Yellowstone Lake

With less than a week left in our stay near Yellowstone, we decided to make one last trip into the park. We packed a picnic and headed for Yellowstone Lake. Shortly after entering the park we saw our requisite bison for the day.

We chose the southern route to the lake, which took us by the lovely Firehole River and many steamy geyser basins.

We made a stop along the Firehole to check out Kepler Cascades, a couple of miles south of Old Faithful. The cascades make multiple drops over 150 feet. They look and sound beautiful!

We enjoyed our picnic lunch near the West Thumb Geyser Basin on the shore of Yellowstone Lake.

This basin has a little bit of everything. Paul led the way around the boardwalk through the basin and along the lakeshore as we passed mud pots, springs, pools and geysers.

The geysers were dormant during our visit. But, the pools and springs were very colorful.

This beautiful blue pool is, in our opinion, misnamed. What do the good folks at Yellowstone call this place? Black Pool. Really!

Isn't this a beauty? Paul declared Abyss Pool the coolest thing he's seen in Yellowstone. At 53 feet, it's one of the deepest hot springs in the park. All that hot water gives it lots of jewel-toned shimmer.

Looks like we definitely saved the best of Yellowstone for last!