And more of Yellowstone

September 21, 2009

 The schedule for today was to drive to the North end of the Park, Mammoth Hot Springs, This is a long  day, covering over 120 miles. Now I know that doesn't sound like a long distance, but the average speed is usually about 30 MPH. That doesn't include stops and hold ups while Bison either cross the road or walk down the road

 We are driving from Canyon Village to Mammoth over Dunraven Pass (8859 ft). At this time of year this is the best place to spot a Grizzly. At one of the pullouts there were several guys sitting in their cars and had been there for several hours. They had had one glimpse of a Grizzly and a Black bear and her cub.

We actually did not see a bear of any sort on this trip. What a change from the past. 

In fact I read in one of the local newspapers that the Grizzly is being put back on the endangered species list.

 Looking Northeast toward Lamar Valley from Tower Falls

Rather than stopping at Mammoth we drove on to Gardiner, Mt., which is just outside the Park. 

On the way this Pronghorn was peering down at us. We stopped for awhile to see what it was going to do. Well wouldn't you know it. It came running down the hill toward us.

And decided to graze right on the shoulder of the road.

Finally it moved and gave us a nice profile for a picture.

This is the North Entrance arch. None of the other entrances have such thing. All traffic has to enter through it. Uh, It's not quite 2 lane, one car at a time.

There are three plaques, one on each side and one at the top center. 

They say

Now for Mammoth. The Visitors center and Museum

I don't think you can really think of this as a town.  There is no grocery store or gas station and it looks like the only permanent occupants are Federal park employees.

The Yellowstone Justice Building

Employee housing, this is a duplex, there a at least a half dozen units

Of Course the Post Office

The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

Oh and notice the old Yellowstone site seeing bus. Several of the original have been restored and put back in service. Of course they have up to date drive trains. Not the old gear grinding transmissions of old. The restoration was of the tune of $250,000 each.

And in a separate building  cafeteria and this dinning room

Just above the town sits this huge mineral outcropping with steam and water and mineral running over the sides.

A little closer look

On a drive loop on top of the huge mineral deposit you can find other things.

And how it is changing the landscape.

Leaving the Mammoth Area and heading home by way of Norris (Western side of park) this beautiful scenery accompanied us up and over a pass.

We came upon Roaring Mountain which has a lot of various activity

Finally, we were back to territory we has already seen. But this is another angle of the Norris Geyser Basin. Notice all the steam columns and non forested areas which contain geysers

Its still 30 miles to our trailer