West Yellowstone Wrapup

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Having done the thorough tour of the Old Faithful area, we were looking for something a little less crowded. We hoped the hike to Fairy Falls would fit the bill. There are several ways to get to the Fairy Falls trailhead. We picked what could be the shorter route by driving to the parking area one mile south of Midway Geyser Basin. This parking area has room for about 70 cars and it was nearly full when we arrived at a reasonable time in the morning. I suspect that most of the people park here only to do the walk up the Grand Prismatic Overlook and back, so the turnover in parking isn’t terrible but don’t be surprised if there isn’t a spot.

There is a dirt road with a bridge over the Firehole River. Fountain Flat Drive runs along the west side of the Midway Geyser Basin. We can see glimpses of the boardwalk and lots of people, but there is no access to it from this road. About three quarters of a mile along the road is a trail up to the Grand Prismatic Overlook. We opt to skip this to save our energy for the hike at hand knowing we could come back another time if need be. We follow this road for just over a mile before we find the beginning of the Fairy Falls Trail. It’s a pleasant walk in a sparsely wooded area for 1.4 miles before you arrive at Fairy Falls. The water makes an impressive 200 foot drop and there was plenty of water flowing. I don’t know the source of the water to be able to say it will look impressive in all seasons, but for early August the flow was good. We sat around the base of the falls and enjoyed a snack. We didn’t have the place to ourselves but there were probably only a couple dozen people coming and going during the 10 or 15 minutes we spent there. Much less crowded than the boardwalks around Old Faithful!

View of Grand Prismatic Spring from Fountain Flat Drive

Wooded Hike to Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls

Close Up View

Fringed Gentian

From here we cross over the creek formed by the falls and continue west and then north along the trail. Our goal was to visit Imperial Geyser. This will add another 2/3 mile (one way) to the trip but it sounded like an interesting geyser to check out. At about 3 miles from parking, there is an intersecting trail to the right. It will head up to the small creek that is the output of Imperial Geyser less than a quarter mile away. The creeks that are formed from the runoff of these geysers are quite unique. The constant flow of hot water allows the thermophiles (heat loving bacteria) to thrive. They tend to be rather brightly colored so the creeks usually are vibrant colors.

A Small Geyser on way to Imperial Geyser

Colorful Creek

When we arrived, Imperial Geyser was erupting. We figured we had timed our visit perfectly. It was described as having frequent minor eruptions. We were impressed with the nearly 30 foot tall water and the pool of blue-green water before exiting into the creek. We stayed around for 10 minutes or so and it didn’t show any signs of slowing down. Not sure if that is typical or we got really lucky. It was definitely worth the added distance on your hike to Fairy Falls to see this geyser.

Approaching Imperial Geyser

Large Eruption at Imperial Geyser

Still Going as We Head out

From here we backtracked along the trail and decided to follow a different route back to Fountain Flat Drive. In hindsight, this was a mistake. Not a big mistake - like we got lost or had problems - but just not a very pleasant walk. The first part of it was thru and area that must be a wetlands at some times of the year. Fortunately it was dry but the grasses were tall and the planks laid out to walk on over the sometimes wet land had seen better days so it made the walking a challenge. It then turned into a thermal area with a couple of interesting pools and springs but nothing worth going out of the way for.

Dragonfly on Old Plank

Crossing Over Creek with Fairy Falls in Distance

Small Geyser Action

Colorful Pool

At just under the 6 mile point, we were back on the dirt road near Goose Lake. It was an easy walk down the road and when we got to the overlook path we took that uphill route to the observation platform. Turns out, this platform and trail is only about 2 years old. Prior to that, there was an unofficial trail up the hill to an overlook to Grand Prismatic Spring below. The hill is about one hundred feet above the spring and while you are seven or eight hundred feet away from the spring, the view of it is absolutely incredible. We will visit the boardwalk area of the spring in a few days but feel the view from the overlook is the better option of the two. Had we simply gone to Fairy Falls, Imperial Geyser and the overlook as an out and back hike, it would have been about 6.4 miles. As we did it, the hike came in at 8.4 miles with not a lot of extra scenery for the two additional miles.

