 |
| Mammoth Hot Springs |
On the fifth day our destination was
Mammoth Hot Springs. We moved from the western, mountainous, lake covered side
of the park to the “real” Yellowstone, the land of geysers and hot springs.
However, before departing towards Mammoth,
getting excited from our good luck the previous day seeing two bears, we took a
round early in the morning looking for wolves or moose. As for the moose,
unfortunately we haven´t seen one in the whole trip (why is it that you can´t
see one even in zoos?), and we just missed the wolves as well… we still saw
the crowd and the park ranger, but seemed that the wolves had already left. But
it seems that it is not rare to see wolves in the park, as we were told the
other day that the bison the bear was finishing off was taken in the morning by
wolves. And the next day they show up again! But it seems you have to be an
early bird to catch the “wolf” – later we heard that the wolves showed up
around 6:30, and we went to Lamar Valley at 7am… what a pity!
With a bit of disappointment we returned to
Roosevelt Lodge as at 10am I had a horseback riding reserved. (As my husband
still had a catheter inside, he could hardly walk, not to mention riding, so it
was only me going.) It was a one hour ride with about 20 people (plus 4
guides). As it was for beginners, there was no need to be able to ride – the
horses were already used to the route and the pace, the ride was very peaceful
and easy. We took a loop at the hills nearby Roosevelt Lodge. It was
interesting as we could take a route with the horses that we´d never take on
foot – we saw bison bones and skulls, evidence of the very existence of the
bears and wolves nearby. Then we saw a pronghorn family and had a bit of
adventure with a bison: there was a small bridge over a creek that we had to
cross, but also a bison found his place there to rest. So, our tour guides
showed their cowboy skills, maneuvering the bison out of the way with good
horse handling and shouting, waving. After the bison was gone, we could follow
our route to climb up a hill and turn back to the village.
 |
| horseback riding in Roosevelt (unfortunately camera on the horse was prohibited...) |
Although there was
not much excitement (except of the bison, which was quite spectacular
adventure), it was a good to experience how the cowboys and trappers were
traveling in the old days. Today it is 20-30 minutes to go around an area
here, but on horseback the pace and so the view is completely different. Although,
I have to mention that even the bison are fond of the improvements of the
civilization – I am sure they walk big distances on the fields as well, but
whenever we saw one near the road, it was without exception walking on the
asphalt rather than next to it on the soil. It seems, they also noticed that
the smooth road is easier to walk on.
There was even one who followed the yellow line in the middle (just like
Dorothy in Oz) making the cars stop in both lanes.
 |
| "Dorothy" bison following the yellow line |
Not to mention the herd that
found the road easier to get back to Lamar Valley from the Tower Falls on the
paved road rather than in the woods.
 |
| bison family on the road |
After the horseback riding, we checked out
of the lodge and headed to Mammoth Hot Springs, which again was quite close
(about 30kms away). On the way to Mammoth, we were now hunting for animals to
see. And we found a badger! It was running across the road so we pulled out
at the next stop (fortunately there was one close) and went hunting for it –
the badger was about 40-50cms long, brownish with white stripes on his face
and white spots on his back. As it run into one of the many many holes these
animals dug into the ground among the short bushes, we first only saw the
badger´s face which was something like of a squirrel-mouse-cat mix. As we
were just standing a few meters from the hole, the badger was a bit shy, but
came out of the hole and ran into others many times, so we could “chase” it for
several minutes. When it got fed up with us, just jogged away under the
short bushes. I was amazed during this trip from time to time, how fast the
animals really are and how much human is fragile and vulnerable without its
gadget (cars and so). I couldn´t even chase up with a little badger in the
wild, not to mention a bear or a wolf!
 |
| badger in the bush |
Anyway, happily to see such a badger in the wild, we drove directly to
Mammoth. Arriving to the “village”, our jaws dropped. Got used to the moderate
villages on the east of the park, Mammoth was like Monaco after being in
Albania. Green, smugly cut lawn, huge, colorful houses and hotels after the
brown little cottages and lodges we´ve seen so far in the park. As we have
descended from the mountains, the weather was extremely hot, making the whole
place a real tourist paradise. Also, the main entrance of Yellowstone Park, the
North Entrance is very close, only 10 miles. According to this, the people were
different here as well – tourist-like, with skirts and high heels, something
that definitely wouldn´t serve at the Lake or Canyon Area.
 |
| the nicely arranged Mammoth Area |
As it was past noon when we arrived, we
first went to a restaurant, the Mammoth Dining. As everything here, this dining
was as well posh and more elegant than the diners we had eaten in the other
areas. It was however a great change to eat “normal” food after the sandwiches
and burgers and French fries. Although the price was a bit high, the quality of
the food was excellent! Not only compared to a dining in a national park, but
such quality could be sold in any place.
 |
| in the Mammoth Dining |
Happily and full after the delicious
lunch, we went to see the Mammoth Hot Spring. This huge hot spring/calcium-carbonate
hill is only a few minutes’ walk from the diner. We made a bad decision walking
from the diner and right after lunch, as it turned out we had chosen the
hottest time of the day and the boardwalk around the spring is huge, so even
without that few minute´s walk, this can be quite a hike (especially with a
freshly operated person). There are 2 main attractions here, the first is the
Liberty Cap. This 11ms tall column is the symbol of this area. It is the
remaining of a once was geyser. As it stands just right before the Mammoth´s
terraces, I first thought it was fake and was put here, but turned out to be
real, showing that Mother Nature has a style as well.
 |
| Liberty Cap |
Just as we finished taking
pictures of the Liberty Cap (actually, a good name as the shape of the column
looks like the mushroom named after), we could still catch a glimpse of a snake disappearing
in one of the holes that can be seen around here in the ground.
