by two other geyser gazers: Mike from Las Vegas and Kyle from Mississippi. The lunchtime conversation revolved around – you guessed it – geysers and gazing – and the fact that EVERYTHING (that is, all of the good geysers) already gone off that morning. |
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| With less to choose from, the plan was to wait at Artemisia and maybe dash up the street and catch Riverside. So after lunch, we lag behind to bundle up a bit (it's still cold despite the sunny day), but soon catch up with the three geyser gazers. | |
| We reached Artemisia well after 2:00 p.m, and meet another "gazer" (also named Matt) had been there for hours. He said that Artemisia’s usual interval was 12-18 hours, and now it was late. |
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| So we waited a while in the cold and wind. Matt walked us up the hill just above Artemisia to look at a couple of smaller milky springs. |  |
| Here is the Funky-G-Man giving John his best "Geysers 101" talk. Gazer Mike listens in too, while intently gazing! |  |
| Mostly it was fun to be around someone with so much enthusiasm sharing his knowledge and delight in these treasures of nature! |  |
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