Across the U.S.: Day 59

by Kathy 25. October 2009 21:38

<< Day 58: Yellowstone (Canyon and Roosevelt Areas) | Day 60: Grand Tetons To Park City, Utah >>

Yellowstone (Mammoth Springs) to the Grand Tetons

From our cabin, we could see the rosy glow of the morning sun on the mountains.

The rats were very active outside our cabin, scurrying around here and there. (They really were adorable, but we told the children not to get too close.)

Chris had been kept awake last night by a persistent scratching sound on one side of her cabin—could it have been these little furry beings, seeking an entrance to her cozy dwelling?

We loaded back into the RV and headed off. Today we would be traveling to the northwestern portion of Yellowstone to see the Mammoth Hot Springs. Then we would be driving south, leaving Yellowstone, and staying near the majestic peaks of the Grand Tetons.

The friendly exit sign at Roosevelt Lodge:

A view of the entrance:

The valley was very quiet and peaceful.

The road ahead:

I was keeping an eye out for wild animals—in particular, I was hoping to see a moose. As I scoured the woods, I caught a glimpse of something among the trees. What was it?

It was a large bull elk!

He was scratching his antlers against the tree. (Notice all of the scratch marks on the tree bark.)

Elk antlers grow with a layer of velvet tissue containing blood vessels that nourish the antlers. When the antlers are full grown, the elk rubs his antlers against a tree to remove the velvet.

Mmmmm—the rubbing must have felt good! Our elk rubbed and scratched, and scratched and rubbed, along the many sides and nooks of his antlers.

Genevieve got as close as we would let her.

It was just the elk and us in peaceful serenity. We relished the moment.

After a long while, another car stopped to see what we were looking at. Then another. And another. As the crowd grew in size, we quietly took our leave.

We drove through a stretch of mountains.

In the distance, we could see the white hillside area where the hot springs are located.

Near the hot springs was the historic Fort Yellowstone area. After Yellowstone was designated a national park in 1872, the territory was under constant threat from poachers (who slaughtered many bison, elk and other animals), souvenir hunters (who stole large rocks and portions of geysers and hot springs), and tourist camps (which developers set up along the hot springs, with baths and laundry facilities that discharged soap and other toxins into the water). Congress enlisted the help of the United States Army to preserve the park, and Fort Yellowstone was established. The army served as the administrator and manager for 30 years, from 1886 until the creation of the National Park Service in 1916.

The outskirts of Fort Yellowstone:

At the center of Fort Yellowstone was the large open Drill Field, which used to serve multiple functions for the Army—a training area, ceremonial site, parade ground, and gathering place. Today, we were astonished to find that it was serving as a sun bathing area for a small herd of female elk and their children.

The elk were ignoring all of the people around them, and a ranger was on-guard to keep people from crossing the street for a close-up look.

This chapel had been built by the Army in 1913, using stone that came from a local quarry.

This 1903 building was the headquarters for the Army Corps of Engineers until 1918.

The Army Corps of Engineers built over 400 miles of roads that connected the different areas in the park. This road system was the first in the country to have been built with uniform specifications, and was viewed as a model system by other road builders. The Corps also constructed a hydroelectric power plant, put up street lights, laid concrete sidewalks, and created a water system for the fort.

This new courthouse was completed in August 2008 and serves the judicial needs for the entire Yellowstone park.

When we had first arrived at the Old Faithful Inn two days ago, we had received a children’s booklet that had spaces to put (free) stamps from the various park stores; the instructions stated that if you collected four stamps, you could present the completed booklet at one of the stores and receive a “free gift.” Genevieve had tackled this task with her usual gusto and had accumulated three stamps. Our first stop within Fort Yellowstone was the store inside the Mammoth Springs Lodge, where she would receive her fourth stamp and complete the project.

