Day 28 & 29- Yellowstone Part 1 – Geyser’s and Northwest section

EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to feedback the app was not showing all photos when large number of photos are uploaded for a post, we are breaking up Yellowstone into 3 parts- 1) geysers and northwest part 2) Lamar Valley and Grand Canyon and 3) outside the park and drive to Cody.

Yellowstone. What a special place, a geological wonder, vast diverse beauty, from meadows to alpine tundra and an abundance of flora and wildlife. After five days, we saw a lot, but know we only scratched the surface of the vastness of what

this national park offers. Some facts, the park spans an area of 3,468.4 sq mi comprising lakes, canyons, rivers, and mountain ranges, it was the first national park, established in 1872. The park is known for its wildlife and it's many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While Native Americans lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. One of the early explores included John Colter, member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who explored the park during the winter of 1807-1808. He observed at least one geothermal area and described a place of "fire and brimstone" that most people dismissed as delirium due to wounds he suffered in a battle fighting with the Crow and Blackfoot tribes. Over the next 40 years, numerous reports from mountain men and trappers told of boiling mud, steaming rivers, and petrified trees, yet most of these reports were believed at the time to be a myth.

In 1859, U.S. Army Surveyor Captain William F. Raynolds embarked on a two-year survey of the southern central Rockies. Raynolds and his party, including geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden, attempted to cross the Continental Divide but were

driven back by heavy snow, otherwise they would have been the first organized survey of Yellowstone region. The American Civil War hampered further organized explorations. 1869 and 1870 saw the first detailed expeditions where parties spent months surveying and exploring the region, collecting specimens and naming sites of interest. Nathaniel Langford, from the 1870 party and geologist Ferdinand Hayden were instrumental in convincing Congress to make Yellowstone a national park.

Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation (7733’) lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered a dormant volcano. It has erupted with

tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Well over half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the lower United States. Grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly 36% of the park or 800,000 acers burned. Small fires outside the northwest part of the park quickly spread out of the control and burned across the northern portion of the park, though 9,000 firefighters fought the wildfire, it was only stopped by the fall snows.

Onto our adventures, we

arrived Grizzly RV Park Saturday afternoon just outside of the West Yellowstone entrance after a leisurely drive down the back roads of Montana. We set up camp and headed off to explore the park in the late afternoon. Frist stop was Grand Prismatic Spring, we walked the boardwalk and enjoyed the views. Amazing to see the earth bubble up and all the vivid colors in the hot spring due to the microbial mats around the edges of the mineral-rich water which change color with the temperature of the water. We moved on to Fairy Falls and an uphill hike to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook. What a spectacular sight from above, you can really appreciate the colors of the spring. The mosquito’s drove us off the hiking trail so we headed to Old Faithful to see if we could catch the eruption. We stopped at the Old Faithful Inn, an amazing building built in the winter 1903-1904, it is the largest log building in the world. The seven-story lobby with 4 floors of balcony’s (2 open to the public) and 85’ tall stone fireplace was breathtaking. The timing didn’t work to catch the eruption, so we had dinner in the Bear Pit Lounge which was an ordeal. After two hours wait for burgers and drinks, Pat made friends with the dinning manager, and they used it as an opportunity to coach the bobblehead waitress. The delay may have helped us, as on the drive back to the west entrance we were treated

to a gray wolf walking down the side of the road. The only wolf we saw, and we were not fast enough to get a picture.

After Saturdays 7-hour adventure, we determined due to the sheer size of the park, you need a good plan. We decided to view the northwest part of the park Sunday and booked a hotel room at Canyon Villages for Monday night, that would allow us to focus on animal viewing in the Lamar Valley Monday afternoon and evening and the north and south rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone on Tuesday morning where the crowds can be overwhelming.

Sunday, we headed to the Northwest part of the park in the early afternoon. We started at Gibbon Falls, a moderate 84’ waterfall, it is located in a narrow canon that provides

wonderful views from the top and from afar looking back. Next stop was Artists Paint Pots trail, a two-mile hike to view a group of over 50 springs, geysers, vents and mud pots. You don’t think much of the mud pots until you look at the pictures and you understand their name, they look like paint burping. We stopped at Gibbon Meadow to view a lone bull bison, it looked like he was a little lame but we were not sure, he was off in the distance past the creek. Continuing up the very narrow winding road that takes you over the mountain to Mammoth Hot Springs where we caught an early dinner at the grill. We took the very steep winding road down to the Roosevelt Arch at the North entrance; I am glad I was not driving the RV on this road! In 1903 President Theodor Roosevelt laid the cornerstone, the top of the arch is inscribed with a quote from the Organic Act of 1872, the legislation which created Yellowstone, which reads: "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People". We doubled back to Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces and walked the boardwalk and trails to catch their views. Time to head back to West Glacier, up and over the

twisty winding road, we were fortunate to catch a herd of elk cows and calves in the marsh and crossing the creeks at sundown. To our surprise, a beaver swam up the creek as we were watching the elks. Such an awesome sight to just stop and absorb.
Weather: sunny, highs upper 80’s to mid 90’s, low’s mid 40’s
Pictures: Grand Prismatic, geothermals, Rosevelt Arch, Mammonth Hot Springs, evening animals by the river.