Goose Lake

Grand Prismatic Spring from Overlook

A Wider View

Fairy Falls Tracks

After our hike, we drove back to Old Faithful not to see it but with the hopes of seeing Grand Geyser erupt. When we were there yesterday, we saw it starting to erupt but were still quite a distance away. It looked impressive and lasted for a long time but by the time we made it thru the crowds, the eruption was just about finished. They provide an estimate of the next eruption in the app but Grand Geyser’s time Window is +/- 45 minutes (Old Faithful is +/- 10). We hustled over to the viewing area and even though we didn’t make it for the early estimate, there were scores of people so we suspected it hadn’t gone yet. Some people decided not to wait so we grabbed their spots on the bench to wait it out.

Grand Geyser Before Eruption

There are two adjacent geysers to Grand: Turban and Vent. Apparently there is some pattern to how the three geysers interact. Turban Geyser erupts on roughly a 20 minute interval. If Grand Geyser is going to erupt, it will usually start shortly after Turban starts. When Turban stops, we know Grand won’t possibly go for another 20 minutes. We saw Turban erupt a couple of time, hoping Grand would follow suit. It wasn’t until the third time Turban went off that Grand started to erupt. The show was well worth the wait. It shot water 150 feet into the air and lasted 10 minutes or longer. Once Grand Geyser starts, the small Vent Geyser starts to erupt a nearly continuous stream of the left hand side at a slight angle. Between the waiting and the action, we were likely there for an hour or so but it was one of the highlights of the visit to YNP.

Grand Geyser

Vent Geyser to Left of Grand

Large Crowd Awaiting Old Faithful 

We make a quick stop at Fountain Paint Pot to walk the half mile or so boardwalk and check out some of the features. It turned out to be a nice stop with a variety of thermal features to see and not too many people when we were there.

Silex Spring

Mud Pot

Fumarole

Geyser Erupting

The next day, we head to the Norris area of the park. We stop at the parking area for Gibbon Falls along the way. The river is about 50 feet wide as the water drops about 80 to 90 feet in a gradual cascade. There is a beautiful stone wall to support the path that runs wight next to the park road. Well worth the stop as you pass by.

Gibbon Falls

Impressive Retaining Wall

Our next stop along the way was at Artists Paintpots. There was a line of traffic for the full eighth mile into the parking lot which was completely full. We likely sat in traffic for 15 minutes just trying to get out of there. We ended up going up the main park road another 1/8 miles to a large pullout and simply walked back to the parking area and the trailhead. We definitely beat the people that were waiting in their cars to discover there wasn’t any parking to be had. The name Artists Paintpots had conjured up an idea of what we would find. So when we discovered the few mudpots along the trail and boardwalks were just a drab gray, we were somewhat disappointed. There are very pretty views of the other various thermal features from the trail up above the area, but it wasn’t our favorite stop of the day.

Mudpot

Pretty View from Upper Boardwalk

Next stop was the Norris Geyser Basin. Even a quarter mile from the turn into the parking area, it was clear the parking area was going to be packed based on the slow moving traffic. We saw there was designated overflow parking right along the road and we pulled into one of those spots. As we walked to the Norris Visitor Center, we were passing all the cars sitting in line to get to the very full parking lot. Good call on our part! We checked the visitor center and a map of the immediate area to come up with a game plan. Back to the car for a quick lunch, then a walk over to the Museum of the National Park Ranger. It was about a one mile walk that we could have driven to, but we figured we wouldn’t find a parking place upon our return to Norris. The museum is an old log building at the entrance to the Norris Campground. There are several small rooms of displays and a ranger to answer questions. It was an okay stop but not a must see.

Museum of the National Park Ranger

Nice Back Porch

From here, we take an actual woods trail to get back to the Norris boardwalks. Of course there was a “bear activity” sign at the entrance and we hadn’t bothered to bring our spray with us figuring we wouldn’t need it. Fortunately there was another person walking the trail so he must have scared the bear away. The trail dumps out at Porcelain Springs which an extremely pretty area with all the various colors from the thermophiles. We end up spending over two hours exploring all the thermal features at Norris. At Steamboat Geyser - the world’s tallest geyser with eruptions over 300 feet tall - we listened in to a ranger talk. While the tallest geyser, it isn’t at all predictable. In the past year it has been erupting more frequently with the most recent one being five days earlier. I was hoping for the thing to go off during the talk but we didn’t have that much luck.

