As we leave Ennis we amble through the spectacular Madison Valley. Rte 287 S follows the Madison River as we head for Yellowstone today. We stopped at the West Fork Bridge aboiut 1 hour south of Ennis. The views along the river were fantastic and we watched the people fly fishing along the banks. As we approached the town of West For the scenery started to change. There's a lot more stands of Spruce, Balsam, and Lodge Pole Pines. It has been a fantastically beautiful drive today, Madison Mountains on the left, and river on the right.
We soon arrived in the Madison River Canyon Earthquake Area. We stopped at Quake Lake and learned about the history. It was a beautiful clear August night, when one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded on the North American continent struck the canyon. Hitting 7.5 on the Richter scale, the earthquake triggered a massive landslide sending over 80 million tons of rock slamming down into the canyon. The rocks blocked the Madison River backing up the water behind the rocks, and forming the new Earthquake Lake. A gigantic wall of water and high velocity winds blew through the area. Down the road at Hebgen Lake the earth's crust had dropped 19 feet in a matter of seconds. Land under the lake tilted upward; while parts of the south shore lay high and dry; the north shore was immersed in water. As a result of the nights' disaster, hundreds of people vacationing in the area were trapped and an entire campground was completely buried. As we drove through the area you can see the effects of the ever-changing earth all around. Today the canyon is beautiful but it is very haunting.
We arrived in West Yellowstone which is the western gateway to the National Park. The town is cute and somewhat touristy. We decided to continue through town. The road into the park is narrow, tree lined, and runs along the Madison and Yellowstone Rivers. A bout 14 miles into the park we came to a fork and found our first road construction. They were preparing to close the northern route through the park in a few days and were detouring everyone through the southern route. It was slow going but we got a chance to see more as we traveled through Geyser Country. Rounding a corner we began to see steam rising and the traffic (which we haven't seen for a while) began to get heavier. Soon we were assailed by the smell of sulfer as we drove past the geyser basin areas. (We'll visit these tomorrow.) Ken exclaimed he couldn't believe how big this place was and we weren't even half way to our campground yet! The park is divided into 5 "countries" . We left the geyser's behind and more lakes began to appear. Yep this is Lake Country. We drove through the Hayden Valley and over the Craig Pass (8,391 Feet) and across the Continental Divide. We hadn't planned on doing the pass with the Coach but it worked just fine (we were on the inside!).
Fishing Bridge is our campsite and it is packed! The sites are OK no picnic tables or fire pits, but you don't spend much time in the camp anyway. After dinner we took a ride to the visitor center to figure out how to plan our week. The park ranger was a big help and highlighted specific areas we shouldn't miss. He asked us how long we were staying (1,2 nights)... when we said a week he seemed surprised. I guess most people try and see the park in a couple of days.
We left the visitor center and took a ride along the Yellowstone River. We stopped at a turnout and walked along the river. There was a wierd duck that ran on top of the water across and against the current. We stood on the bank and laughed at this silly thing.
Back in the car the area was so interesting we kept going. All the roads in the park are narrow two lane roads. We soon came to a traffic jam with people everywhere. (Everywhere means stopped in the road, along the road, and in any space they can find.) We quickly learned this means an animal has been spotted. People are hanging out of car windows, roof tops, standing on the road, and along side it. Most of the people were scrambling with camera in hand up this embankment on the side of the road. As we edged our way through the traffic sure enough they have surrounded a HUGE Bull Elk (14 points) on the side of the hill. Now this animal is laying down looking at all these "dumb" people crowding him so they can take pictures. We pulled into a pull off up the road and watched the "stupid show". We could see the elk from across the street. He was really something. I have never seen an animal that big. We learned that most people are crazy when it comes to taking pictures of wild animals! We continued on and saw more elk and bison.
We came back to camp after our wildlife drive. it is much cooler here and we hope it stays that way. It was a good day and I know we are really going to enjoy Yellowstone!
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