The Entrance To the West Yellowstone Hostel At The Madison Hotel - August 31, 2010
Day #2 at the West Yellowstone Hostel at the Madison Hotel started out with cold rainy weather a not much motivation to get out into Yellowstone. Most all of the in-town attractions were exhausted yesterday including the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, the Yellowstone Historic Center Museum and the Yellowstone iMax theater. Once things got moving the plan today was to head up to the Norris Geyser area and then continue on to Mammoth Hot Springs right by the North Yellowstone entrance/exit.
Female Elk In Yellowstone National Park Along The West Yellowstone Entrance Road - August 31, 2010
As is frequently the case in Yellowstone a bunch of wild animals (Elk in this case) delayed the start of the days planned activities. A few miles along the road into West Yellowstone a handful of female elk were feeding fairly close to the road. A few cars were parked there taking photos of the Elk and staying fairly close to the road. A few more steps down an embankment got just close enough to get some good photos with the zoom lens.
A Female Elk Looking At the Camera Toting Tourists In Yellowstone National Park - August 31, 2010
As usual, the female elk in the meadow stayed very mellow and just looked curiously at the people taking photos. To date the female elk in the park have always remained very mellow. At Grand Teton National Park the Elk were much more skittish than those here at Yellowstone. At Yellowstone they just stand there and gawk at the people. The one bull elk seen today may have been a little more aggressive but it was on the other side of a river so nobody could get close to it.
A Yellowstone Bull Elk Sniffs Out the Merchandise - August 31, 2010
After snapping pictures of the three female elk for a while it was time to get back on the road and head to the Norris Geyser area of Yellowstone. After just a couple miles more elk along the road in the meadow caused another stop. A traffic jam formed along the road. What could one more car in the traffic jam hurt? This time there was a large bull elk across the river flirting with some of the females.
A Couple Elk Getting Friendly Along the West Yellowstone Entrance Road - August 31, 2010
Once done feeding just about out of picture range the bull elk came closer to the far shore of the river for better photos. He chased the females around from time to time flirted with anyone who would give him the time of day and eventually seemed to get rather friendly with a few of them. During the traffic jam a large bison joined the party to tie things up even more as he mingled with the cars and strutted around on the road for a while.
A Road Construction Traffic Jam Along The Grand Loop In Yellowstone National Park - August 31, 2010
The Elk sightings took about an hour and a half total before the journey continued onto Norris. Norris closed early so for today Norris was skipped and the main destination was Mammoth Springs near the North Yellowstone entrance. Elk warning signs were everywhere up in Mammoth Springs but no more elk were seen during the day. Construction along the road caused one more delay along with a couple stops for scenic viewpoints.
Steam Roaring Out of Roaring Mountain At Yellowstone National Park - August 31, 2010
The first non-traffic stop was at Roaring Mountain. There isn’t a while lot to see at Roaring Mountain besides a mountain with lots of fumaroles in it. Fumaroles occur when the water in the earth is heated past the boiling point and comes out as a gas. Roaring Mountain is named such because at times the mountain does roar. It can sound like a distant jet engine depending on how much and how forceful the steam is coming out out of the fumaroles in the mountain. Roaring Mountain is just a place to get out and look around. There is no boardwalk or extensive display by the area.
The Bridge At The Golden Gate of Yellowstone - August 31, 2010
The second stop along the way was at the Golden Gate, a road structure tacked onto the side of a mountain to facilitate faster travel around and through the mountains to Mammoth Springs. Right near the Golden Gate there is a small canyon and a waterfall but it is nothing like the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone or the waterfall within the Grand Canyon. With the last unplanned stop out of the way, Mammoth Springs was finally reached!
The Aspen Employee Housing At Mammoth Springs In Yellowstone National Park - August 31, 2010
The Yellowstone Mammoth Springs Visitor Center is an old but nice one. The Army Corps of Engineers originally built the village at Mammoth Springs. The buildings are old but sturdy and nice looking except for one employee housing unit, The Aspen, which looks like it could fall down or blow over at any second. The hotels, lodges and stores in the Mammoth Springs Village area all look very nice, sturdy and like a great place to spend a few days.
An Section of the Mammoth Springs Area At Yellowstone National Park Near Sunset - August 31, 2010
The main attraction at this end of the park is of course Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces. The Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces are a collection of hot springs that form as heated water deposits calcium and bicarbonate as it runs down the steps that have formed over the years. The variety of colors on the terraces is stunning and ranges from a dull gray to a rather bright orange color.
The Liberty Cap At Mamoth Springs In Yellowstone National Park - August 31, 2010
Aside from the terraces the other feature that stands out like a sore thumb is the 45 foot tall Liberty Cap. It resembles a cap worn during the Civil War by patriots which is where the name “Liberty Cap” comes from. The 45 foot tall cone shaped structure formed as a steady flow of water came out of the ground and deposited travertine on the cap. The cap continued to grow until the water source vanished – either by drying up or coming out of the ground in a different location.
Sunset Over The Mammoth Springs Section of Yellowstone National Park - August 31, 2010
Arrival at the Mammoth Springs area of Yellowstone was late with only about an hour of daylight left and not enough time to explore the entire area. Tomorrow should provide the opportunity to explore the Norris Geyser area of Yellowstone and head back to the Mammoth Springs section so long as there are not to many wild animal sightings or traffic jams to get in the way. Road construction causes a section of the Yellowstone Grand Loop Road to close at 10pm so in order to ensure a relatively short drive back to West Yellowstone it was necessary to hit the road back to West Yellowstone prior to 9pm.
