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Madison Campground – West side of Yellowstone
We were having such a great time in Grand Teton, but we were
scheduled to move on to Yellowstone. The drive was only about 90 miles, so it
was easy and there were a few really nice stops for scenic views. The road ran
along the Yellowstone River. After entering the park, we stopped at the Grant
Village visitor center for research about kayaking in Yellowstone. We were
directed to the backcountry office. They advised us that our kayaks would need
a further inspection by their staff and an additional permit sticker. The good
thing is that there was no charge for this permit. Also, we found out that we
could not paddle on any river or creek in the park due to spawning trout. There
were only two small lakes where we can paddle in a limited area, and cannot put
our boats on any shoreline! Oh well, more government regulations! So we got the
permits just in case we do decide to get on the water.
Upon arrival at Madison Campground, we were assigned a site
that we were not able to fit our trailer into! They were able to give us
another site, which turned out to be very nice. This is an older campground
with no hook ups and typically smaller sites, not designed for today’s larger
RVs with slide outs. We were fortunate again to have very nice RV neighbors for
the time we were there. The first family staying next to us was from Helena
Montana, and they gave us a huge pile of firewood that he didn’t want to carry
home. That was awesome!
The next day we made plans to tour the various geyser
basins. Along the way, we took the Firehole Canyon Road that ran along the
Firehole River. This road had awesome views of the river and a large waterfall.
This river also ran downstream behind the campground through a beautiful
valley. We continued south to see Old Faithful. There was a village there that
had shopping, grocery, fuel and lodging. It was very modern and well organized.
This area was one where a cell signal was available, so I tried to take
advantage of this and get to the internet to post pictures and my blog. There
was a large concrete walkway all around the geyser with bench seating to handle
hundreds of people. We walked through the Visitor Center to read about the
geology and volcanic activity that created this landscape of this park. When
the time of the expected eruption was near, we moved outside to the benches and
picked our spot. The geyser did erupt about 10 minutes prior to the predicted time;
it erupts approximately every 90 minutes, plus or minus 10 minutes. When the
geyser did erupt, it was exciting, but only lasted a few minutes.
Unfortunately, it was not the spectacular event that we had anticipated. But it
was worth the time to come and see the great one in Yellowstone. As we drove to
the next geyser basin, there was an awesome falls along the road. Kepler
Cascades was close to the road and we took some great pictures.
The next location was a visit to Biscuit Basin, where there
were several geysers and nice boardwalks to get to each one. This basin had
some very amazing thermal features. Along with geysers, there were hot spring
pools and fumaroles. Some had quite brilliant colors and others were simply
boiling pools. However, all of them were wonders that we have never seen
before. The different colors are due to
the minerals, bacteria and gases that make up the feature.
We continued down the road to a bike/hike trail that would
take us back to the Lone Star Geyser. This was a great chance for us to ride
our bikes down this 5 mile trail. It was an old forest road through beautiful lodgepole
pine forest with a creek running along most of the trail. At one point, we had
to park the bikes and then hike back into the geyser area. This conical geyser
is second in size to Old Faithful, but has a 3 hour interval for eruptions. We
were in luck with our timing as the geyser was nearing the end of the eruption.
A ranger had told us that this one had a series of three eruptions before
ending the cycle. We watched until the cycle was over and got some great
pictures. This one actually impressed me more than Old Faithful. We then headed
back on our bikes and continued the forest ride.
After a few hours of geyser gazing, we headed back to the
camp for a rest and to let the dogs out. By the time we got back it was late
afternoon and we were ready to relax for the evening. Our RV neighbors gave us
a load of firewood, so after dinner Kurt made a campfire and we invited them
over to enjoy it with us.
The next day we wanted to do a hike back to Mystic Falls.
The trailhead was at one end of Biscuit Basin, where we had been the previous
day. It was warm and sunny when we got to the trailhead. The trail was flat at
first and then began a steep climb up a lovely trail through forest. The
waterfall was about 2.1 miles back and was well worth the steep hike. Mystic
Falls is a cascading, 70 foot waterfall. Kurt hiked on up the trail, which
lead to an overlook at the top of the falls. I stayed at the bottom of the
falls and went back to the base of the falls, where I found a nice rock to sit
on, cool off and relax. As I gazed at the falls, I saw trout trying to jump up
over waterfall terraces. I’m not sure that any of them made it, but maybe some
did. They are however, in spawning season! It was so relaxing. I saw Kurt at
the overlook and he took some nice pictures.
After Kurt came back down, we headed back down the trail. After
returning to camp, we again enjoyed our evening around the campfire.
Our last full activity day we decided to head to Fountain
Flat drive and ride our bikes on a 6 mile round trip trail. The gravel service
road was not the easiest to ride on, but we were heading to Fairy Falls. The
trail followed Fairy Creek, which is in a beautiful valley surrounded by
meadows. When we reached the trailhead, we parked the bikes and hiked on up the
trail. Again, the day was warm and the
trail went through high desert, pines and sagebrush. The waterfall, which was
about 100 feet high, created its own weather. It was like a big air conditioner
was turned on, along with a cool, fine mist. We stayed there a little while to
cool off. It was very relaxing and a
nice respite from the heat. We now had to hike/bike back to the truck. It was a
wonderful trek through the wilderness. Along the trail, there was a lone bison
bull grazing, so we got some pictures of him. We then drove north on the main
road to the lower geyser basin, where the main geyser is named Fountain Paint
Pot. The variety of geysers there were very different colors and types. There
were hot pools, mud pots and fumaroles. After another day of geyser gazing, we
were preparing for our trip north to Mammoth Hot Springs then on to Livingston
Montana.
The next morning, we headed north toward Mammoth Hot
Springs. On the drive up, we stopped at a waterfall overlook, Gibbon
Falls, which is a gigantic cascading waterfall. The overlook was very large;
so many people were stopped there to get a look and pictures. Moving on up the
road, we were able to find an RV parking space in Mammoth Village. We walked up
to the hot springs, which were amazing terraced hot springs/geysers. The
boardwalk up and around the terraces was extensive as we were able to see all
the features of this amazing hot springs. We spent about an hour there getting
some great pictures. While we were in Mammoth Village, there was a small herd
of elk roaming the grassy areas and having lunch. It was cool to see them up so
close. We then moved onward toward Montana. We stopped in the town of Gardiner
to get some lunch. We got take out salads and went back to the RV to eat. The
dogs enjoyed a nice walk around the area. On to Livingston!
.
