THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, Roosevelt, Snow and One Last Look

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Our last day in Yellowstone was June 25th, 2011.  We were driving what I have chosen to call the north loop in the park, it was called Grand Loop on the GPS.  After the bear sighting/photo op thrill, we continued east towards the Tower-Roosevelt area.   Below, this is the Roosevelt Lodge area, this is the lodge and general store.  We stopped for a short break and a snack.

Below, the cabins, yes, you can book a stay in them, they open in mid May and close early September.  And yes, they are quite small.  Cute, aren't they?

Next we stop at the area known for the bleached cliffs, which also had these outstanding formations, but, first the beached cliffs.  In this area there is a lot of steam that rises from the Calcite Springs, steam and chemicals.  The combination of steam and chemicals actually turn the cliff above the springs and river a pale yellow/white pulp.  Sure makes for a pretty photo.

In the same area there are some basalt formations called hexagonal columns.  They were formed due to lava which actually caused a flood of fire about twenty five feet deep.  That is a really horrible description of the notes I found on the signage, and now we all know why I was never meant to be a scientist or geologist!  LOL  Here are two photos, see that contrasting stone that looks like it was just chiseled out , neat, eh??  The river cannot be seen in this photo, but, it is down there.

Zoom a bit:

The road now takes a turn towards the south, we are headed toward Canyon Village, but there are several more beautiful sights to see, and one last really good dose of snow.  Not far from the Calcite Springs area shown above is the Tower Falls. They drop 132 feet, it is a short 150 yard walk down to the viewing area.

Back in Big Butt heading UP the mountain we stop for a photo op, panoramic style:

We climb from about 8100 feet to close to 8450 feet according to the photos I took of the GPS (my techy way of taking notes!  LOL) and it was 56 degrees and there was just a bit of snow left on the ground from last winter:

As we continue back down the mountain from Dunraven Pass (elevation 8859 feet) I take just a few more photos of this huge magnificent Yellowstone National Park, our first national park, the last is below:

Our visit to Yellowstone will be over as soon as we drive from Canyon Village back west to Norris, then south to Madison and then west to West Yellowtone.  I took no more photos.  It has been quite the week, geysers, mountains, fish, bear, bison, baby bison, rivers, waterfalls, lakes and more of each.  It was expensive to stay there, even with Tana, the most we have paid anywhere, I believe.  The elevation was an issue for us and thus there were sights we did not see, roads we did not drive.  Not sure we will ever be able to go back, but, the crystal clear lakes, streams, rivers, snow covered mountain tops will be forever in our memories and I have just a few photos to help maintain the memories.

Yellowstone was, simply - Totally! Awesome!

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