Porcelain Basin at Norris

Rainbow of Colors in Hot Runoff

Steamboat Geyser

There are a wide variety of springs, geysers, pools, vents and cauldrons to watch. Some are quite active and interesting while others are simply pretty. Many of the geysers are rather boring holes in the ground when eruptions aren’t occurring. Walking around slowly along the boardwalk in the hot sun took its toll on us. We decided it was time to head back to camp. I put together a short video clip of a few of the geysers in action of the past two days of our trip to YNP.

I suspect most people that visit West Yellowstone are only there for the National Park, but there are other sights to see in the area. We decided to check out one that sounded rather interesting - Earthquake Lake. We figured out a 60 mile loop that would head west into a corner of Idaho before coming back north into Montana. We made lots of stops along the way to check out the great views as we pass over the continental divide at Raynolds Pass. Plus there were a few geocaches to be found that weren’t too far off our route. One cache was at an old bridge over the Madison River known as Three Dollar Bridge. We had to wait for someone to slowly get all of their gear out of their car before we could go for the geocache, so we got a chance to check out the spot. This is a popular fishing access point. We have definitely been seeing a lot of people out fly fishing for trout. We watched three people launch their two rafts as they headed downstream.

$3 Bridge

Rafters Ready to Fish

We finally made our way around the loop and got to the visitor’s center at Earthquake Lake, or Quake Lake as the locals call it. We were here less than two weeks before the 60th anniversary of the formation of this lake. The center has all sorts of displays explaining what happened. In the late hours of August 17, 1959, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit this Madison Canyon River Area. The quake caused a massive landslide on the south canyon wall. They estimated that 80 million tons of rock came crashing down into the valley and had enough force to move the debris halfway up the opposite side of the valley. Two large dolomite boulders that had been part of a ledge sticking out on the other side of the valley broke off and rode the wave of debris down and came to rest on the opposite side as well. They are estimated to weigh 6 million pounds and likely traveled nearly 90 miles per hour. As we read all the displays and watched some of the videos they had at the center, we found it practically unimaginable how much damage was caused in 20 seconds.

The Scar from Landslide

Earthquake Lake Visitor Center

Earthquake Lake

The landslide killed 28 people mostly those in the nearby Rock Creek Campground. It also blocked Highway 287 and more importantly the Madison River had no place to go. About six miles upstream from the landslide, the Hebgen Dam only suffered minor damage from the quake and was repaired in a couple weeks. The problem was with no path for the river to flow downstream, it started to backup and create Quake Lake. The US Army Corps of Engineers was brought in to construct a spillway so that the new natural dam didn’t breach and possibly fail causing severe downstream destruction.

We definitely enjoyed our visit in the center but wanted to see some of the outdoor displays. The visitor center was built on part of the debris field from the slide. It has a few short trails as well. One is paved and relatively easy while the other one snakes up to the large boulders on a very rocky path. Both of the boulders are impressively large. The amazing thing was the experts don’t believe they rolled from the opposite side of the valley. Based on the lichen still being on the exposed face of the rocks.

One Boulder

And the Other Boulder

We continued up Highway 287 stopping at several pullouts along the way with informational signs and great views of Quake Lake. The tops of many of the trees that used to be on dry land, still stick up out of the lake. Hard to believe that they haven’t rotted away in the past 60 years. A bit further up 287 is a bumpy dirt road called Ghost Village Road. So named because many of the old cabins that used to reside along the Madison River floated off their foundations when the river flooded the valley. After the ACOE opened the spillway at the landslide, the water receded and the cabins settled back to earth in a haphazard fashion. None of them are very close to the road but it was still interesting to see them across the river and a field. One last stop was just above Hebgen Dam. The earthquake had caused the land on the north side of the lake to tilt down and sent many homes into the lake. A geocache brought us to the last stop of the day to find a remarkably well preserved log cabin partially submerged in the lake. It was a fun diversion from Yellowstone.

Quake Lake with 60 Year Old Submerged Dead Trees

Ghost Cabin's Resting Place

Cabin in Hebgen Lake

The following day brought us back to YNP. The plan was to explore some of the sights in the Fishing Bridge portion of the park. This drive will take us through the Hayden Valley. It is one of the popular spots to see wildlife in the park. We were still several miles from our first intended stop when we came across a bison jam. We stop half a mile before the main herd just to see how they are behaving. I was surprised to see a heron wading in a creek area not far from the bison.

