Cross-Country Vacation
Day 10: Yellowstone: Canyon Country and Mammoth Hot Springs
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
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Once again we did not have to go very far to get to the main attraction. Just barely down the road from where our cabin was in Canyon Village were the overlooks to what is called The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Yellowstone River flows through the canyon and over some sets of falls on its way to meet the Missouri River. This first overlook was Inspiration Point.
The Grand View, with a glimpse of the Lower Falls.
The Lower Falls tumble 308 feet.
The Upper Falls are only 109 feet high.
While driving over to the other side of the river I suddenly had to slam on the brakes as a couple of buffalo came out of the brush on the right side of the road and crossed in front of me. They turned left but luckily stayed on their side of the road rather than hitting me head on. There was some deer further up.
It is easy to see why this is called Artist Point. This is the vantage from while most artists have painted the Lower Falls.
A better view of the Upper Falls.
Mary and a raven check each other out.
A close-up from above the Upper Falls. You can see the viewing area from which this was taken in some of the previous Upper Falls pictures.
The roads inside Yellowstone form a giant figure-8. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone lies at the right center of the figure. Yesterday we had circled most of the bottom half of the figure. The plan for today was to circle the top half of the 8 in a clockwise direction and leave out the Northeast Entrance. So from here we would head west and double back to the Norris junction and go north from there to the Mammoth Hot Springs area.
The first sight we encountered north of Norris was Roaring Mountain. You could hear a sort of grumbling, but I would not have called it a roar.
Further up the road from there we were rounding a bend when I caught sight of three big horn sheep descending the hill to our left. Luckily we did not have to slam on the brakes this time, as they crossed just behind us after we pulled off the road. Their hoofs clanged on the guard rail as they lept over.
The Upper Terraces Drive at Mammoth Hot Springs.
A bull elk and his harem in the woods above. The bull came charging back to pick up some straggling females.
The backside of the Upper Terraces.
Lower Terraces.
This bull had lost a fight for his harem and decide to recuperate on the lawn down in Mammoth.
Undine Falls.
Where there is a dirt road, I will take it. We turned off the pavement to take Blacktail Plateau Drive. We did not spot any black tails, but we saw a bushy one on this coyote.
We turned off to go see the petrified tree, too, but nobody bothered to get out of the car to see it.
Tower Fall near the Tower-Roosevelt Area of Yellowstone.
Some more views of the Yellowstone River and the geologic formation along the canyon walls.
There was a heard of big horn sheep between Tower Fall and Roosevelt, but there was too much traffic backing up to bother trying to get a picture. From Roosevelt we headed east towards the northeast entrance. This was where the buffalo really roamed. There were hundreds if not a thousand or more of them in the Lamar Valley and along Soda Butte Creek.
The highway crosses into Montana before exiting the park. It was the 7th state on our journey.
I had assumed that the Northeast Entrance was where the Roosevelt Arch was, since that was the entrance closest to the Roosevelt area. It is a stone arch over the road with the inscription "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People." to commemorate Yellowstone being the first national park anywhere in the world, and I wanted to take a picture of it. But we had missed it. The arch is actually at the North Entrance 5 miles north of Mammoth Hot Springs.
We continued east on US-212 for about 7 or 8 miles in Montana before crossing back into Wyoming. We were in Montana for less than fifteen minutes. US-212 eventually crosses back into Montana where it is called the Beartooth Highway and reaches elevations of almost 11,000 feet on the way to a town called Red Lodge. Once again, though, we did not have enough time in the day to do everything. We cut across Wyoming state route 296 to head towards Cody instead, where we intended to spend the night. We did get some nice views along the way, though, although it was windy and chilly watching the sunset from this altitude.
It ended up being tough finding a place to stay in Cody, though. Who would have expected that on a Tuesday night. Little did we know that the Rodeo was in town. We ended up at this lodge where the owner was a big time hunter, and there were stuffed heads mounted all over the lobby walls and some complete carcasses posed in places, too. We had dinner at a BBQ place next door. The waitress was pregnant and the wait for the food was so long we wondered if she was giving birth. Mary had time to smoke several cigarettes by the time we ate.
Yellowstone National Park: Website, Map
Day 10 Summary:
Start: Canyon Village, Yellowstone National Park, WY
End: Cody, WY
By Way Of: Cooke City, MT
Route: US-89, US-212, WY-296, WY-120
Approximate Driving Distance:
This Day: 165 miles
Total: 2375 miles
Next: Day 11: Wyoming