There was no doubt that we would return to Yellowstone on our trip to Pittsburgh. There is no doubt we will do it again. This visit focused on the Mammoth Hot Springs area like we planned, but we first had to have lunch at Old Faithful Inn and see Old Faithful erupt on schedule. We spent extra time fully exploring the Upper Geyser Basin and saw some unique and fascinating activity.
Sound and fury ... and then ...
This made me laugh
We stayed in Gardiner MT which sits right on Yellowstone's border. The Roosevelt Arch on the historic Yellowstone Trail appears to be in town but is actually the original north entrance to the park. Now the road bypasses the arch and quickly climbs to the Mammoth Springs area.
During our first visit we explored the upper portion of the Hot Springs so this time we concentrated on the lower portion. One section appeared to be a slightly darker color than the rest but as we walked in front of it we could hear water flowing and only when we passed and looked back could we see there was actually a sheet of water flowing down, nearly invisible from most angles.
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| Brown ground in left picture is covered with flowing water as seen in the right picture |
FORT YELLOWSTONE
Yellowstone was established as the world's first National Park after the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 warned of possible vandals and poachers ruining the natural wonders. The law was signed by President Grant in 1872 but the National Park Service wasn't established until 1916 and there was no way to properly protect the park until the Army arrived in 1886.
Fort Sheridan was renamed Fort Yellowstone when construction began on permanent structures in 1891. Today, 35 of the original 60 buildings still exist and are still being used.
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| Original and Current Housing - Note the Number of Chimneys |
We toured the Fort Yellowstone area and attempted to follow the self-guided route. It begins with the Albright Visitor Center which was the Bachelor Officers' Quarters in 1909 and you can still see the fireplace in what was the common room.
One building, sitting alone, is the U.S. Corps of Engineer's office and residence which attracted Nancy's immediate attention. Built in 1903, it has a distinctly Chinese appearance and was nicknamed "The Pagoda" almost as soon as it was completed. The U.S. Army Engineer was responsible for designing most of the roads still being used in the park today as well as most of the infrastructure of the Hot Springs area.
We had to take a slight detour at one point in our tour. A herd of elk pretty much lives in town and a group of females decided that the shadow of one of the buildings was a good resting spot (later we saw the bull elk returning up the hill to rejoin them). These buildings are used as housing today and you have to wonder at the reaction of the residents as they start to leave their home and find the way blocked like this:
This really looks familiar, but I just can't put my finger on it.
Oh, yeah:
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LAMAR VALLEY
You really can't expect to see dramatic things in the wild at noon on a beautiful day, so I'll have to come back at a more appropriate moment if I expect to see wolves. But we did have an unexpected and surprising encounter with a herd of bison.
A small group were grazing just next to the roadway and an even smaller group were up the hill. We watched them for a while and as we were leaving the two groups were beginning to join together by crossing the road. Our dash cam caught some of the action.
If you look to the left side you can see a female bison calmly walk to the road and, without pausing, cross it to get to the other side. I know it was a female because her "calf" (he is a pretty big calf!) comes racing down the hill to catch up with her.
This has disaster written all over it: a charging bison and oblivious tourists meeting on the road.
And then, surprise. He stops dead to wait for an opportunity to safely cross.
I wanted to get out of the car and be his crossing guard but park rangers frown on that sort of stupidity.
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