Heron Looking for a Meal

Bison Jam Ahead

There was a large pullout near where the bison were. I suspect these guys like to hang out here frequently enough that the road crew decided to put in an area for people like us to park. We got out and watched the hundreds of bison as they wandered around both sides of the road, and often spent a lot of time in the middle of the road stopping traffic. The dozens of people didn’t seem to bother the bison at all. Every now and then you would see one of the larger bulls chase off another bull but we didn’t see any real aggressive behavior.

Let's Block the Road

A Good Place to Take a Break

We eventually tired of watching them and continued on to the Mud Volcano area. There is a decent sized parking lot with about a mile of boardwalk to take you around to the various thermal features. Another herd of bison were crossing the river and the main road and actually heading our direction. From the large number of old bison droppings around the thermal features, its clear they sometimes come into this area. I had noticed one of the past logs for a virtual geocache in this area mentioned they were unable to get to the required location because the rangers had closed the boardwalk due to bison. So I know it could happen. As we wander around the area and check things out, we keep an eye out to make sure the bison weren’t following us. It was a worthwhile stop even though there were any really spectacular things. We did like the name of one of the springs - Dragon’s Mouth Spring.

Extra Long Grabber for Trash Pickup

Bison Herd Heading Towards Mud Volcano Area

Dragon's Mouth Spring

Next we drive past the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center to Indian Pond to do the Storm Point Trail. Of course, this section of the park road is under construction so we have a lengthy delay waiting for the escort vehicle to get us through. Another section of construction started right at the parking area we needed and even though we were only a couple hundred feet from the turn, we had to wait yet again. The trail starts at Indian Pond and proceeds along the pond before hitting the split. We headed left and went around the loop clockwise but either way would work. The trail goes out to the northern shore of Yellowstone Lake before heading back into the woods to return to the pond. It was a pretty hike and only 2.3 miles. Not a “must do” hike but if you’re here for awhile, give it a try.

Indian Pond

Shore of Yellowstone Lake

We eat our lunch in the parking lot and time our exit to avoid some of the construction traffic. Then we head to Lake Village. The Lake Yellowstone Hotel is a very large and quite pretty building. We feel a bit out of place wandering around the fancy interior. Even the drinking fountain was a work of art. Of course rooms go for over $400 a night, so the drinking fountains should have beer on tap!

No Fishing from Fishing Bridge

Lake Yellowstone Hotel

Fancy Fountain

Just south of here is Bay Bridge Campground and the start of the trail to Natural Bridge. This is a 2.5 mile round trip from the marina to the natural bridge. It was a pleasant hike and the bridge is impressive. It’s 51 feet tall and has a span of 29 feet. The initial view from below is nice but if you’re up to doing a short steep climb, the trail continues up to the right and take you to the top. There is just a sign (and our common sense) to keep us from walking across the bridge. The trail continues on the backside of the bridge with some steps down and back up to the opposite side of the gully that goes beneath the bridge. From here, the trail continues back until it reconnects with the main trail back to the marina. It was a fun walk and capped off a long day of exploring.

Natural Bridge from Below

Natural Bridge from Above

Marina at Bay Bridge

The next day we had several places we wanted to check out in YNP. The first was Midway Geyser Basin - the home to Grand Prismatic Spring. We have driven past here numerous times and have yet to see the are not crowded. There have been drives back to the campgrounds where the traffic on the main road is stopped because people are waiting to turn into the parking lot and the left turn lane is only so long. With all that knowledge, we make a real attempt to get on the road early. We found the line of traffic to be reasonable and only needed to wait about 10 minutes or so to get into a parking spot. Since only the parking lot was full and not both sides of the main road for half a mile in either direction, the boardwalk was crowded but not terribly so. I can only imagine what it’s like mid afternoon. The other nice thing is the park has the boardwalk configured as one way. That definitely helps with the flow of people.

Bridge to Midway Geyser Basin

There are multiple pools springs and geysers along the loop that are quite interesting. And while Grand Prismatic Spring is interesting from the boardwalk, it is not possible to see the colors and size of the spring when you’re only eight feet or so above it. If you’re limited on time, I recommend you skip the crowds at Midway and just do the Grand Prismatic Overlook. If you’re not on a time constraint, do BOTH!

