Big Sky Adventure Day Three - Yellowstone, Old Faithful and Upper Basin.

I woke up before the sun rose and had great photo opportunities with the clouds remaining from the storm and looking like it could be rainy day. The morning also was one of many cold mornings which required socks, actual pants, and my heavy wool sweater and it was still August. After a hotel room hiking breakfast special of Cap’n Crunch, and a bagel with peanut butter and banana, we headed back to Yellowstone and up to Old Faithful. It was the goal to have a slow day after being in the car so long the day before. So with that in mind, we took a few small hikes on the way up to the Geysers.

One of the walks was remarkable because the hike consisted of walking a bit along a stream and then heading down hill for 100 feet for a pretty little waterfall named Moose Falls. It is actually just north of the South Entrance on Crawfish Creek and passed over by the majority of visitors. It is kind of nice to have a waterfall just off the road all to yourself. I shot a lot of photos, rambled around and watched the storm come in a bit.

After that we settled in for the 45 mile drive to Old Faithful with a few stops along the way. The geographer in me was lucky enough to cross the Continental Divide three times. There is a striking lake that is filled with lily ponds that runs on both sides of the road. When the lake floods, the water in the lake flows in two different directions, the first going towards the Pacific Ocean and the other flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. They tell me that this is one of the few places that do this.

As we approached the Upper Geyser Basin, we drove past two Bison near the edge of the road. We continued on and just made it to Old Faithful Inn five minutes before Old Faithful went off. From the reading I have done, Old Faithful is popular not because it is the most frequent, nor the tallest, nor the prettiest, but it seems that it stood slightly away from all of the geysers in the area. Old Faithful teased the viewers by starting to go off and then fizzle down for about five minutes. And then when it went off it just shot straight in the air. I imagine if I had gotten closer to the viewing area I may have been wowed, but I just wanted to get a hot cocoa afterwards because damp misty mountain moisture is just plain cold.

After my hot cocoa, we then went out to the Geyser Hill and the walk behind that. We took loads of photos and then it started to rain, but only sporadically. With the overcast skies, the odd precipitation and the cold temperature the pools and springs were very steamy and hard to see.

We decided that our main meal (the one we pay for each day) would be a lunch in the restaurant. After lunch we went to a few more geyser areas which were less crowded and more impressive. On the road the two bison from the morning were now on the shoulder and caused quite a traffic jam. I am just glad that we have a nice zoom lens which kept us a safe distance and off the road.

As we were driving back to the ranch, the sun came out and we decided to detour by less than a mile and revisit the West Thumb Geyser area again, and I was equally impressed and it officially became my favorite part of the park. As we got on the road we said goodbye to Yellowstone and thought our two days there was sufficient to see the Park and get a feel for what it has to offer. If I were to come back, I would probably do some real canyon hiking.

Dining
I am going to go off target and say that in most National Parks the restaurants, tours, lodging and camping are not run by rangers, but by concessionaires. Some are very good and others are average to say the least. The company that has Yellowstone has several other parks in their portfolio and while I have to say that they meet expectations, I found the food in the Dining Room of the Old Faithful Inn for lunch a bit ordinary just like I would find a reliable steady chain restaurant that overcooks your food for fear of bacteria.

So with that in mind, I will instead discuss the magnificence of the actual building itself.

The concessionaire has several tours of the building which everyone should take if they have time. The buildings architect Robert Reamer used his unique “parkitecture” style on the building where he studied and found inspiration through by the natural surroundings of the area and then started to design a building. Parkitecture is reflective through many of the National Parks and it is a shame that many of the new hotels remind me of garden apartments in the suburbs.

The construction took just a year and the first class hotel opened for the 1904 tourist season. The main chimney which has hearths on all four sides and is over 76 feet in height was made of rhyolite and is the main part of the soaring wood lobby. The interior lobby is made of lodge pole pine which grows perfectly straight and a consistent width.

The lighting at the time was electric and was top of the line, but those fixtures continue to be used today, which makes for a very dark inn at noon. Reamer was inspired by the forest, and used local woods to create the building including the railings and decorative features from branches of trees to create a forest feel for the lobby.

This building is a treasure and the scale is so large that it is almost difficult to imagine a seven story lobby as you are standing in the middle of the room.

Photos taken 216 Hours in Car 2 1/2

Big Sky Adventure Day Two - From the Top to the Bottom of Yellowstone

Day two was full of excitement and started very early since we were all awake and dressed by 7:00 am. The one hard part of traveling in certain areas of the country is the preparations you must take for bears. It seems that bears do not just like food, but bears love water bottles, the scents of fashion magazines and handi-wipes. I actually saw a car attacked by a bear and the door was hanging only by the hinges. So after emptying the car the night before, I was now reloading the car at a very cold and early hour. We spent the majority of the day seeing the sights from the north entrance to the south entrance and keeping a solid eye on the sky with the forecast calling for an impending storm that was coming in from the west.




We left Gardiner and entered into the historic North Entrance of Yellowstone Park, where the gate says “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people,” This is a park that everyone should make every effort to get out of your car and walk past the first overlook. There are over 2.2 million acres, which is the size of Delaware and almost all of Rhode Island combined, so it is almost impossible to see it all. If you have a car there are copious trail heads and pullouts that allow you to enjoy as much as one can. It has been stated that the average National Park visitor does not walk more than 500 feet within a park. If you want to connect with nature, history, geology or what makes us diverse, get out and walk to truly experience the park. The first five miles of the park from Gardiner to Mammoth is packed with things to see and do. On this stretch we crossed into Wyoming for the first time in my life, we crossed the 45th parallel, which is the geographic spot that is halfway between the equator and the North Pole.