In the store, Genevieve collected her final stamp from the sales clerk, Lorraine, who was extremely friendly. Lorraine was from Williamsburg, Virginia, and this was her second summer as a seasonal worker in Yellowstone. She had previously spent two summers in Yellowstone during her college years, and she had met her husband here. She was very happy to be back.

Lorraine reached under the counter and pulled out Genevieve’s “free gift”--a little stuffed moose. Genevieve was ecstatic, as she is very fond of stuffed animals and had not expected something so wonderful.

Lorraine and Genevieve:

Sebastian fell in love with a spotted blue tree frog, which he purchased with some of his birthday gift funds. He promptly named the frog “Spotty” (which I'm sure will get along famously with his stuffed buffalo, named "Buffy.")

Sebastian and Genevieve, with Spotty and Anjettica (the little moose). (Obviously, Sebastian and Genevieve have very different systems for naming their stuffed animals.)

We then headed over to the Mammoth Visitor’s Center.

Genevieve had worked very hard over the past two days to complete all of her assignments for the Jr. Ranger badge at Yellowstone. Ranger Debbie carefully reviewed all of the finished work and was very complimentary of the extra projects that Genevieve had done.

After swearing Genevieve in as a Jr. Ranger, Ranger Debbie made an announcement congratulating Genevieve over the loudspeaker. Genevieve’s grin could not get any bigger.

Genevieve and Ranger Debbie:

At the Visitor’s Center, there was a small museum with exhibits devoted to the early exploration of this area by European-Americans, early tourism in the area, and the fate of the Native Americans who had lived here for hundreds of years. Needless to say, things did not go well for this last group, who were driven off of their homelands without compensation, and killed if they refused to move—as if they did not have any right or reason to protest against someone taking away the land where their families had lived for hundreds of years.

Here are some museum photos:

After leaving the Visitor’s Center, we drove to the main attraction in the area: the hot springs.

Last year, when I had started planning our side-trip to the Mammoth “hot springs,” I had initially envisioned us all in our bathing suits, relaxing in large pools of steaming water. However, I soon learned that these are “only-for-looking” springs (like those near Old Faithful). The park rules unequivocally state that bathing in any of Yellowstone’s hot springs is “unsafe and unlawful.”

Our excitement about visiting this area of Yellowstone was enhanced by the photos in park brochures, showing exquisite natural terraces filled with pools of water—unlike anything we had ever seen.

The terraces are formed when hot water travels to the surface through underground channels, bringing some of the limestone that lies buried deep within the earth (the sedimentary limestone was left behind millions of years ago when the area was covered with sea water). At the surface, some of the gases that had helped to dissolve the limestone underground escape into the air. The limestone then reforms as a solid mineral and is deposited on the edges and bottom of the hot water pools, building layers and layers of terracing over time. These calcite deposits are often called “travertine.”

We did indeed see some magnificent terracing:

What we didn’t know before arriving, however, was that the terrace features are ever-changing. The same spot can look very different in just a short period of time.

We were really surprised today to find that almost all of the terraces were dry. Imagine, on a much smaller scale, arriving at Niagara Falls to find that the water had dried up, and then trying to make the best of it by finding beauty (which is definitely there) in the dry rocky cliff over which the water used to flow. Things weren’t quite that bad, of course, and we did find a lot of beauty. However, I must admit that the photos of this place in retrospect are much more “Wow!” than I remember. Usually, I think that photos just do not even begin to capture the amazing beauty of the places I have seen; however, Mammoth Hot Springs was one of the few places I have ever been where my photos turned out even better than my actual visual experience.

We hiked the Lower Trail, which wound up and around a wide hill. There were raised wooden walkways and paved paths that passed by many of the terraced features.

Here are some sights from the lower portion of the hill:

Me, Chris, Genevieve and Sebastian:

This spring had water flowing out of a large crack in the hillside. I was fascinated to see how the water accumulated and moved through the small terraces.

