Since we finished our onerous and horrible grocery shopping in Jackson yesterday, we were free to engage in unfettered exploration fun today. We got up around 7:00, loafed in bed until 8:00 and were out the door of the Barbarian Invader by 9:00 AM. We headed back into Yellowstone National Park for a trip around the northern, outside loop of the park roads.
We set Grand Prismatic Spring as our first destination. We drove from our RV park at Flagg Ranch two miles north to the Yellowstone south entrance where, again, we were waved through due to our access pass. If you intend to visit national parks on a schedule compressed into one calendar year, this $80 pass available at any national park or forest district office allows free access into all national parks, national forests, Bureau of Reclamation and BLM sites for free with camping fees cut to 50% of the posted rate. We bought our renewal pass last year in South Dakota’s Black Hills and have passed through gates free at Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Colorado National Monument, Tuzigoot, Wupatki, Capitol Reef, Redwoods, Jedidiah Smith, Yosemite and about a dozen other parks without paying the $25-$30 charge to enter each site. We even camp for half price on the Rogue River in Oregon because the campground is on Forest Service land.
Unfortunately, cars were not only blocking access to the parking lot at Grand Prismatic, they were liberally parked illegally alongside the road that runs past this attraction. We gave this attraction the FO and continued up the road to a place called Roaring Mountain which is a big sidehill with a variety of steam- and stench-emitting fumaroles visible from the parking lot. When vehicles are not going by on the adjacent roads, you can hear the gurgling, hissing and belching noises emanating therefrom. It is quite unique although you may want to find a way upwind if the odor of hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs) is not counted among your favorites.
We continued north until we got to the Mammoth Hot Springs area where the weird forces of the earth put on some of their most fantastic shows. Here we spotted massive terraces of calcite deposits bordering ponds of boiling water being forced to the surface of the earth by the hellish conditions just below the narrow crust in this remarkable place. We spotted a big bull elk who elected to go into an area forbidden to clumsy tourists but okay for elk wandering. He decided to lay down in the sulphurous water and look elegant. I think he was really trying to kill the ticks embedded in his hide.
From Mammoth we turned east toward the Tower-Roosevelt area of the park for about 10 miles before exiting the loop highway for a dirt and gravel road called Blacktail Plateau Drive which is a magnificent Yellowstone byway with abundant wildflowers in bloom that even impressed an old jaded grump like me.
From Tower-Roosevelt we turned south on the loop road back toward our place at Flagg Ranch although we made some quick stops on both sides of Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River near the park’s Canyon Village complex. The Yellowstone River comes from Yellowstone Lake in the south part of the park and flows north to Yellowstone Falls where it cascades over this double falls of some 400′ of combined height before turning northeast and ultimately joining the Missouri River, the Mississippi and finally flowing out into the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans. We were in New Orleans last year on our loop of the eastern U.S. and it seems a long way from Yellowstone with it’s 8,000′ elevations, low humidity and abundant flora and fauna.
On the way back home today, we passed many bison grazing and lounging within sight of the loop road. They are big, brutish creatures but they are also magnificent animals smart enough not to tolerate meddling by stupid tourists who attempt to take their pictures from inside their comfort zone. There are many signs within the park cautioning tourists to give these animals some room. On the internet there are many film clips of the stupid folks who ventured too close to these creatures only to be gored and boosted into the treetops by these large ungulates. They have scant concern for idiot actions by humans and show little remorse after killing one of the dweebs. There are also wolves and grizzlies and mountain lions and wolverines here that dull-witted tourists have approached with tragic results, if you consider the stupid being killed tragic.
We shot some nice photos during today’s excursion. If you want to see some of them, click here