There is also a great 40 minute morning hike that will get your blood pumping and your joints moving. The walk to the Boiling River is a relatively flat hike that is one mile round trip along the Gardiner River to the springs that come out and create pools where the cold river and hot water combine. As we walked down the trail we could see steam rising above the hill and passed several people dressed in shoes, towels and bathing suits. The opportunity to soak in a hot spring is always a pleasure and the water here closely resembled the perfect bath that never cools to tepid. There are two pools for people and the opportunity to soak in geologic wonder should never be passed up. Maryann also took her favorite picture here of a bather (serious back country hiker) leaving the pools in his hiking boots and his bath towel wrapped around his body. Taking this side trail was easy, enjoyable and showed us the magnificent joy that nature can provide for free.



Our next stop was in Mammoth at the old Fort Yellowstone. Before the National Park Service was created, the U.S Army used to staff and protect the park, and Ft. Yellowstone was and still is the headquarters of the park. The road has a significant junction here where visitors can go south to Norris or east to Tower Junction. As we approached the area, the terraces of the Mammoth Hot Springs were visible over the former parade field and offices. As we parked outside the hotel to stop in at the visitor center (we missed none of them on the trip), the sidewalk was closed due to an elk herd that had come to visit and lounge on one of the grass areas. I was not sure what they were other than oversized deer with heads like a camel. Most of the elk were female and seemed very passive, until one got up and started walking towards the tourist, which caused the Ranger to yell at them and they slowly returned and rested on the grass again.

The Mammoth Hot Springs are a large set of terraces that top of a hill and have slowly eroded the mountain face into small pools and water pockets for 1,000 feet down. With a series of boardwalks and stairs I set off to experiencing the terraces. For once I will break my rule that the beauty is usually off the road and around the bend and just past the hill along a trail, but I thought the best terraces are the first set you approached and could see from the road.



After getting to the top of the springs, we headed eastward to junction at Tower Roosevelt. This brought us higher in elevation and also into more pine forests. We passed several waterfalls and then took Blacktail Plateau Drive which was an old road used by Indian Tribes moving after hunting season and one of the original roads in the Park. The road brought us into the first area for us to see of the 1988 Fire. It was really interesting to see how the old trees suffered and many of them are still standing while new pine trees have taken root and are now filling in the blank spaces left behind. This fire was started by lightning strikes in dry conditions and burned over 35% of the park with 250 different fires. It is obvious to see that nature wins over man, but that natural rebuilding will take place.

As we headed down to Canyon, we hiked along Antelope Creek and then drove to the top of Mt. Washburn. It was amazing to see as far as the eye could see. The view was awe inspiring and was one of those moments that you cannot capture on film what your eye is bringing in. As we descended and passed through the Dunraven Pass we descended into the Yellowstone Caldera which covers an area that is 34 x 45 miles of the Park, it is also the tenth largest in the world, and is connected with several others which run along the Snake River Basin (this is not the last one we will see on this trip). It turns out with all the geysers, hot springs and live magma underneath the surface that this is a hotbed of volcanic and earthquake activity.
After that we entered into Canyon which runs for 20 miles along the Yellowstone River which has a magnificent Canyon that you can approach from the east and west sides of the river. There were several vantage points to see the waterfall.

As we headed south again, we entered into the Hayden Valley which is stunning by having the river and flood plains and fields of natural grasses which encourage animals to graze and hunt in this area. We actually saw a single bison lying in a field and then a few minutes later saw a herd of bison on top of a hill. The one thing you have to pay attention to is the cars that will come to a complete stop in the road if they think they even see something that may resemble an animal.




We then stopped at the Lake Hotel which is the oldest hotel in the park and had local beers in the sunroom that overlook Yellowstone Lake. As we started the 21 mile drive around the western side of the lake we could see the storm moving in over the park and so we decided to press on with less stops along the way. We did stop at West Thumb Geyser Basin, which was my favorite part of the park. It is one of the smaller geyser areas, but it this basin runs up to the shore of Yellowstone Lake, which makes it a stand out. It is about a mile along and the boardwalks take you only a few feet from the paint pots, fumaroles, hot springs, and pools. As we left the basin, we headed south out of our park to our hotel for the next four nights.

We checked into Flagg Ranch and got a cabin right on the edge of the Snake River flood plain which had a back porch with rocking chairs and a view of the Mt. Moran in Grand Teton. The ranch had hiking trails, camp ground, fishing and horses for guests to use. It had a restaurant which was the defining low point of our vacation and we never had another meal there again, but got more creative in our meals.

Dining
Before we headed out toward the south, we stopped at a picnic site which was filled with fellow picnickers and a lovely giant raven who sat on the stone next to the picnic table. I remember from childhood that on long car trips we would take an ice cooler in order to have food before there was ten fast food restaurants were on every corner. This time we brought food to save a bit of money on breakfast and lunch, but to also ensure that we knew what was in our meals. This was a simple meal of salami slices, cheese, bread, tortillas, peanut butter, strawberry jelly, apples and grapes. It was enjoyable to have lunch under the open skies surrounded by mountains. After the lunch we passed a field with two bison roaming across the field.

Photo Count 210 Hours in Car about 4 1/2