Yellowstone National Park Thread: Photos
I worked at two different lodges in Yellowstone National Park.
I will start this thread with some photos of my favorite place inside the park. Then I will attach a description of what it is like to live and work inside a National Park.
This is Old Faithful geyser. It is not the biggest geyser, or the most colorful, but it erupts every 90 minutes, +-10 minutes, like clockwork.
All of these photos are by me.

Yellowstone National Park Thread: Photos
One of the most amazing things about Yellowstone National Park is the wildlife.
For one of my jobs I gave safety briefings to new employees. I would tell them:
“Bison can weigh over 2,000 lbs. They run as fast as the fastest racehorse, and they can jump 6ft in the air from a prone position. If you see it raise and wiggle its tail, get the hell out of there. They scare me more than bears.”
I took this photo from my car near Mammoth Geyser Basin

Yellowstone National Park Thread: Photos
This is my favorite spot, Emerald Spring. It is around 2 miles away from where I lived when I worked at Old Faithful Snow Lodge. It is approximately 30 feet deep.
There is almost no editing on this photo, and there is no color added. That’s what the sky looked like that day.
The weather in Yellowstone fluctuates tremendously because of the thermal activity. Around five minutes after I took this photo hail stones the size of my thumb started to fall.

Yellowstone National Park Thread: Photos
This is the footpath behind Old Faithful at one of the places where it crosses Firehole River.
I took this photo early in the morning. My favorite time to explore was before the tourists would awaken.
People would always ask about fishing, and I would say that most of the rivers in Yellowstone don’t have fish in them because of the sulfur. content.
The geothermal features pictured in the background pour into the rivers making it inhospitable to fish.

Yellowstone National Park Thread:
#PhotographyQV
Excelsior Geyser Crater.
Excelsior is the largest of the many pools near the more famous Grand Prismatic. Personally, I think Excelsior is prettier than Grand Prismatic from up close, but Grand Prismatic is more beautiful from the nearby overlook.
Photo by me.

Yellowstone National Park Thread:
#PhotographyQV
Island Park, Idaho.
A wise man once told me. “Not only is Yellowstone National Park God’s country, but so is a 100 miles in every direction, and you don’t have to fight the tourists.”
Island Park, Idaho was one of my favorite places I found while exploring the nearby area when I lived in Yellowstone.
Walking through the wild flowers felt like I’d stepped right into a painting by Claude Monet.
Photo by me.

Yellowstone National Park Thread:
#PhotographyQV
This is the trail near Roosevelt Lodge that leads to Yancey’s Hole.
I saw a white wolf near here at dusk the day I took this photo.
John F. Yancey operated the long since gone Pleasant Valley Hotel. Teddy Roosevelt used to camp in the neighboring valley that now houses the lodge that bears his name.
Yancey shared his favorite fishing hole with Teddy, and now the whole area is known as Yancey’s Hole.
Photo by me.

Yellowstone National Park Thread:
#PhotographyQV
Isa Lake.
Along the pass between Old Faithful and Yellowstone Lake sits the small, tranquil, beautiful Isa Lake.
Isa Lake spans the Continental Divide.
While small, Isa Lake has the distinction of being one of the few lakes in the world that drains into two different oceans. To the west, by way of Lewis River, Isa drains into the Pacific, and to the east, by way of Firehole River, it drains into the Gulf of Mexico.
Photo by me.

Yellowstone National Park Thread:
#PhotographyQV
Firehole River.
Tranquil in some places, boiling even in winter in others, the Firehole River meanders through Yellowstone National Park.
Firehole River is known as a choice fly fishing destination for both brown and rainbow trout, despite its geothermal feature.
Firehole also has some of the best swimming holes in the park.
I took this photo somewhere along the road in between Old Faithful and West Yellowstone.
Photo by me.

Yellowstone National Park Thread:
#PhotographyQV
Coulter Bay, Grand Teton NP.
The most beautiful mountain face in the USA, in my humble opinion, is Grand Teton. It is located directly south of Yellowstone, and a single entrance fee covers both parks.
The water is pristine, crisp, and crystal clear. I took this photo from the Shoreline Trail near Coulter Bay Village.
If I ever go back to working in a National Park, it will be at Grand Teton.
Photo by me.

Living in Yellowstone Thread:
#PhotographyQV
You never get to know a place as deeply and as intimately as when you live there.
In the next few post I will describe what it’s like to live and work in Yellowstone National Park.
Photo taken by me near the Roosevelt Arch in Montana with Electric Peak in the background,

Living in Yellowstone Thread:
#PhotographyQV
Yellowstone is a magical, majestic, and monumentally unique place.
2/3 of the geothermal geysers in the world are located there.
The National Park spans portions of 3 states, hosts 4.3 million visitors a year, and is one of the best places in North America to view wildlife.
In addition to all of that, for a rag-tag bunch of misfits that fluctuates depending on the season, Yellowstone is home.
Photo by me, Old Faithful Loop

Living in Yellowstone Thread:
#PhotographyQV
The concessionaire company where I worked is the biggest in the park, oversees the operation of all of the historic lodges, and employs 8,000 people during the peak season.
Those 8,000 people live, work, and play together.
There is virtually no cellphone service in the park, and the internet does not exist in most of the employee housing.
Our social networking consisted primarily of meeting at the employee pub.
Photo by me, Lower Geyser Basin

Living in Yellowstone Thread:
#PhotographyQV
Yellowstone employees come from all over the world. My two best friends there were from Romania and Taiwan.
By the end of the summer, I had over 200 foreign Facebook friends, and invitations to visit a half dozen different countries. Looking back, I remember the people I met there at least as fondly as the sights I saw.
This concludes my Yellowstone Thread. If anyone wants more information about visiting or working there, feel free to ask.
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