Ok, a great friend of mine told me that the only thing she remembers from Yellowstone as a kid is the SMELL and it wasnt a nice one. The sulfur in the ground may have been the cause, or so she thought. It was really bad around the geysers. Can anyone confirm this????? It wont effect our trip, we are all still going next July, but jsut curouis, lol
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5 helpful votes Yes, there are some geysers that are stinky. And yes, a kid would probably remember the smell the most. The Mud Vocano, Dragon's Mouth and Sulphur Caldron area between Fishing Bridge and Canyon are, in my opinion, the most odorous. If the wind is just right you can smell them even before you drive up to them. That being said, I look at the funky sulpher smell as part of the adventure that is Yellowstone Park.
Deb
I am pretty sure that smell is a very clear memory for all our children. In some odd way it does add to the experience.
You may be driving down the road and get a wiff of sulpher. We were fishing in the Hoback and we could smell sulpher because it was coming out of the ground. As an adult, just a minor/occasional annoyance. As a kid, smells like someone just set off a smoke bomb...LOL. Overall, not something to worry about.
Well like I said, I'm not concerened but she is thinking of shortening their days there because of it and heading to Grand Tetons a day earlier. That is really the only thing she remembers, the smell,lol. But as a family, when she was a kid, they didntget out and look at things much while driving thru. Hopefully her exerpience next year will be a better one!!
OK - the mudpots and some of the other hotsprings have the 'rotten eggs" smell. As an adult, I find that it makes them more interesting, but some kids hate it! It does not make the whole park smell, you can only smell it in the immediate area of the thermal features. Areas like Old Faithful, and the geyser basins have very little sulpher smell to them.
So, you move away from that particular location if the smell is bothersome. :)
Besides, after touring the geothermal areas, it'll be the falls, canyon, and wildlife. Give the kids a camera or two, even cheap digitals take great photos. Ask folks with scopes what they see; they will probably let you look. The kids will be happy. Don't know their ages...
And if you can, bring good binoculars, not opera glasses. With kids those ages (from a prior post), two would be better.
I had to laugh at your question.
My kids - as most - always complained about the smell around the mud pots. I think, though, that they were using that as an excuse to go someplace where the fishing was better :-)
Thanks everyone!!
The smell varies from place to place, but the painted mud pots in the Hayden Valley (between Canyon and Lake Yellowstone) smells the worst.
The smell actually grows on you after a while.
Check out http://www.usparkinfo.com/yellowstone.html
Hope that helps!
Jeff
