First stop: Overlook for the Golden Gate Canyon and Rustic Falls just south of Mammoth Springs, where we spent last night. The bridge Tony is pointing to has some history. It was one of the most difficult and expensive engineering challenges when roads were first being built in the park. The first 1885 bridge was very dangerous by 1900 so it was rebuilt then and again in 1933 and 1977. So now it’s back to being an old bridge again, but sturdy enough for cars and bison all at the same time.

Second Stop: Obsidian from a cliff in Yellowstone has been traded by several Native American cultures because the sharp, glass-like rock makes excellent tools and is pretty for ceremonial purposes. It has been traced as far away as Ohio.

The building where Tony is standing is also historic as it was one of the first exhibits built in a national park. It currently has interpretive boards.

Third Stop: Clearwater Springs has some hot water being added to it.

Fourth Stop: Roaring Mountain looks like it’s covered with snow at first glance, then looks like a mountain devastated by a nuclear disaster with steam escaping from the rock. Sulfur smell is in the air as Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, an aptly named archaea microbe, is busy turning the steamy hydrogen sulfide gas into sulfuric acid which melts the rock into clay. Indeed, it is NOT snow.

Fifth Stop: Artist Paintpots has a small parking lot but we managed to find a spot to walk through an area that I remember from my childhood visit to Yellowstone. Bubbling mud fascinated me then, and it still does.

Sixth Stop: Time for a “real” hike. The Monument Geyser Basin Trail follows the Gibbon River for 0.4 miles, then heads up to an overlook with a 640-foot change in elevation for another 0.6+ miles. We met (and passed – Tony easily, I huffed and puffed) three other couples, one of whom was from Kansas City, all of us flatlanders fighting for oxygen at 8000 feet. Everything went well until I fell on the way down when my right foot slipped on loose rock, but the left one was left behind and I twisted my ankle as I fell. It’s some minor damage, but I will have to go slower and forgo strenuous hikes for a bit.

Seventh Stop: Time for lunch and RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) for my ankle. We stopped at the Madison Information Station and learned when the next Old Faithful eruption was expected.

Eighth and Final Stop: We will travel to Old Faithful, then find our new campground north of West Yellowstone, outside of the park. See next post.