Final Two Stops in Yellowstone

Beryl Spring. Yet another really awesome attraction that I only knew about by driving past it.

The final stop of the Yellowstone visit was supposed to be Artist's Paint Pots.  But, again, major traffic back-up in the parking lot.  The Geyser Basin area in the southwestern part of the Figure 8 seems to get a whole lot more traffic than the rest of the park.  So I decided to skip it.

But, as I was driving along, this caught my eye.

Beryl Spring.  It certainly was letting off a lot of steam.

It was named for the fact that, at certain times of the year, when the sun is at the correct angle in the sky, the color of the pool is the blue-green of the beryl gemstone.

Even if it is not the right time of the year, it was worth turning the car around to take a look-see.

Yellowstone is full of places like this.  They're not prominent in any guidebooks, yet they grab your eye when you are driving by and you immediately do a U-turn to check out the place.  This is why the automobile will always be the best way to see America's national parks.

And befitting that theme is the final stop on my Yellowstone tour:

Gibbon Falls.  Yet another place I only learned about by driving past it.

Gibbon Falls is so named because this is the Gibbon River and there is a waterfall:

Gibbon Falls in all its glory.

And that concludes my visit to Yellowstone.

Another item crossed off my "Before They Cut My Feet Off" list.