This day started early with a focus on hiking to the summit of Mount Washburn. There are two trails that lead up, both being roads, only one of which is still used as a road. We took the trail up from Dunraven Pass, which we learned from some random guy on the way down used to be a road used by busses to take people to the summit. Here’s a view of the “road” as it passes up the ridge to the summit of Mount Washburn.
The whole hike up provided ever-prettier views of primarily the eastern direction from Mount Washburn. Here’s a shot from the road up. I can’t believe they actually drove busses on this road.
The summit was an absolutely amazing location. There was a tower at the top containing bathrooms and a two-story visitor center. The upper level of the visitor center was a balcony where you could take in the sights to the north, east, and west of Mount Washburn as seen here:
After descending from Mount Washburn, we decided to head back down toward the Grand Village area, but before we could get to our destination, we encountered a large herd of bison along the Yellowstone River.
Our destination near Grand Village was the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This is really the first time we’ve gotten to see any of the numerous hot springs and geysers here in the park (aside from Mud Volcano yesterday, but those really aren’t springs). Here’s a good sampling of a hot spring in this area:
What was really interesting is that there were active springs and geysers right along the shore of the lake, and even inside the lake as you see below, which you would think would interfere with the geothermal feature due to the large body of water.
Here’s another of the beautiful hot springs in this area:
This one gets its name genuinely from the depth, which you might be able to see in the picture below. These pools show a deeper blue the deeper the pool is from the minerals in the water.
One thing we thought was quite interesting was how life in this area is very difficult due to the heat and chemicals in the ground. These trees and shrubs here show how much of a struggle it really is.
The remaining interesting feature we saw here is the Thumb Paint Pots, which shows some of the variety in color, particularly in this case with a teal color and the murky water making it look just like a bowl of paint.
After we finished up at the West Thumb Geyser Basin, we had dinner at Grant Village and proceeded to do one remaining trail, the trail up to Elephant Back Mountain. We really didn’t like this trail as much as we have the others, and it was raining or threatening to rain the entire way, but there was at least an interesting view of the lake from the top.
This concluded our activity from today, and as we reflected on it, we both agreed that Mount Washburn was one of the most beautiful experiences we’ve had the whole trip. Here’s to hoping we continue to take in such beauty at Yellowstone National Park!