Toni's Tribute to All Countries, But Mostly America

The Lewis Lake Adventure. After three days exploring all of the uniquely beautiful (and heavily crowded) sites Yellowstone has to offer, we headed for the backcountry. Man oh man, did we find backcountry.   Challenge one:     Warned to get an early start, it was not long past 0730 when we headed out on kayaks to cross Lewis Lake. The skies were clear enough, but a stiff wind quickly came up to harass us. Luckily, the wind was at our backs, but it didn’t bode well coming so early in the day. Three miles later, we had made our way to the north end of the lake to the mouth of the Lewis River which flows into Lewis Lake. Challenge two: The first two miles up the Lewis River were delightful. The wind didn’t make its way into the channel, the sun shone, and we came across a great deal of waterfowl; osprey, mergansers, golden eye ducks, pelicans, blue herons, and geese. And we were completely alone for the first time in a long while, yah! But eventually the channel narrowed and ...

  Yellowstone is a massive park; it’s impossible to see it all in just three days. But we did a fairly good job at relishing the highlights. The actual caldera (where all of the geothermal activity occurs) measures a ginormous 30 miles long by 45 miles wide. Today was our last day to explore the best sites, and we hit everything on my long list thanks to a very patient and willing husband. Three amazing things means 3 (or more)  amazingly unique geyser basins… #1- Fountain Paint Pots with its boardwalk past sputtering mud pools, sulphuric smelling fumeroles (steam vents), agitated geysers, and hot springs of delightfully various colors. #2- Grand Prismatic Pool Overlook, which is my favorite site in all of Yellowstone. #3- Norris Geyser Basin with countless geothermally active areas accessible by boardwalk including a massive bowl called Porcelain Basin   which was delightfully colorful. #4- Artists Paint Pots, another basin with acidic mud pots which are quite entertaini...