Tower-Roosevelt - Yellowstone NP

Leaving the Mammoth Hot Springs area, we followed the road east towards the Tower-Roosevelt section of the park.  We didn't get very far when I noticed some bright yellow aspen on a hillside in the distance.  I pulled the car over and got out to get a better look...

...because the trees had grown to form the shape of a heart!  How neat is that :)?!

Back on the road, we drove until we came to Undine Falls...

...then on across the Blacktail Deer Plateau.  Here we saw the first Bison of the day...

around the next curve we spotted a big group of his friends

From here, we decided to follow the road south towards the heart of the park instead of east towards Lamar Valley.  We passed through the most beautiful aspen grove...

...and then we stopped at the Tower Fall pull-out.  Instead of trekking off to see the waterfall, we quietly made our way in the other direction to get a look at these beauties...

Do you see them?  They were camouflaged quite well...

a little baby!

While walking towards the Bighorn sheep, we noticed that there was a canyon that fell away from the ridge we were on...

There were trails, so we followed one of them for a ways...

The Yellowstone River Canyon...

...we would see it again at the Canyon Village section of the park, but first we had to cross Dunraven Pass...

Mammoth Hot Springs - Yellowstone NP

Early in the morning, just as the sun was climbing to the tops of the surrounding mountains, we entered Yellowstone through the famous arch and made our way back towards Mammoth Hot Springs...

It was cold, but we had our windows open anyway...hoping to hear the elk singing their haunting song again.  And hear them we did...we just didn't see them.  We stopped on a ridge and looked, but the Wapiti, or "ghosts of the forest", were not letting themselves be seen this time.

We continued our drive to the hot springs themselves and started what was to be a (very) long day of hiking.  The first formation we saw was a dormant one and not the prettiest thing around...

...but just behind it, in the active Lower Terrace area, there was such incredible beauty...

Things normally found way beneath the earth's surface in caves and passages hidden from the light of day.  In Yellowstone, they rise to the top for all the world to see...

We walked the trails around the Lower Terraces for a while, then we decided to go up to the Upper Terraces.  Looking on our map, we noticed a small dirt road loop that winds around up there.  We hopped back in the car and headed up...

the sun trying to break through...

...early morning and late afternoon light are the best :)

The things we saw, I don't have words to adequately describe...

Bubbling crystalline mounds...

Frozen rock waterfalls...

The very breath of the earth itself seems to curl forth and join the wind in this special place.

Roosevelt Arch...

...the first major entrance to Yellowstone.

More than 100 years ago, trains would bring people to the nearby town of Cinnabar, MT.  From there, they would enter the park via horse drawn carriages...

The great stone arch was designed by architect Robert Reamer as a stunning entrance to the wonders of Yellowstone.  It was created with the carriages in mind, a threshold of the grandest scale...

The cornerstone was laid by President Theodore Roosevelt, thus giving it it's name...

Tucked beneath the stone lies a time capsule.  Filled with snippets from the year 1903...

"For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People" is inscribed along the top of the arch.  Indeed...

Horse drawn carriages then, automobiles now...it marks the transition from every day life into something truly spectacular.  Into the world of Yellowstone National Park...

Going to Yellowstone

When we decided to go to Yellowstone, the kids wanted to enter the park through the Roosevelt Arch.  The closest entrance would have been through Red Lodge/Beartooth Pass, but it had already been closed for the season due to snow the week before.  It was supposed to be open again, but honestly I was glad the kids voted to go to Gardiner instead.  The Pass is gorgeous...

Beartooth Pass July 2011

the kids were so little!  oh my goodness :)...

...when somebody else is doing the driving ;), haha! 

Anyway...we left Williston and headed west, stopping along the way in Billings to grab some lunch at HuHot (of course! our favorite) and then to the store to pick up groceries for the week.  Just behind HuHot was a lego shop, the kids spotted it so we popped in there for a bit before heading on our way...

Groceries, one haircut, a handful of legos, and full tummies.  Billings gave us all we needed and we were back on the road to Yellowstone.  We followed I-90 to Livingston and from there the road to the park turns off and it is pretty much just fields and mountains until you come to Gardiner, which snugs right up against the park boundary.

I had made reservations inside the park for the next night, but I didn't have anything for that night.  I like to just stop wherever we end up and get a room, but I was a little nervous about getting all the way to Gardiner and not finding anything...or anything affordable.  I almost stopped in Livingston since it is right off the interstate, but it was still an hour from the park and we really wanted to get as close as possible.  We threw caution to the wind, passed Livingston right on by, and went to Gardiner.  The first hotel I went in had a room available that would sleep the 6 of us but it was outrageously expensive.  Not even an option.  But, the stop was worth it because after I politely declined the emptying of my wallet to spend one night in their establishment, they gave me the name of a more "rustic" aka cheaper accommodation...the Jim Bridger Cabins.  We ended up with a 2 bedroom cabin that had plenty of space for a fraction of the price.  Nice :)!

The sun was quickly slipping behind the mountains, so as soon as we had our cabin key we took off for the park.  We wanted to at least get to the visitor center at Mammoth Hot Springs and grab some Jr. Ranger books to take back to our cabin.

We made it with only minutes to spare before they closed for the day.  Just as we were getting out of the car to go in the vc, we heard a noise.  A beautiful, strange, haunting noise unlike anything we had ever heard before.  THE ELK WERE BUGLING!!!  Yay!  Yay!  Yay!  It was awesome :).  We zipped in and back out of the vc, quickest ever for us...hahaha!  We didn't want to be inside when we could be outside hearing the elk make their music.

It was getting dark and we had planned to have a picnic for our supper...so we grabbed a table a safe distance from the big bull and had sandwiches while he sang his elk heart out.

Eventually he wandered on off and it was getting completely dark anyway, so we packed it up and headed back towards our cabin in Gardiner...

Back at the cabin, the kids worked on their Jr. Ranger books and then we called it a night.  We had to get some sleep because the next day we were going to Yellowstone :)!