Bucket list items? Scratch one off. Yellowstone has been on my bucket list for years. I have been to the National Parks in the east that I bucket listed with the exception of Acadia in Maine. In the west I want to see Yellowstone, Badlands, Yosemite and Kings Canyon, The Grand Canyon, Redwoods, Lassen, Mt Rainier and Olympic. well one down and too many to go. Since my sister has lived in Bozeman for 47 years and states that she has been to Yellowstone over 100 times I figure to get a personal tour like no other.
Our drive from Bozeman to Yellowstone took us through Paradise Valley between The Absaroka and Gallatin Mountain Ranges. The Paradise Valley extends on a north/ south axis from Livingston Montana to Gardiner Montana. US Route 89 runs through the valley and into Yellowstone National Park. The Yellowstone River also runs through the valley.
After the 93-mile drive from Bozeman I am here at Yellowstone National Park! We entered at Gardiner Montana. Yellowstone has five entrances, Gardiner and Silver Gate/Cooke City Montana to the north, Cody/Wapiti Wyoming to the east, West Yellowstone Montana to the west and the John D Rockefeller Parkway from Grand Teton National Park to the south.
Our first stop is the Mammoth Hot Springs at Mammoth, Wyoming. Mammoth is a census designated place and has 263 permanent residents. It is the site of the Hot Springs and Fort Yellowstone. Mammoth is open year-round while much of Yellowstone is closed during the winter. The reason for this area remaining open is that the Northeast to Northwest Entrance Road also known as US 212 is the only way into Cooke City Montana in the winter.
When the park was created in 1872 the country did not have a National Park Service, so the park was placed under the Department of the Interior. After that department failed to properly administer the park it was reassigned to the Department of War. General Phillip Sheridan brought troops to Mammoth in 1886 to build a fort. The temporary camp was known as Fort Sheridan. When the permanent fort was completed in 1891 it was named Fort Yellowstone. The War Department ran the park until 1918 when the National Park Service was formed.
We started out on the boardwalk to see all the hot springs.
Mammoth Hot Springs is one of the largest areas of hot springs in the world.
Although there are many terraces there are three main ones, the Main Terrace, the Upper Terraces and the Lower Terraces. To visit the hot springs, you have to stay on the boardwalks. The ground around the area is very fragile.
The water at Mammoth Hot Springs reaches 163* Fahrenheit.
An interesting fact I found out while researching this story is that the water at Mammoth Hot Springs flows out of the Norris Geyser Basin, (post coming up soon), to this location.
“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”
John Muir
After spending ample time to see all this we set out for the Norris Geyser Basin and the Porcelain Basin.
Old Man Wandering 