Back to Old Faithful and beyond
The journey just gets more picturesque every day
To complete the figure eight loop of Yellowstone Park, we again travelled to Old Faithful—and this time, beyond. We drove to the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake. A very beautiful and steep drive, winding through the valleys and past more steaming fissures. Lunchtime found us at a unique picnic area beside the lake. This area had suffered a recent fire. There was burnt timber laying everywhere among the tall still growing Lodgepole pines. The fine black sand on the beach soaked up the sun and made the water quite warm.
The marina at Bridge Bay was crowded with large and small pleasure boats. They tell me the fishing in Yellowstone Lake is great. Surprisingly I learned that lake trout are not native to this lake and fishermen are encouraged to take as many as they want. Apparently the lake trout eat the fry and the adults of the rainbow trout, which are the natural inhabitants.
Onward to the full-service village of Fishing Bridge and then to Canyon Village. We had been on this road on our way into the park a few days ago. Then it was up and over Dunraven pass where we saw massive herds of buffalo. At Tower Fall we encountered the most gorgeous canyons and gorges I have ever seen. Extremely beautiful multi-coloured jagged rock formations plunged all the way to the river far below us.
The road took us past Tower junction and up to Mammoth Hot Springs. Now the last time we visited Yellowstone was 35 years ago. Betty and I remembered the outflows at Mammoth Hot Springs as a huge multi-coloured and multi-layered tower of rock and flowing hot water. Now, due to earthquakes within the park, it has dried up and is a white-stepped tower of rock instead. Still beautiful, though, and one can imagine the days when the water was flowing. The final drive to Norris and West Yellowstone took us past still more fascinating canyons and rock formations.
The past two days of visiting this park have been filled with awesome sights and wonders that cannot be found anywhere else on earth. Visit www.yellowstonevacation.com, or better yet come and visit this area and you will not be disappointed. The winter activity in this area is just as enjoyable. The activities include snow coach touring, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Even though there are many hotels and motels in town, book early, as they fill up fast for both winter and summer activities.