Right behind
Liberty Cap is the other attraction of this area, the terraces of spring. There
were 2 or 3 different names to it, the one I liked most was “Devil´s Thumb”.
The hot spring apparently delivers 2 tons of calcium carbonate every day, which
slowly accumulates on the ground, finally making a hill of minerals – or
terraces as in the case of Devil´s Thumb.
Although the mechanism might be
different, such hot spring terraces can be seen in Turkey or Hungary as well.
But it was really spectacular to see this monument that is hard to believe to
have been formed naturally – the top of the terrace is flat with a small pit to
collect the water so from the top it would all down as a waterfall. During the
centuries, the minerals have accumulated creating the white terraces that
transforms the hot spring waterfall into a natural fountain, allowing the hot
water to descend from the height gently to the ground. Thanks to the white
calcium carbonate precipitated from the water, the ground and the terraces
around are smooth and with the water flowing, it sparkles like diamond. To make
it more interesting, the different microorganism feeding on the eutrophic water
the calcium carbonate are colored to orange, brownish or greenish, yellowish at
places.
After the Devil´s Thumb, the boardwalk
continues up and around the hill to see more hot springs, but with my husband
hardly walking, we had given up on look around. Rather we decided to look
around later by car – there is a driveway going around the “outer side” of this
huge hot spring “monument”. As it was so hot, we decided to cool down in the
car and drive to Gardiner, the entrance town on the north. The north entrance
seems to be the “main” entrance with the huge, chancel arch-like Roosevelt Arch
showing the way to the park from far away.
The way to Gardiner from Mammoth Hot
Springs is about 10 minutes, going downhill all the way – the climate and scene
is again so different here from the other parts of the park! It is hot here and
the vegetation is shorter, poorer, with desert-resembling snakes and cactuses.
 |
| the landscape around Mammoth area |
Gardiner is again a pretty little “park-entrance” town, its main street facing
the entrance of the park. We had seen here many tourist offices planning
rafting and other activities, as the Yellowstone River is just passing here,
providing a great opportunity for extreme water sports. The souvenir shops were
extremely interesting here – many “polished” (meaning not mass souvenir
products) souvenirs, paintings, pottery, professional photos, shops with huge variety
of fossils and stones from the surrounding mountains as well as from all around
the world. We even saw shops selling anglers, bear or wolf claws or animal fur.
 |
| Gardiner |
After strolling around and buying some
souvenirs (I found some nice square plates with bears and bison burned into the
plate), we headed back to the park and took the drive around the Mammoth Hot
Spring. Actually there is an upper terrace where you can walk around from the
parking lot or you can take another road to drive around by car. The drive took
us around nice mineral formations and strange, extraterrestrial places where
trees grew among the snow-white calcium carbonate covered ground.
 |
| orange spring mound in the upper terrace driveway |
As we still had time in the afternoon, we
decided to go down to the nearby hot spring that people can actually use. This
hot spring is on the way to Gardiner, just about 5 minutes from the village.
The guide book said to be 10 minute´s walk from the parking lot, but even
without an injured person (my husband) it would take at least 20. Now, it
seemed to take forever…but we´ve seen elks and freakishly big, black cricket,
so it was fun. Eventually we arrived to the hot spring. Actually, the hot
spring comes up from the ground and merges into the close by Gardner River,
creating a great spot to bathe. This hot spring was the highlight of our stay,
and even the high maintenance Japanese, it is an absolute recommendation. My
husband loves hot springs next to the rivers (you can find several in Japan),
but this one was even better: this hot spring is actually IN the river.
 |
| Gardner River hot spring |
As the
almost boiling water mixes with the clear, cool water of the river creates hot
spots for the hot spring. There were stones put around the hotter places to
slow down the rivers flow and create small ponds to relax in the water. The
water here was just perfect, not too hot, not too cold (actually, you could
adjust the temperature by slightly changing your position as the temperature in
the running water was slightly different in different places).
 |
| the hot water flowing into the river from the rocks |
And the view was
just in a dream – not only that there was a beautiful river just in front of
us, nature and mountains around us, but even we´d seen wildlife while relaxing
in the hot water! Just on the other bank of the river there were an elk family
having dinner and later we´d seen another elk female passing. Just on the other
side, a few meters from us! It was simply amazing!
 |
| amazing view from the spa |
Totally warmed up from the core, and full
with great experience, the way back to the car hadn´t felt so long. As it was
around 7 o´clock (dinnertime for the animals), it was no big surprise to see
another elk on the roadside walking home (wherever it was). Turned out, the
“home” was Mammoth Hot Springs. As we arrived back to the hotel, we saw 5-6
elks grazing on the fresh lawn. Later, as the night had fallen there were more
and more gathering and by night we counted 13 at one block of lawn. Apparently
the village is a paradise with the fresh green grass to these animals (to the
great delight of the tourists).
 |
| elks gathering in the village |
For dinner we again went to the Mammoth
Dining and later just watched the elks grazing from our window (it faced right
to the front, where the elks gathered). The hotel was again very posh,
especially compared to the one we had stayed before at Roosevelt. The Roosevelt
Lodge was nice and cozy, but it was with a shared bath and toilet which made it
a bit uncomfortable. The hotel room in Mammoth was again with a shared
bathroom, but it was in the same building (didn´t have to walk outside) and was
more comfy and elegant. Overall, it felt like getting back to the civilization.
I loved the eastern part with its wilderness, but thinking about it, it was
good that at Mammoth and the next day at Old Faithful we got back a bit to the
“civilization” so getting back to Jackson and later to Mexico it wasn´t that
big a shock.
For more pictures, click on the link!→Yellowstone (part 5)
No comments:
Post a Comment