1993/07 Rockies trip - Yellowstone Falls and Mammoth |
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Monday June 28th
I left at about five, as I wanted to be at the GM dealer's when the place opened, but was still surprised that I had to scrape the ice off the windows. About 25F. Not surprising at nearly 8000ft, I suppose, but a shock for the end of June. Actually, we'd been lucky to miss the previous week's snowfall.
I began the trip with a drive along Yellowstone Lake. The lake feels like the low point of the park but it's actually at over 7700 feet, higher than Australia's tallest mountain. The distant mountains, including Mount Hancock, I believe, were lighting up with the 
sunrise.
The trip over the mountains turned out to be quite exciting. I had stopped by a lake to take a picture of the sunrise over the snow, reflected in the lake. As I was composing the picture, out of the comer of my eye, I saw a mama grizzly amble around the comer with two cubs in tow. I ambled back into the truck in about a second flat, and managed to shoot off a few pictures before they disappeared. The pictures aren't great as this was before sunrise 
and I didn't want to risk using the flash.
Mama bear was dark with a silver mane, what they call a sitvertip. She was not a happy mama, but I don't think she could decide whether to swat me or the truck, which was still running with lights blazing, so that gave me enough time to get into the truck. One of the cubs was quite large, so it was probably last year's. I knew they stayed around, but thought Mama Bear would have sent it away when the new cub arrived.
The rest of the trip was less eventful. I was too early for the dealership's opening so I took a look at this spot on the Shoshone River and walked around the outside of the Buffalo Bill museum.
The dealership couldn't replace the hose, but they thought they could get the local tractor repairers to put a splice in it, like they do for hydraulic hoses. But not until later in the day, so I made an appointment for the next morning, and headed back 80 miles to Yellowstone. With a brief stop to look at a moose, moosing in a ditch by the side of the road, I got back for lunch time, just as the ladies were finishing the laundry.
So, we were free to take off for Yellowstone Falls and Mammoth Hot Springs. We stopped at the Yellowstone River's rapids just below the lake, and got to see the cutthroat trout running the rapids up towards the lake. 
Nearby was the Mud Volcano's geyser basin. John and Edna were keeping a close eye on the bison that were sharing the basin's trails with us. The bison are clearly used to people and they generally ignore us unless we get too close. But it's important to remember that they are wild and unpredictable and big. They weigh over a ton. If something spooks them, like a loud noise or a dog, they may just run and you'd better not be in their way.
The most interesting hot spring in the basin is the Dragon's Mouth. Most of the spring is inside a cave, though there is a pool in front of the cave. Most of the time the spring churns around inside the cave, making growling noises, but occasionally it explodes from the cave with a wave of dark acidic water.
We crossed the Hayden Valley, often a place to see large herds of bison, but not on this day.
At the end of the valley the river is constricted into a narrow canyon and then it plummets 100 feet over the Upper Falls. Even more spectacular are the Lower Falls, where the river drops 300 feet into the Yellowstone Canyon.
The canyon used to be a geyser basin before it was eroded by the river, and its walls show the yellow and red of volcanic rock and the steam from fumaroles. We met our first real crowds at the canyon views; they are a "must stop" for the tour bus traffic.
With all this dramatic scenery it's easy to miss the smaller things, like these shooting stars and Rocky Mountain phlox, as well as this rare picture of Edna hovering.
We moved on to Tower Falls, where a much smaller Tower Creek drops over 100 feet to its confluence with the Yellowstone River. You can get to see the top of the falls by elbowing your way to an overlook, but we opted for the steep trail to the bottom of the falls. It's also the best way to see the pinnacles that give the falls their name.
John and I climbed down to the creek in search of a better view, and we found getting back up was more difficult than we'd thought.
We set off in the rain towards Mammoth Hot Springs. Along the way we took a look at Undine Falls, just a few steps from the road. This is another 100 foot falls, its waters also flowing into the Yellowstone.
By this time, the visitors were
feeling the altitude, and we were all feeling wet. However, we still had to find an elk or a bear for Edna, so we carried on to Mammoth Hot Springs, where there are usually lots of elk. There were a few in the distance, but not draped around the hotel like they have been on previous trips. 
The "Mammoth" name comes from the sheer size of the springs. This picture of Sandie and Edna at the top of the stairway gives an idea of their height. The hot water comes over twenty miles from the Norris geyser basin, and as it emerges from the ground it cools and deposits travertine mineral. The mineral is plain white and the colours come from the different types of algae and water temperatures they prefer.
The travertine forms terraces which eventually dam the stream of hot water and redirect it to a lower terrace. If the terraces go dry then they revert to travertine white.
We walked around Mammoth's hot spring terraces, and found quite a lot of changes in the five years since we'd been there. Some had obviously dried up, but others had expanded and were now a blaze of coloured travertine
.
On the way back to camp, we were all on the lookout for bear, but all we saw was a coyote out hunting. Despite this, I think John and Edna have been really surprised at how much wildlife they have seen. Wherever we've been, there have been chipmunks, squirrels, and deer.