Day 38 – Yellowstone NP WY

It was another awesome day in Yellowstone, and we saw still more unusual things the park has to offer. We started out for Mammoth Hot Springs in the northwest part of the park. We stopped at the Museum of the National Park Ranger north of Norris. A retired park ranger chatted with us for some time as we were the only ones there. Along the way we stopped at Frying Pan Springs along the road. The pool bubbles and actually sizzles. Just south of Mammoth, we stopped to see Rustic Falls and the Golden Gate Bridge which was originally built in 1885 through a narrow canyon. We drove through a section called the Hoodoos – unusual rock formations on either side of the road.

At Mammoth Hot Springs (which is huge), we wandered around the Upper Terrace. These springs are different because they are limestone based. They weren’t as pretty as some of the other thermal areas, but they were impressive nonetheless. We had lunch at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. I had half a Monte Cristo (which was excellent, especially the raspberry jam that came with it) along with a cup of summer squash soup.

Then we toured Fort Yellowstone. Originally the park was under the protection of the US Army from 1886-1916. The headquarters were here at Mammoth. Most of the old buildings are still here. The Army really did a great job of protecting the resources of the park and building most of the roads.

We drove down to Gardiner and the north entrance arch, the Roosevelt Arch. The terrain drops rapidly and impressively. A beautiful 5 mile drive. On the way home, we encountered another “animal dam”. This time it was a female elk who eventually crossed the road right in front of us.

We had a light dinner, and then we had a tremendous storm roll over. Pea-sized hail rained down upon us. The only damage we had were a few holes in the plastic table cloth on the picnic table. After that was over, we had a massive wind blow through. There were big white-caps on the lake. I think it is done for the night.

I added 31 photos to the Yellowstone 3 link to the left.