We have settled down for a couple of days at the West Yellowstone Entrance and use the campsite here as a base for some park exploration. It's been more than 20 years that we have last visited the park, and during that time it was miserably cold and rainy. This time we have much more luck and the weather is just perfect.
First we take the Northern Loop, entering through the West Entrance and passing Mt. Haynes, and following the Madison River to make our way to Madison. Here we turn North, following the Gibbon River to Norris. We stop at Terrace Spring before passing Gibbon Falls on our way to Monument Geyser and Norris Geyser Basin.
This is a huge complex of sinter terraces, created as water heated deep underground rises to the surface. As it rises, the water percolatesthrough burried limestone, dissolving calcium carbonate. Above ground, the hot water deposits the calcium carbonate, building travertine terraces. It is the Yellowstone equivalent to the Pamukkale travertines in Denizli Province in Southwestern Turkey. After a late lunch and a quick stroll through town we turn east to Tower-Roosevelt. But we first need to stop at the Gardner River Bridge as Elke has spotted a black bear mama with her cub at the river edge. When mama crosses the river the little one follows, and in a surprise takes a dive and is swept by the current some 20-30 yard further downstream before reaching the other side. Shaking his body it finds mama and they disappear in the forest. We follow the northern range and stop at the Tower Falls. We follow the Yellowstone River and make a stop at the northern end of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone at the Calcite Springs.
From there we make a run up to Mt. Washburn to have a view over the entire Washburn Range, the Mirror Plateau, and the whole Northern part of the park. We would have spent some more time up here, but the wind is blowing strong, so we decent and make our way back to the Western Entrance via Norris and Madison. We only stop shortly for some Bison roaming along the road.
Today we drive the Southern Loop, starting again at the west entrance, making our way to Madison and Norris, but then turning East to Canyon Village. Once again we see some Bison taking a nap in the morning sun and then enter the loop road of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
We stop at the Upper Falls and take our time to explore the canyon on some of the trails leading along and to the falls. It is a little bit of a mixture of Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Canyonlands. The canyon is some 32 miles long, and in places more than 1,200 ft deep, impressive.
We continue to Sulphur Caldron and Mud Volcano before stopping for lunch at Lake Village.
This village has changed and grown a lot and we had a hard time to find the cabin assembly we overnighted in 2013 on our visit to the park. We follow the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake to West Thumb, decide to skip the Geyser Basin for today, and make a straight run for Old Faithful Geyser. As always, Old Faithful takes it time, but in the meantime another one decides to erupt. A little to the West and on the other side of the Firehole River the Beehive Geyser, not lesser impressive spouts it water and steam fountain up into the air.
And then finally Old Faithful as well starts it spectacle with a huge fountain going up. The whole lot lasts for about two minutes, and then the geyser returns to some steam puffs again. But what would be a visit to Yellowstone not not having waited and seen Old Faithful in action.
After some ice cream at the Old Faithful Inn we make our way back to the camp site. We are a little tired, it was a lot of walking today, and even more to see.
Today we are leaving Yellowstone, but not before visiting some palces we haven't seen yet. First we need to follow the road back to Madison, then turn South and make our first stop at the Grand Prismatic Springs.
We see again mudpots, hot springs and geysers, and we can't decide which of the sites we have seen thus far are more spectacular. Anyway, we need to go and our next stop is Lewis Falls, not a very high or momentous fall, but a very educational one.
It is a waterfall which is at the edge of the caldron or basin which makes the hot basin. After that we are leaving Yellowstone N.P. and are entering Teton National Park. We follow Jackson Lake for a while enjoying the vistas of the mountains.
Teton or the Jackson Hole mountain Range is built on a rock formation about 2.7 billion years old, with the last significant changes about 730,000 years ago. It main peaks are Mt. Moran and Mt. Teton which are dominant features within the Teton Mountain Range. It is is just an unbelievable view as we drive from the North side to the South, the range ever changing. We make a last stop at the National Museum of Wildlife Art just outside of Jackson, WY.
We end the day in Jackson, WY, another one of those mountain towns who reinvented themselves and are a thriving tourist town.
Not necessarily our gusto, but for today we take it and stay for the night.
"Maybe you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but like every American, you carry a deed to 635 million acres of public land. That's right. Even if you don't owe a house or the latest computer on the market, you own Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and many other natural treasures." - John Garamendi, US Congressman, representing the 8th District of California
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