We had a decent night’s sleep in our institutional Grant Village hotel room, and after a short breakfast we went off to explore. We had not gone long before we passed this sign.
Driving a little further, we came to the Upper Geyser Basin.
We walked past stunning thermal pools.
The minerals in the water created stunning colors.
And everywhere there was steam and the smell of sulphur. No wonder so many early explorers were certain that they had found the very gates of hell!
The thermal basin actually supports a surprising amount of life. Much of it is almost microscopic, but that in turn supports birds and other creatures.
We saw some smaller geysers,
and, of course, we saw the most famous geyser of them all.
Right by Old Faithful is the Old Faithful Lodge.
About 20 years ago, John and I stayed here in a tiny room. I do not remember much about that trip, and that is probably the reason I now keep this blog! But I did recall that the main lobby was striking.
We joined a tour of the hotel, and learned that this was the first of the great Western hotels to be built in the rustic style.
From Old Faithful, we drove on to another iconic Yellowstone attraction,
Grand Prismatic Spring. An “off the beaten path” item suggested walking up the trail and then scrambling up a hill to get the best view. Apparently this suggestion had been translated into Chinese, because we were joined there by a couple dozen of foreign tourists. The exertion seemed too much for most of the Americans, but we thought the vista was indeed worth it.
From there, we went on to the Norris Geyser area. We walked around the aptly named
Porcelain Basin.
The blue colored springs are the most famous feature of this area, but there are many other colors besides blue.
We started to walk around the Back Basin, but it started raining heavily and we turned back.
We stopped in the visitor center there. The interpretive materials were ho hum, but there were some wood cuts warning against leaving the trails.
We continued on to the Mammoth Springs area, dealing with some miserable delays along the road. We were frankly a little disappointed by the springs. When we had been here before, they had been much more interesting.
There are still a few active area, and the colors there are pretty.
The Mammoth Springs area is the park headquarters. The Park Service uses buildings that once housed the U.S. Army. Today, however, this area is also home to a large herd of elk
and the tourists love them!
We continued on to Gardiner, Montana. We are staying at an overpriced Travelodge here. But the town itself is rather cute. We had dinner a little north of town in the tiny hamlet of Corwin Springs at restaurant decorated in New England nautical kitsch. Called The Lighthouse, it seemed a bizarrely out of place.
But the food was pretty decent. They were the best French Fries I’ve had in quite a while.
In the evening we returned to Gardiner to get some gas for the car, and to walk about the town for a bit. Like all tourists, we had to get a photo in front of the historic northern entrance to the park.
Tomorrow we are return to Cody where I will be leading some Education for Ministry training.
