When Buffalo Bill set up his town of Cody, he wanted to make sure that it had visitor traffic so he placed his town on road to the East entrance to Yellowstone National Park. He also built the Irma Hotel (named after his youngest daughter) to give visitors a place to stay along the way.
Yellowstone was designated as America's first National Park in 1872. The park covers 2.3 million acres and is so large that you only see about 1% of the park from the road.
John and I had been to west Yellowstone on a visit about nine years ago but I had never seen the East side. It was incredible! In the first seven miles, the road twists upward through forests along Middle Creek to a height of 8,541 feet, brushing the base of Top Notch Peak at Sylvan Pass. Over the Sylvan Pass, you pass Eleanor and Sylvan Lakes and into an area burned in 2003. Forest fires closed this road for several weeks that summer and affected more than 21,000 acres. Another burn in the Sylvan pass claimed over 18,000 acres in 2007.
From this point, the East Entrance Road descends to the shore of Yellowstone Lake, passing a thermal area known as Steamboat Springs. As we had arrived early in the morning the steam coming from the vents was very clear and beautiful in the cool morning air.
We continued on our journey passing Fishing Bridge, Sizzling Basin, Sulphur Calderon ( where we found the Yellowstone road block... buffalo in the road holding up all traffic) and on toward Canyon Village. We were following along the Yellowstone River as it headed north, and, forced into a narrower rocky waterway, it gathers momentum, turning, in the space of just a few miles, from a peaceful waterway to a thundering giant, strong enough to carve out the magnificent Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.
We took the South Rim Drive. This drive offers wonderful overlooks of the Yellowstone River as it roars through a magnificent volcanic canyon, cutting ever deeper into the soft, hydrothermal-altered rhyolite rock. The 308-foot Lower falls ( photo ) can be seen via a trail that begins at the end of South Rim Drive, at Artist Point. It was a magnificent sight! I hope that the photo shows the rainbow that we could see in the early morning sun. Looking at the falls there is a green stripe on the left side of the falls, this coloring is caused by a notch at the top of the falls, which allows a deeper, less turbulent stream of water to pass over the lip of the falls, making it appear more green than the water around it.
Of all the memories one carries back from this magic place, the view of the 23 mile long Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone will be once most magnificent! The array of beautiful colors: gold, yellow, pink, and rust along the canyon wall are the result of hot water steam, and gasses burnishing the rhyolite walls.
As you can see, it was another wonderful day of adventure. We did hike several trails to view not only the lower falls but the upper falls. At times these were rather strenuous but well worth the hikes. I am looking forward to returning to the Park next year to explore further.
That is all for now, tomorrow another adventure.
Love, Candy and Johnny
