In front of stuff

Here are a collection of group portraits from across the park

Nickersons, Damien, Amanda and Zach at Artist's Point (Waterfall)

Morgan, Damien, Amanda, Zach, and the Nickersons at the top of the waterfall (just before the downpour)

Group portrait from the Badger Creek hike trail

...on which only some of us were prepared to climb through the wildflowers

Amanda at Grand Prismatic Spring

Amanda, Morgan, and Martha at Grand Prismatic Spring

Morgan, Martha, and Amanda on the Fairy Falls hike (above Grand Prismatic)

A puzzled Morgan

Damien, Amanda, Morgan, and Martha in front of Castle Geyser

Everyone in their usual holiday activity during the Lost Lake hike (where is the lake? Lost, of course!)

Artist's point

We were quite tired by the time we came onto Artist's point, and the clouds were threatening to unleash the fury of the rain and wind upon us. We had been promised that somewhere along the road leading to Artist's point, there was a dead bison on the side of the road, and it was with the hope of finding some a wolf or bear preying on the carcass that we set off to Artist's point rather than calling it a day and heading home.

As to not keep you in suspense: we did not find the bison that day. Or any other day for that matter. We really were not sure what to expect at Artist's point, as we had not done our research ahead of time and the name is not particularly enlightening. We expected a view of something, but of what we had no idea.

We were impressed when we came across the waterfalls. The eagle-eyed amongst you may note the people as small dots on the upper right hand side of the falls:

Artist point: outlook #1

Artist Point: outlook #2

We had a quick group portrait taken at Artist's point. Sadly we cannot see much of the canyon; this was a very crowded place and we were lucky to get the picture that we did.

Group portrait @ Artist's Point (also appears in blog entry "In Front of Stuff")

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed people in the distance at the top right of the waterfall. As a group we decided that we would try and make it there. The park map made it relatively easy: the name "Edge of Upper Falls" (there are actually two falls in the picture, although the upper one is so large that it hides the second one) made it clear where we should go.

Upper Falls edge: as the rain and hail come down (also appears in blog entry "In Front of Stuff")

You can tell we are in our rain gear now: a couple of minutes after we took this picture the rain (and hail) belted down on us, soaking us through. We were actually somewhat relieved, as we were able to head back home after a very full day in the park without anyone feeling as if they were spoiling it for everyone else.

Enter the dragon

The first geothermal activity we encountered in Yellowstone was on the Eastern side (between Tower-Roosevelt and Canyon Village). Similar sites are scattered across the park, but these made a particular impression on us. It is difficult to say whether that is because they were intrinsically interesting, or if it was lack of familiarity.

Mud Volcano: novelty probably won this battle

Looking back, the Mud Volcano was not much to look at. Across the road, however, was the Dragon's cave. The name and the plateau outside the entrance looked like it may hole more appeal.

Outside the dragon's mouth cave

When the wind was blowing in just the right direction, the dragon's cave lived up to its name:

Dragon's mouth cave: probably would have made it without the novelty factor

Note:
I wonder who gets the privilege of naming the sites in Yellowstone. There are some very poetic and descriptive names (such as Dragon's [mouth] cave), descriptive names with some thought (Old Faithful, Castle Geyser), boring descriptive names (Riverside Geyser), not-at-all useful names (Grand Geyser, Giant Geyser -- what is the difference?), and finally just plain old boring names (Norris Geysers, presumably named after Norris).