May 20, Monday Day 2
After retrieving the car from its electric charging station, eating some breakfast of fruit and cheese in our suite and putting on most of the clothing layers we had, it was 29 degrees at 7:00 am, we headed back into the Park destined for the Mammoth Hot Springs site.
The Park entrance had a long line of cars and it took us about 10 minutes to get to the Ranger kiosk' She waved us through upon showing my senior pass and did not even ask for ID.
Yellowstone was the first national park in the US, and also the world. It was established by President Grant well before the National park Service was established, so for many years it was administered, and protected, by the US Army. It is the largest Park in the Lower 48, roughly equivalent in size to the state of Connecticut, and the largest intact ecosystem. That means that all of the species that had roamed this sweeping mountain plateau are still (or as is the case with gray wolves, are once again) in residence. In 1988 there were large wildfires in the Park that impacted a third of its land, but nature has largely refurbished those areas.
We got to the Springs about 10:00 am and there were a surprising number of visitors. Not crowded, but more people than I expected for a cold day before Memorial Day. The first thing I saw was Liberty Cap, a large cone that once was a hot spring but is now dormant and from which all the surrounding rock, except the cone, has been eroded away.
We walked around the amazing geothermal features for 2 1/4 hours marveling at the colors, the steam and the tiny creatures, thermophiles, that thrived there. These thermal features are an indication of this area's volcanic past, present and probably future. The geology is constantly changing as the hot water seeps to the surface creating new formations and small earthquakes alter the path of the underground water. Since this is a limestone formation the rock formations are not strong enough to hold the water down, thus no pressure builds up and there are only a few very small geysers here. The travertine rock terraces are constantly growing, some as much as a foot each year, as
minerals are deposited on the existing rocks. This sometimes causes the need to reposition the boardwalks that the public is supposed to stay on. The travertine looks like an enormous cream-colored confection.
We climbed up to the top of the formation alone the wooden boardwalks and along with taking in the sights we took in the smells of the emerging gases.
We the did a quick stopover at the visitors center to get some maps and directions. We drove east along the northern loop where we saw lots of wildlife, buffalo, elk and deer. Buffalo are technically called bison and as they can weight up to 2000 lbs, they are the largest land mammal in North America. It is amazing that they can get so big when their primary food source is grass and sedges. We saw many calves Their orange fur makes them easy to spot.
The presence of the wildlife makes for "bear traps" on the road. Seemingly whenever there are animals visible from the road, visitors stop their cars, sometimes they pull off to the side, but if that is not possible they simply stop on the road. This creates traffic tie-ups and I imagine in the summer it must create gridlock on the two lane park roads.
We turned off the main road to view the petrified tree and hike to Lost Lake. There was a short hike to the tree. It was OK. Then we started up the hill on a loop trail to the lake. As we attained the summit after a steep incline we found two buffalo astride the trail. They were very slowly moving around all the while grazing and then one just plopped down on the trail. It was obvious that they were not moving quickly so we turned around and went back down to hike the loop in the other direction. On that loop we soon encountered a large steam that was difficult to cross and it began to rain, so we returned to the car.
We drove past Tower Junction where on a trip 6 years ago I left my Blackberry in the bathroom. The Park Service returned it to me about two weeks later.
We stopped at Tower Falls and hiked about .5 mile out to the falls. The water cascades 132 ft into the Gardiner River and a very impressive canyon.
At this point the road was closed until May 24 so we could not go up to Dunraven Pass. Instead we tuned around to make our way back to the Visitors Center. On the way we encountered a few bear traps and took a few short hikes to view the canyon. Pretty awesome scenery.
On the way out we stopped off at the Albright Visitors Center again to look at the wildlife and history exhibits, and the usual Park movie. This one had scenes of visitors being attacked by wildlife. One showed an elk tossing a person up into a tree. There were animals walking around the outside of the Center There was also an art gallery that contained reproductions of Thomas Moran's watercolors from the late 1800s that popularized the site and lead to its designation as a national park.
We also briefly walked around Ft. Yellowstone, which is a collection of buildings built by the Army when it ran the Park from 1886-1918. The buildings are still in use.