At the top of the hill, this large dry area was “New Blue Spring”:

One side of the hilltop did have pooled water and terraces galore. And it was absolutely stunning, beyond words.

The trees had become entombed by the build-up of calcite deposits from the limestone.

The bare tree branches cast interesting shadows.

Genevieve and I enjoyed looking at all of the patterns on the ground.

We were especially intrigued by the brightly colored “thermophiles” (heat-loving microorganisms) that live in the travertine.

The orange-colored cyanobacteria obtain their energy through sunlight and photosyntheses, like flowering plants.

This stretch of cyanobacteria ranged in color value from light to dark.

We were saddened to see that some visitors had tossed coins into the water.

Such coins can eventually clog a hot spring vent and cause it to die.

We wandered back down the hill, stopping to admire the 37-foot calcite deposit known as the Liberty Cap.

It was named in 1871 by European-Americans in the Hayden Survey party who thought the shape resembled the peaked caps worn during the French Revolution. The tall cone was formed when an underlying hot spring, with a tremendous internal pressure, caused water to shoot high into the air for a prolonged period of time, perhaps hundreds of years.

On the path back to the RV, Genevieve and Sebastian spotted different bugs on the path. The brilliant blue of this dragonfly contrasted greatly with the camouflage colors of the grasshopper below it:

After a relaxing lunch in the RV, we continued our journey. We were now in the northwestern corner of Yellowstone and would be driving south, through the western portion of the park, and exiting at the southern end.

The ridge line of this mountain reminded us of a large elephant lying down.

Some more views as we headed south.

The weather changed rapidly, with dark clouds and intermittent rain and hail, accompanied by thunder and lightening.

We passed through a twisty area next to Gibbon River, with a lot of road construction and traffic back-ups.

The construction crew appeared to be making a new road that cut straight across the river, eliminating the zig-zags.

During the drive, Sebastian played his Nintendo DS and ate snacks:

Genevieve rested:

We drove for a while in a long line of vehicles. I wanted to spice up our drive a bit, so I looked on our road map and found a side loop called Firehole Canyon Drive.

The hills were quite craggy as we began our winding way through the canyon.

We traveled next to a river:

There was a small waterfall called Firehole Falls.

Further upstream, there were people swimming in the water.

Much of the water that forms the rivers and lakes in Yellowstone comes from snow melt. Yellowstone Lake had been COLD two days ago--much too cold for swimming. Since the people in the water here looked very relaxed (and they weren’t blue), we were thinking that there must be a hot spring that feeds this river.

Look at that tree growing on the rock in the middle of the river!

Continuing a few minutes south, we discovered the thermal source for the Firehole River--Excelsior Geyser. This geyser sits next to the river and pumps 4000 gallons of boiling water per minute into it.

The geyser’s pool was an intense aqua blue, with billowing white clouds of steam continually rising from the surface. It was simply stop-in-your-tracks gorgeous. And stop we did.

In the 1880’s, the eruptions from Excelsior Geyser shot water 50 to 300 feet in the air. The force of the eruptions created the giant crater that exists today and may have damaged the underground water channels, as the eruptions ceased after 1890. In 1985, however, the geyser erupted again, with 47 hours of ferocious bursts. It has been quiet ever since.

The boiling water from the geyser runs over the edge of the crater lip, and down into the Firehole River.

The river:

The lush grass along the river’s edge was a bright green.

Here are Chris and Genevieve, standing on the small bridge that crosses the river in front of the run-off area.

Excelsior Geyser sits in an area called Midway Geyser Basin. (The area name is rather dull and does not even hint of the amazing beauty that is found in numerous places here.) Chris, Genevieve and I decided to walk around the ½ mile raised wooden pathway through the basin. (Ben and Sebastian chose to nap in the RV.)

A short way past Excelsior Geyser was a spring that was aptly named “Turquoise Pool.”

