Yellowstone National Park
My father and I spent the weekend of November 14-16 at Yellowstone National Park. During the winter (pretty much after late October) the only entrance to the park that is open is the Northern entrance in Gardiner, MT. All the roads in the park are closed, except for the road that runs from Mammoth Hot Springs to Cooke City, MT. As a result of this, the park empties.
Saturday morning we left Bozeman and drove down to Gardiner. The town is right on the border between Wyoming and Montana, and is surrounded by the southeast part of the Gallatin Range.
After claiming our tent site at Mammoth Campground we drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs itself. Talk about otherworldly. We walked the entirety of the boardwalk system, including the closed Upper Loop Road. The entire area is full of steaming pits, streams, springs, and puddles. There are several locations where the calcium deposits have choked out entire stands of trees, and one or two locations where trees are in the process of being strangled alive.
It seriously reminded me of the Dead Marshes in Lord of the Rings.
Saturday night we spent cramped and cold in a one person tent at Mammoth Campground. Despite the uncomfortable sleeping situation, it was good to be back in a tent again. The stars that night were incredible, as I’ve come to expect from Montana.
Sunday we drove the open road into the Lamar Valley and did several short hikes. The scenery was incredibly, and wildlife was everywhere. We hiked up one bluff to the top of a rocky cliff and found several melted areas, clearly from bedded-down elk.
Most of the wildlife was easily visible from the road. We saw several herds of buffalo, two wolves, and a coyote. One buffalo wandered right by us while we were hiking. It looked to be lumbering, but we underestimated the sheer size of the animal and the amount of ground it’s legs allowed it to cover. I don’t think the size of a buffalo can truly be appreciated without seeing one in person.
After our drive and hiking trip, we drove back through Mammoth and headed to the Boiling River. This swimming area is located on the confluence of the Boiling River (run-off from the geothermal features at Mammoth Hot Springs) and the Gardiner River (really freaking cold). The combination of the two allows the pools to be safe to swim in. It feels amazing. On the 1/2 mile walk to the swimming area, we were almost attacked by an elk. The animal appeared suddenly from out of the bush and stood, stock-still, staring at us. We slowly moved past it, trying to be non-threatening, and then it put it’s head down and started walking towards us. Our calm walk became a hurried trot, and the elk bucked it’s head and kicked once. Luckily, that was all it found necessary and it retreated back into the brush. The river was awesome, providing alternating currents of incredibly hot and really cold water, and our dip in (and hurried run away from) the Gardiner River was excellent.
Sunday night we watched the Patriots lose to the Colts in the Best Western of Gallatin. Much better than the tents. Monday morning we hit up the Boiling River again. On our drive back out of the park, just as my dad and I were both remarking on how we wanted to see a mountain goat, we rounded a bend and spotted five or six goats jumping and running around on a sheer cliff just above the road.
We stopped, took pictures, and drove back to Bozeman. Yellowstone is an amazing place.