Visiting The Sulphur Caldron - Yellowstone National Park

A Detour Through Yellowstone

A while back we had to take a trip from Florida to California and decided to take the very long way. I have done this trip many, many times over the years, but we thought this time we'd make it interesting!

We started off in Gainesville, Florida and drove north to Kentucky to visit my mom. Afterward we went up further and stopped in Dayton, Ohio to visit the rest of my family. We continued up to Wisconsin and spent a couple of days with some old friends of Amanda, then finally started to head west across the top of the country.

Obviously there was a lot in between, but this post is specifically about our detour into Yellowstone! This trip had enough adventures to fill many volumes of posts. Sadly I don't have a whole lot of photos of the other stops as my camera got damaged on the trip, losing a lot of images.

I had not been to Yellowstone before so I was pretty excited about driving through. We didn't have a lot of time to really take it all in, so I only experienced a small part of the park. But boy, is it beautiful! Yellowstone National Park truly is a national treasure.

Taking a Break at a Gorgeous Lake

From what I can remember, we hadn't been driving that far into the park before we happened upon this amazing lake. We thought we'd just park the car and get out to take a break and sit for a while at the water's edge.

I'm sure that the dogs were quite happy to get out and run around as well. We had been driving straight for about 12 hours - I think it was time for a rest!

I couldn't tell when we first drove in that the lake opened up into a massive expanse of water, but once I saw it, it felt as if we were on the beach rather than at a lake edge. The water was crystal clear and ice cold! I can still feel the warm breeze on my face and the smell of that fresh air as I gazed off into the distance. Something about being in this environment just completely decompresses the stresses held in the body.

Onward to the Caldron!

I was mostly excited about visiting the Sulphur Caldron, as I had heard about it for years but never saw anything like it in real life. The one thing that I was not quite expecting, which should be obvious is the extremely pungent odor of the sulfur bubbling up to the surface.

I think I was starting to get on Amanda's nerves by constantly quoting characters from the movie Labyrinth with reference to the Bog of Eternal Stench. I mean, that's pretty much what it looked like, and how you'd imagine the bog smelling.

It was pretty eggy and rancid to start with, but after a while, the awfulness of the smell just kind of wore off and you just get used to it. Apparently the smell is superseded by the realization that you're standing on the caldera of largest volcanoes in the world! It kind of shifts your concerns a little bit.

As it mentions on the information plaque, the caldron is home to all kinds of organisms. The microorganisms that make the acidic environment home are known as thermoacidophiles. Now that is a mouthful!

Imagine calling that muddle puddle of boiling stench your home! Oh wait, but look there at the bottom middle right of the photo! I didn't catch that little guy until after I took the photo, actually. There he was, a little beaver just taking in the fumes. Is this like beaver recreational drugs?

I went ahead and readjusted the camera and got a closer look. He just sat there, almost completely motionless for the majority of the time we were there. Well, as long as he's having a good time. Sometimes I think animals have the right idea, and we're the ones who are doing it wrong.

Sadly We Had to Move On

After a couple of hours hanging out and enjoying the wonders of nature it was time to continue on with our trip. We had already turned a 5 day trip into a 3 week adventure and it was time to get back home to get some work done. Unfortunately we can't live off of sulphur fumes!

One group of images that got destroyed that I would really have liked to share was a massive bison crossing. We got stuck on the road while 100s of bison crossed the street in front of us. It was quite an amazing thing to see! Perhaps one day we'll go back up that way and see what else there is to discover. Until then, we have our memories - and a few pictures!