Bison, Bears and Wolves, Oh My (We hope)!! - TR UPDATE!! 8-19-14 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Norris Geyser Basin - and a Grizzly Bear
Our next stop was the Norris Geyser Basin - but right as we left Artist Paint Pots - we came across this guy right on the side of the road - our first bison!
He was just sitting there - less than 20 feet from the road.
We stopped the car - got out and took photos. I kept telling Chris not to get too close..
Next we we on to the Norris Geyser Basin - this is the most dynamic and changing geyser basin in the park. Ground temperatures have exceeded 200 degrees F in recent years - it is a very active basin.
Norris is one of the most active earthquake areas in the park, and although it is outside of the Yellowstone caldera (the caldera formed during the last eruption of the super volcano) it is inside the caldera from the first eruption. It is also one of the most acidic hydrothermal areas in the park.
Each year new hot springs and geysers appear while others become dormant or change previously mapped patterns. There are two basins at Norris - the Back Basin and the Porcelain Basin. We opted to start with the larger of the two - the Back Basin.
Emerald Spring is the first spring you come to on the Back Basin trail.
And then we came to the largest and highest geyser in the whole park - Steamboat geyser
Steamboat is VERY unpredictable - it has gone years between eruptions. When it erupts it shoots 300 feet into the air - and in between eruptions it sputters and sprays between 10-40 feet of hot water into the air.
There are two areas to see Steamboat - and when we came around the corner - we discovered that it last erupted on July 31 of this year.
Then we moved on to Cistern Spring - which is connected to Steamboat Geyser - after Steamboat erupts - Cistern drains.
The spring is a beautiful blue or green color with constant overflow (that is why all the trees around it are dead), It deposits up to 1/2 inch of sinter, another name for opaline siilca called geyserite, each year. The silca rich waters have killed the surrounding trees.
Next up was the best named Geyser in the whole park (as least as far as this marine biologist is concerned) - Echinus Geyser
It is names for its black deposits that look like the spines of echinoderms (sea urchins and sea stars). Iron oxides cause the red-orange color of the pool.
While we were here - we met ranger Kevin. He had been told there was a mother grizzly and her cub walking on the boardwalks... and he needed to find her and "discourage" her from being in a high human area. They think she is a new mom and now is a good time to teach her and the cub that it is a good idea to just avoid people. Kevin had his bear spray (we did not invest in a can - $50 each) although it was very available - and he was looking for her. We came across some German tourists who had just seen her and had the photos to prove it. So we walked with Kevin and talked awhile - he even helped verify our scaly friend from Artists Paint Pots was the "wandering garter snake" with his official guide to Yellowstone wildlife issued to all the rangers. He is a seasonal ranger- he works from April - Oct - and spends the rest of the year doing other jobs in nearby Livingston, MT. He is working toward being a full time ranger.
After looking for mama and her cub - we split with Ranger Kevin and continued on our way around Back Basin - Next up was Mystic Spring.
We kept hiking along - and all of a sudden Chris hollered STOP!! I turned around and walked back to him - there in the mud were BEAR TRACKS!!
These appeared to be the cubs prints since they were so SMALL.... (as large as Chris' foot!!)
And a little further down the trail - we found more prints - this time you can clearly see the claws -
Next we passed Puff n Stuff Geyser
and the Green Dragon Spring.
Then we came to the Yellow funnel Spring - which used to have yellow walls from the sulfur it emits
After the Yellow Funnel - the trail began a "new" route. Before 2004 - the trail crossed over to pearl geyser - but in 2003 this area became superheated - with the sidewalks burning and people's feet baking - and a new geyser/spring feature emerging that threw superheated scalding water onto guests as they passed - so the park service rerouted the trail beginning in 2004 passing another one of my favorites - the Pork Chop Geyser.
This geyser, when seen from above, was shaped like a pork chop. It was more of a spring than a geyser - but in 1989 it erupted - and in fact it exploded - throwing rock more than 200 feet away - it erupted violently again in 2003 (the same time as the superheating event) and since then has been a pretty quiet little spring again.
After pork chop comes Pearl Geyser - it was empty when we were there - but it was gurgling - when it erupts it throws water 8 feet into the air. And then we ran into Ranger Rita - she was walking the trails - keeping an eye out for mamma/cub - as well as making notes. We told her about the tracks - and right as we passed it - Vixen Geyser erupted -
Rita took notes about the eruption and Chris and I continued on.
About this time, it was 4pm and we realized if we didn't get a move on - it would be 8 or 9 before we got to Mammoth and our hotel for the night... so we passed by Palpitator Springs (which made me giggle cause I originally thought it said Radiator springs); then on to Monarchs geyser - which used to be a HUGE geyser in the late 1880s... now, not so much, it just overflows and does not erupt.
The last geyser we passed was minute geyser - this geyser used to erupt very high - but the stagecoach stop was right near it - and bored guests would toss things into the pool of the geyser - which clogged it up, damaging the pluming - which effectively killed it. That story made me sad and mad for the ignorance of people.... destroying something so lovely.
We opted not to head to Porcelain Basin - we just didn't have time for another 30-45 minute loop - we'd already taken more than an hour to do back basin.
So we headed to the parking lot, and loaded back in the car. Next time - I want to do the Porcelain Basin - as well as visit the small visitor's center at Norris.
A bison and bear prints! Bet Chris was happy. The geysers are so amazing. 200 degrees! The color of the deposits around Echinus Geyser remind me of red tide. HOT red tide.
Cool pictures of the bison! Sorry all you got to see were the bear prints, but that is still cool, too. I really am enjoying all the information about this park.
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Originally Posted by lauriep
A bison and bear prints! Bet Chris was happy. The geysers are so amazing. 200 degrees! The color of the deposits around Echinus Geyser remind me of red tide. HOT red tide.
Red tide is a good analogy - although in most of these springs some of the colors are due to bacteria - where ride tides are usually due to algae.
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I don't like snakes one bit, but I'm glad Chris finally got to see one on your park adventures. 
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Deb
- throwing rock more than 200 feet away 
- it erupted violently again in 2003 (the same time as the superheating event) and since then has been a pretty quiet little spring again.
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