We then returned to Gardiner, plugged in the car and ate dinner at K Bar. Enjoyed a big pizza, local beer and conversation with the bartender who had relocated from Texas.
After retrieving the car from its electric charging station, eating some breakfast of fruit and cheese in our suite and putting on most of the clothing layers we had, it was 29 degrees at 7:00 am, we headed back into the Park destined for the Mammoth Hot Springs site.
The Park entrance had a long line of cars and it took us about 10 minutes to get to the Ranger kiosk' She waved us through upon showing my senior pass and did not even ask for ID.
Yellowstone was the first national park in the US, and also the world. It was established by President Grant well before the National park Service was established, so for many years it was administered, and protected, by the US Army. It is the largest Park in the Lower 48, roughly equivalent in size to the state of Connecticut, and the largest intact ecosystem. That means that all of the species that had roamed this sweeping mountain plateau are still (or as is the case with gray wolves, are once again) in residence. In 1988 there were large wildfires in the Park that impacted a third of its land, but nature has largely refurbished those areas.
We got to the Springs about 10:00 am and there were a surprising number of visitors. Not crowded, but more people than I expected for a cold day before Memorial Day. The first thing I saw was Liberty Cap, a large cone that once was a hot spring but is now dormant and from which all the surrounding rock, except the cone, has been eroded away.
 |
| Liberty Cap |
We walked around the amazing geothermal features for 2 1/4 hours marveling at the colors, the steam and the tiny creatures, thermophiles, that thrived there. These thermal features are an indication of this area's volcanic past, present and probably future. The geology is constantly changing as the hot water seeps to the surface creating new formations and small earthquakes alter the path of the underground water. Since this is a limestone formation the rock formations are not strong enough to hold the water down, thus no pressure builds up and there are only a few very small geysers here. The travertine rock terraces are constantly growing, some as much as a foot each year, as
 |
Travertine limestone
|
We the did a quick stopover at the visitors center to get some maps and directions. We drove east along the northern loop where we saw lots of wildlife, buffalo, elk and deer. Buffalo are technically called bison and as they can weight up to 2000 lbs, they are the largest land mammal in North America. It is amazing that they can get so big when their primary food source is grass and sedges. We saw many calves Their orange fur makes them easy to spot.
The presence of the wildlife makes for "bear traps" on the road. Seemingly whenever there are animals visible from the road, visitors stop their cars, sometimes they pull off to the side, but if that is not possible they simply stop on the road. This creates traffic tie-ups and I imagine in the summer it must create gridlock on the two lane park roads.
We turned off the main road to view the petrified tree and hike to Lost Lake. There was a short hike to the tree. It was OK. Then we started up the hill on a loop trail to the lake. As we attained the summit after a steep incline we found two buffalo astride the trail. They were very slowly moving around all the while grazing and then one just plopped down on the trail. It was obvious that they were not moving quickly so we turned around and went back down to hike the loop in the other direction. On that loop we soon encountered a large steam that was difficult to cross and it began to rain, so we returned to the car.
We drove past Tower Junction where on a trip 6 years ago I left my Blackberry in the bathroom. The Park Service returned it to me about two weeks later.
We stopped at Tower Falls and hiked about .5 mile out to the falls. The water cascades 132 ft into the Gardiner River and a very impressive canyon.
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| Falls and 3 towers |
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| Canyon below Tower Falls |
On the way out we stopped off at the Albright Visitors Center again to look at the wildlife and history exhibits, and the usual Park movie. This one had scenes of visitors being attacked by wildlife. One showed an elk tossing a person up into a tree. There were animals walking around the outside of the Center There was also an art gallery that contained reproductions of Thomas Moran's watercolors from the late 1800s that popularized the site and lead to its designation as a national park.
We also briefly walked around Ft. Yellowstone, which is a collection of buildings built by the Army when it ran the Park from 1886-1918. The buildings are still in use.
We then returned to Gardiner, plugged in the car and ate dinner at K Bar. Enjoyed a big pizza, local beer and conversation with the bartender who had relocated from Texas.
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