Next was “Opal Pool,” where the blue-green water was ringed with deep orange thermophiles:

The loveliness of Turquoise Pool and Opal Pool had been mere stepping stones in preparing our senses for the overwhelming magnificence of the 200-foot “Grand Prismatic Spring.”

The term “prismatic” means brilliantly colored. The Grand Prismatic Spring is Yellowstone’s largest and most colorful hot spring.

Here is a set of photos, sweeping from the right side of the pool to the left.

Billions of thermophiles had created thick, orange and brown mats in the run-off channels of the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Although the mats are only a few inches thick, they contain an entire ecosystem consisting of layers of different microorganisms, each with its own unique and important function.

We saw the hoof/foot prints of many animals along the edges of the spring.

Careful, Genevieve! (You don’t want to add your own prints!)

Some final photos of the Grand Prismatic Spring:

It truly was incredible—in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in Yellowstone. What was also wonderful was that we hadn’t read about it beforehand, and had stopped here today just because we wanted one last look at a geyser before leaving the park.

On the winding road out of the park, we crossed over the Continental Divide 3 times. Here is one of the crossing signs:

We drove by Lewis Lake.

The lake trout in Yellowstone Lake have been traced to the natural population of lake trout that exists at Lewis Lake; however, it is still a mystery how the fish were transported from one lake to the other.

This bee latched onto our windshield and traveled with us for many miles through the park.

There was a steady stream of traffic heading south:

Wildlife is abundant here. Humorous safety messages were posted phrase by phrase, such as the following:
“We Saw Animals”
“From Afar”
“Until We Hit Them”
“With Our Car”
“Slow Down!”

We drove carefully.

Exiting Yellowstone:

The road leading to the southern entrance of Yellowstone was being rebuilt. We crept through miles and miles of road construction, including some dirt sections.

We admired this older car and trailer:

We could see the gleam from Jackson Lake, which runs down along the northeastern part of the Grand Tetons.

Our first views of the Grand Tetons:

The Grand Teton Range is the youngest in the Rocky Mountain chain. The formation of the Grand Tetons began over 2 ½ billion years ago when sand and volcanic debris settled on the bottom of an ancient ocean. Additional sediment was deposited for millions of years. Heat and pressure combined to transform the sediment into the gneiss rocks that make up the Teton Range. Then magma from deep within the earth seeped upward through cracks in the gneiss; as it cooled, it formed the light streaks of granite within the gneiss. About 6 to 9 million years ago, long after the southern and eastern Rocky Mountains had risen, movement began along the Teton fault. The west side of the fault swung upwards to form the Teton Mountain Range, and the east side sank to form the valley known as Jackson Hole.

The area around the Grand Tetons has been designated as a National Park for protection. The park entrance has booths, but there was no ranger present, nor was there an entrance fee.

A view of the Grand Teton range:

Close-ups:

We could see the large glacier that sits to the right of highest peak.

The green trees mark the shores of the Snake River, which runs along the eastern base of the Grand Tetons.

We were hoping to stay within the Grand Teton National Park tonight, but we didn’t have any campground reservations. I had read that the Gros Ventre Campground had 360 spaces, lots of wildlife, and some good views of the Grand Teton range. This sounded perfect.

We turned off of the main road, and followed along beside of the Gros Ventre River for about 10 miles.

There was a large herd of buffalo spread out in the fields on either side of the road, as well as in the shade of the cottonwood trees by the river.

We stopped for a “buffalo crossing.”

We let out a collective “awww” as this baby got ready to cross behind its mother.

We could see the edge of the campground from the road:

The entrance:

We found a great spot, with a view of the mountains:

Chris and Genevieve set out for a short hike, while Ben and I prepared dinner. Sebastian was busy building a roadway using his train dominoes and vehicles from his Rush Hour game.

After dinner, we all went for a hike down to the Gros Ventre River to view the beaver lodge that Genevieve and Chris had discovered on their earlier walk. (I was also still on the lookout for a moose.)