Day 4: West Yellowstone
đź“Ť Yellowstone, native land to the Crows, the Blackfeet, the Bannocks, and the Shoshones tribes. A total of 26 tribes have ancestral connections to Yellowstone National Park, which is still considered sacred land. The park was the permanent home of the Mountain Shoshone. They likely were the only people brave enough to withstand the high altitudes and long, cold winters. Yellowstone National Park sits 7,500 feet above sea level.
This morning we woke up, walked to the gas station for coffee (because the hotel doesn’t have coffee makers in the rooms; thanks Covid) and continued walking to the Mammoth Hot Springs. This hotel is a great location in the Northern section of Yellowstone to see a lot of sites. We walked the whole wood planked trek, and honestly the photos just don’t do it justice. They are truly magnificent! Billions of heat loving microorganisms called Thermophils blanket the hot spring. Spirulina is just one of the many thermophils living in the hot spring. Thermophiles thrive at the hot spring, creating a tapestry of color. Some microorganisms live on sunlight and some live on the gases, such a hydrogen sulfide.
We could feel the elevation as we walked (@ 6,500 feet), but we’re starting to aclimate. Our hike ended with a sweet female elk at the bottom of the trail, nibbling away at the fresh green grass. She needs to bulk up for the harsh winters here in Yellowstone. NatGeo has a great documentary if you ever want to learn more about this park. It’s like you’re on a whole other planet.
Side Note: The air here is dry, so if you come, make sure to bring plenty of chapstick and ocean saline nasal spray. Those two items have been a lifesaver for me! Oh and drink more water than you’re ever used to drinking! A lot of the stores in the park have hydration stations where you can refill your water bottles. Take advantage!
After our morning hike, we drove into the town of Gardiner (5 miles from Mammoth) for breakfast at Yellowstone Grill, and then picked up a Huckleberry scone and a bacon jalapeño muffin from Wonderland Cafe “Food For Your Soul” for the car journey (lunch). We highly recommend both of these places!
We jumped in the car and made our way first to Tower Roosevelt, by way of the Blacktail Plateau Drive, which was a 6 mile off road bypass that we wouldn’t recommend. You don’t see much and the road, well, it’s off road so you can imagine the all bumps along the way. At the end of the road, literally, it was closed at Tower Roosevelt, which we never got to see, so we grabbed some cold drinks at the gas station and turned back around. This is one of those “sounds like a great idea” but ended up a flop. Oh well, onward.
Next we headed South on 89. I’m driving this time so the music 🎶 is also all over the place. I enjoy anything from Creedence Clearwater Revival to George Michael, Oleta Adams, Frank Sinatra, The Whispers and Bernhoft (the Norwegian heartthrob). I also listen to a lot of instrumental music, which when driving through some of the amazing landscapes, sets the mood even more.
We stopped at the Obsidian Cliffs (ooh “Dragon Glass” for any Game of Thrones fans), and took a short walk out to the information marker overlooking the cliffs. It’s amazing what hot molten lava will turn into given the right environment.
Our next stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This was an unplanned hike, but hey, when in a National Park, it’s what you do. Ken might have killed me at the end of this one, but we both survived. It was only 1 mile, however, it was 1 mile over many many MANY switch backs, down the length of two football fields. We heard people warning other people on the way down “it’s a knee killer”, and “maybe you should wait here”, and so many people were stopped along the way to catch their breath. Healthy people! Fit people! This area is almost 8,000 feet in elevation, so it’s not surprising. We almost listened to them, but despite all the naysayers, we went anyway, and I’m glad we did! At the bottom, we were at the top of Lower Yellowstone Falls! Wow! The water was a beautiful emerald green and you could feel the power of the falls! We leaned backwards and took a photo over the fence, and then maybe a few (hundred) more photos and then started our trek back up the side of the mountain. I will say, last year, we wouldn’t have been able to do this, but now…we got all the way back up to the top without stopping! We celebrated! I twirled! Big high-fives all around. It just goes to show you, you CANNOT judge a book by its cover!! This is my last day in my forties; I’m letting that one sink in for a minute!!
Anyway, while the endorphins were still high, I walked a bit more on my own to go see the falls from another vantage point. We hopped back in the car and made our way down to Hayden Valley. Yellowstone is picturesque at every single turn and it never disappoints. We saw bison grazing in the distance, and more elk. After Hayden Valley we hit another dead end (lots of road closures right now) and turned around.
On the way back we stopped at the Mud Caldron, another walk around on wooden planks to see all of the different boiling and bubbling volcanic mud pots. Our favorite was the Dragons Mouth Spring which spewed smelly sulfur smoke and made thumping and gurgling sounds. It really did sound like something was going to walk out of the mouth of the cave.
For dinner we decided to go back to the town of Gardiner to The Wonderland Cafe, because their scones were so amazing, we thought we might try dinner. Ken had the cashew crusted cod (even I had some; it was the best I’ve ever tasted; me who hates fish) and I had the Cortado Chicken Salad. Again, we would highly recommend this place. Great staff, super clean, indoor and outdoor seating, and they have their own beer too!
I think we will sleep good tonight! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along.
If you’d like to see more, check out our video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wJOUNfLAdps
Byrds On A Wire 