2018.09.25 - Yellowstone National Park (North)

09.25.2018 - Yellowstone National Park - North.  Since the town of West Yellowstone was pretty crowded last night, we thought we'd get up early and get into the park before much of the masses typically hit the road. We really didn't have a specific plan in mind, so we just decided to split the park into two halves - north & south. Today, we thought we'd cover the north half. Since we were driving the rental car instead of the motorhome, we felt much more "mobile" and planned on hitting whatever grabbed our interest.

West Entrance from West Yellowstone

From the west entrance to Yellowstone, the road parallels the Madison River as it heads towards the Madison Junction where the loop road circles the park. As you head east, the river meanders along the base of Mount Haynes and passes thru a number of grassy meadows where we expected to see elk or bisons, but no such luck today. 

Madison River and Mount Haynes

When you get to "Madison Junction", you either turn right, heading south towards Old Faithful, or left, heading north towards the Norris Geyser Basin and Mammoth Hot Springs. We turned left to see the north side of the park and hit our first hot springs shortly after passing Gibbons Falls.

  Gibbon River Springs - our first hot springs stop

Gibbon River - below Gibbon Falls

Driving north, we pulled into the parking lot to see the Artist Paintpots, infamous for their bubbling mud, but, alas, it wasn't to be. Every spot in the parking lot was already taken! Could that be an omen for the rest of the day? We moved on towards the Norris Geyser Basin and lucked out getting a spot in an outer parking lot. We took the short hike up to the Museum and Information Center overlooking the geyser field and checked it out. Since the pathway down to the actual geyser basin was pretty steep (and crowded), Rene' stayed back and John "ran the gauntlet" down the hill and out onto the wooden walkways. After John's run to the basin, we hit the bookstore on the way out, asking the clerk if the crowds were normally so heavy in late September. It seems that the first half of September was much slower, but the last half was way busier than usual, especially with respect to foreign tourist groups. She also added that Septembers seem to be getting busier over the last few years (the secret is out, evidently).   

Norris Geyser Basin 

Continuing north towards Mammoth Hot Springs, we encountered road construction where one-lane restrictions were in place. From what we hear, September is an especially busy season for fixing the park's roads in that crews are trying to get as much done between the busy summer season and winter, when roads close due to bad weather. When we finally got thru to Mammoth Hot Springs, literally every parking spot was taken at multiple stops, so we begrudgingly opted to bypass it entirely, heading instead towards the Roosevelt Lodge for lunch. Fortunately, the road was much less crowded along that section of our route so we were able to stop much more often. There were lots of bright colored aspen trees as we passed along the Blacktail Deer Plateau and we even encountered our first roadside bison without a crowd of onlookers standing by.

  

Aspens below the Blacktail Deer Plateau

Our first roadside bison - thanks, buddy, for the private viewing 

About this time, we were getting pretty hungry and looking forward to catching lunch at the lodge, just up the road - even if it meant battling the crowds. When the turn-off was in sight, we noticed that the parking lot wasn't crowded at all - that's because the lodge was already closed for the season. OK, get out the crackers and head towards Canyon Village instead. 

On our way, we passed the turn-off that heads northeast into the Lamar Valley, home to the newly implanted wolf population. Unfortunately, there was no time today to take that side trip on, but we agreed it would be a must-see stop on a future visit. Lots and lots of wildlife up that way to see from what we have been told. 

We came next to the upper end of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone where the Yellowstone River makes its way down the canyon, starting with Tower Falls. We continued south past Mount Washburn and over Dunraven Pass to Canyon Village where, thankfully, we found everything still open. We hit the grille first and was served by a young student from Poland who had graduated with a degree in pharmacy and came to the US to work for the summer. He said he was headed to Boise tomorrow to catch a flight to San Francisco where he and some friends were going to spend 3-weeks touring California before heading home. After a visit to the gift shop, we continued south, stopping at the overlook to see the infamous lower falls and the yellow canyon walls below that were the inspiration for naming the national park.

  

Upper Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 

Lower Falls - Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

and this is why its called, Yellowstone National Park

As we continued south, the Yellowstone River became wider and more meandering as it passed thru a number of wide valleys below its outfall from Yellowstone Lake at Fishing Bridge. We still hadn't seen much in the way of wildlive and commented that we had evidently "ducked the bullet" for getting stuck in an "animal jam" which the park is famous for. 

   Meandering Yellowstone River flowing north out of Yellowstone Lake

Our final plan for the day was to attend a 45-min ranger presentation (topic unknown) scheduled to take place at the Old Faithful Information Center at 7:00pm. Since we ate lunch so late, we figured we'd attend the session, then head "home" to West Yellowstone without stopping for dinner. The show's topic was "Trees in Yellowstone" and was lead by a young ranger who was born and raised in the park. As part of her presentation, she had photos of herself growing up locally, including one of her kindergarten class (all four students) visiting Old Faithful. She also included an interesting review of the devastating fires that took place in the park in1988. Since she was born in 1989, the fires were "before her time". Her parents, however, were both park employees and took lots of first-hand photos, so she included those in her presentation. 

By the time we got on the road to make the 30-mile trip back to West Yelowstone, it was after 8pm. The speed limit throughout the park is typically 45mph, but, as luck would have it, we got stuck in a chain of cars following a "very careful driver" who wouldn't go over 30 all the way back to town. As a result, dinner was cold cereal at 9:30 pm in the motorhome. That's just the way it goes sometimes. 

Tomorrow, on to the south half of the park.