Excelsior Geyser

Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic SPring

Opal Pool

Turquoise Pool

Colorful Runoff

Our next stop would be Lone Star Geyser. It’s not one of the popular geysers for a couple reasons. It isn’t highly predictable and you’ll need to put in nearly a 5 mile trek to see it. This is one of the few trails where it is permissible to ride a bike and we probably should have done it that way, but we decided to just hike. Lone Star has about a 3 or 3.5 hour eruption cycle and we had no idea of where we were when we started the hike. Shortly after starting the hike, we ran into a couple heading back to the parking lot. They had given up waiting for the next eruption but did tell us when the last one had been based on the log book at the geyser viewing area. There was a chance our timing might be good but we needed to hustle along the trail and not stop to take creative pictures of flowers! We knew we were within a quarter mile of the geyser when two more guys were heading out. We asked them if we missed it and they made it sound like we had. Downhearted, we continued on if for no other reason than there is a virtual geocache located at the geyser.

Lone Star Geyser Before Erupting

As we approached, we noticed six to eight people still sitting in the shade. We asked if it had gone recently and were told it hadn’t but should be coming soon. Good thing we didn’t turn back after being told we missed it. We found our own logs to sit on in the shade and waited. It wasn’t more than five minutes or so before it started to do more than steam out of its cone. Our timing was nearly perfect. And what a show it put on. We stuck around for nearly 40 minutes until it was just steaming again. Edited some video of the show below.

Runoff Stream

Thar She Blows

After the hike back to the car and lunch, we headed east towards West Thumb. Along the drive we cross the continental divide (twice actually). At the first one called Craig Pass, is a small lake - Isa Lake. This small lake is unique in that during the spring runoff, the water from the lake flows off on both sides of the continental divide. Meaning some of the water will end up in the Atlantic and some in the Pacific. There were loads of interesting water lilies in bloom as well.

Isa Lake Covered in Water Lillies

Close Up Shot

The West Thumb Geyser Basin has several loops of boardwalk to permit seeing the many thermal features in this area. It is also right along the shore of Yellowstone Lake and several of the thermal features are actually in the lake. There are definitely some pretty sights at this stop.

Fishing Cone Geyser

Abyss Pool

As we head back to West Yellowstone, we make one more detour along the way. Black Sand Basin is just north of the Old Faithful area. It isn’t a very big area but there is a boardwalk that passes by the couple dozen thermal features in the area. Some were very pretty but it started to sprinkle so we headed back to the car and then to camp.

Cliff Geyser

With just one full day left in West Yellowstone, we opted to do something close to camp. We had seen signs for something called Horse Butte Lookout and after a little investigation, we thought it might work out as a good bike ride from the campground. The first 3.5 miles was relatively easy except for the potholes and washboard road surface much of the dirt road. Then the road splits and the right hand side starts to go uphill. The next 1.8 miles climbs 540 feet or about a 6% grade. As the elevation increases, the view over Hebgen Lake improves. It was definitely a good workout and took some time to arrive at the top where there is a fire tower and picnic table. We got the geocache located near the top before heading back down.

Washboard Road Towards Horse Butte

Heading Up 

View of Hebgen Lake

Fire Tower on Horse Butte

The guy that placed the geocache had described a way to make a loop ride out of the trip rather than just going back down the same hill. We found the side trail since it is marked probably for snowmobiling. Initially the trail was okay but after a half mile or so, it was difficult to follow the exact trail since the grass was growing tall over the area. I’m sure it would be a great snowmobile trail but it wasn’t great for mountain biking. The only thing that made it manageable was it being downhill. We found we really needed to keep moving or else the bugs eat us alive. It was pretty but we were happy when we finally made it back to the plain old bumpy dirt road. The overall loop came in at just over 16 miles.

Trying to Follow Trail

Another View of Hebgen Lake

Rainbow Point worked out well as a home base near West Yellowstone. It wasn’t as convenient as some other private campgrounds closer to town. But the $29 per night for a forest service campground that had 50 amp electric, we felt it was a good deal. Next stop - Gardiner Montana on the north side of Yellowstone.