We got up early today for what (we hope) will be the longest touring driving day of the trip: just over 200 miles (at 35-40 mph!). Because of the sights, we weren’t concerned about the driving distance or the time, though. Vicki had planned an ambitious schedule for us – the only thing we decided to forego was the half-day hike she had planned for us to take to the top of Mt. Washburn.
Yellowstone is truly a huge park. Eli saw in a guidebook that the park is either a little bit larger, the same size, or a little bit smaller than the state of Delaware =) There are five 5-30 mile entrance roads from all points of the compass and the northeast that connect with two loops of about 60-80 miles, set on top of each other (a north and south loop) like a figure eight. Our trip took us around the outer edge of both loops (we entered from the 22 mile south entrance road), along the “Grand Loop”, following the edge of Yellowstone Lake on the south to within a mile of the north entrance to the park, in Montana. Big, big park.
What struck us all as we traveled today was the extraordinarily diverse topography of the landscape, which took us from forest-bounded mountain rivers to steaming geyser basins on a wide lakeshore, to cool pine forests, vast canyons and waterfalls, and flat, open prairies, all within a few miles of each other. Driving south from Mammoth Hot Springs, we watched the late afternoon sun set the sheer rocky cliffs of 8600 foot Bunsen Peak on fire as we switchbacked our way along a gorge, before emerging though the “Golden Gate” into an open grassy plain so instantaneously that it seemed like magic.
We started the day walking another boardwalk over a steaming West Thumb Geyser Basin along the West Thumb Bay of lake Yellowstone (the steep-sloped, deep bay had been formed by a volcanic eruption 25,000 years ago). Then Vicki steered us toward a pretty mile hike to a natural bridge (by Bridge Bay), where we saw scads of chipmunks. Along the way, we stopped for three elk to cross the road.
From the top of the lake (Fishing Village), we traveled a few miles north to Mud Volcano, a geyser that blew itself apart in the late 1800s, and listened to the huffing and puffing of the aptly named Dragon’s Mouth, an underground geyser that you could hear through the mouth of a cave. Just before the Mud Volcano stop, we took some pictures of a couple of bison grazing on the far shore of the Yellowstone River. As we drove north through Hayden Valley, we saw a herd of bison so large that I couldn’t take my eyes off of them, until I ran off the road briefly =) Turns out, that’s a big problem driving through Yellowstone.
We followed the river north to Canyon Village, where we crossed it to drive to Artist Point to gasp at the lower falls. Though Joy and Eli were not fond of my efforts to get a couple of family pictures, we were all suitably impressed by the 300 foot waterfall cascading into the 1000 foot canyon. The Yellowstone River, which feeds the falls, starts just south of the park and flows 600 miles to the Missouri River in South Dakota – it’s the longest undammed river in North America. The 20 mile long “grand” canyon of Yellowstone is another new addition to the park, only 10-14,000 years old.
After stopping to walk to the brink of the 100 foot high upper falls, we found a quiet picnic spot under the tall pine trees. We continued north beyond the caldera boundary, through the 8859 foot Dunraven Pass and had to settle for a view of (as opposed to a hike to) 10,243 foot Mount Washburn, the highest peak in the park. Vicki pooched her lips and said she might as well have brought her sandals instead of her hiking boots. We’ll get her a suitable hike soon! Just past the Tower-Roosevelt junction, we stopped to see the petrified tree, frozen in time in a lava flow 50,000 years ago. There were three trees, but souvenir hunters carried away two of them before the park fenced in the last one. Eli got pretty angry about it!
Our next stop was Mammoth Hot Springs, the park headquarters, where we watched elk graze in the yards of the former army housing buildings. After poachers took over the park, the government literally called in the cavalry. Their presence in the first national park is the reason why the park service wears uniforms. After walking the boards of the lower hot springs terrace (the springs have ceased flowing since 1988), we changed into our bathing suits for one of the best parts of the trip.
Just north of Mammoth Hot Springs, the 170 degree underground springs flow into the frigid Gardner River. We crossed into Montana and walked a half mile to the junction of hot springs and river to join others basking in the natural hot tub for nearly an hour. It may have been Joy’s favorite part of the trip. After tubbing (naturally), we changed and enjoyed Huckleberry ice cream before driving the 90 miles back to our camp, past more bison, elk, and geyser basins than you could shake a stick at.
Long, but wonderful day.
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