The variety of the geothermal attractions in YS is mind-blowing. Geysers, steam vents, mudpots, calm holes, bubbling holes. But some of the most spectacular are the boiling lakes and streams. The roads in YS form a large figure 8, with “arms” going out to the various entrances.
We had pretty much covered the Upper Geyser Basin around Old Faithful (SW end of the lower loop), so we decided to do the west-central part of the lower loop and head to the Norris Basin from our camp at Grant Village. Along the way we stopped at the utterly wild Midway Geyser Basin, home to the Grand Prismatic Spring and Excelsior Geyser. It lies just below the “16” mileage number above O.F. on the map.
You reach the features by crossing the river on a bridge. Next to the bridge is a boiling water cascade that comes down from the Excelsior above.
The colors in these features were unbelievable. I haven’t doctored these photos a bit except to increase the contrast a bit in order to make them more like what our eyes actually saw. This is what feeds the cascade:
The Excelsior, which seems to be misnamed, as it didn’t act like a geyser at all. No eruptions, just a lot of boiling and mist.
But the best was the Grand Prismatic Spring. Oh, the hues!
We were reluctant to leave, but got back on the scoot and headed north towards Madison Junction. Not much there other than a small interpretive display and a bookstore run by the Yellowstone Association. They sell many excellent books and guides, and we bought their “Official Guide” which was well worth the absurdly low $9.95 price. We then followed the Gibbon River NE towards Noris. All of these riverside drives in the park are splendid. Great scooter venues! We did the side road to the Artists’ Paintpots. Skip it. Everything we saw was dried up and white, one of the very few duds we came upon. At Norris, we enjoyed the overlook viewing the Norris Geyser Basin, but didn’t feel compelled to go down and wander the boardwalks. Jaded? Perhaps, but more likely lazy.
We did visit the small but interesting Museum of the Park Ranger at Norris, which gave a history of the Park Service and the evolution of ranger duties. YS was the first National Park, created in 1872 by president U.S. Grant. In the early days, it was protected from exploitation for about 30 years by the Army, based at Mammoth Hot Springs in the NW corner. Is is from the Army’s campaign hats that the iconic Smoky Bear Ranger Hat was derived. It has remained largely unchanged for over 100 years.
We retraced our steps along the route back to Grant, and made a stop at the pretty Gibbon Falls. They are 84 feet high, and fall over what is part of the rim of the 640,000 year-old Yellowstone Caldera. Yellowstone is actually one giant caldera, 30 x 40 miles across. All the mountains you see encircling the park are actually the caldera rim. That must have been one huge eruption!
Just after the Madison Junction, we pulled off onto the Firehole Canyon Drive. Don’t miss this! I rate it as the prettiest mile of canyon river I’ve ever seen. Sheer cliff walls, serpentine river, multiple rapids and falls, all compressed into this short loop drive. Outstanding.
Unfortunately, this is where our luck ran out. The camera battery died. And, of course, my spare was left at Mike’s house in San Francisco. However, I did have my newly-purchased-at-Walmart dual voltage Duracell charger. Right? Well, back at the rig, long story short, the either the charger or the battery was bad, as I couldn’t get a charge on either the rig’s 12-volt system, nor the 120v outlet in the lady’s bathroom. AUGH! The battery is one of those square, flat, Canon-specific jobs that can only be purchased at a large store, like W-M, Best Buy, etc. Over the next few days I searched every camp store we encountered, but nada. Great. We have yet to view the buffaloes and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and now it’ll be without a camera. I’m ready to follow that kid into one of those “cool” pools.
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