Today we return to Old Faithful by way of several very popular stops in the park. But that's not until later. The park is quiet at this time of the day. We were able to enjoy several roadside attractions before we joined the masses.
This is Rustic Falls. It has a unique shape.
In Custer State Park, three elks at dusk, half-hidden in the brush, were the highlight of our day. Here in Yellowstone, more than half a dozen elks posing in an open field had become an ordinary occurrence.
A certain tribe of Shoshone Indians opted not to domesticate the horse and chose instead to use dogs as pack animals and hunt on foot. Their diet consisted of bighorn sheep instead of buffalo, leading to the nickname "sheepeaters".
This cliff offers an up-close view of the same basalt column formations that we saw in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone a couple days ago.
Obsidian Cliff
Molten silica that cooled rapidly formed these cliffs about 180,000 years ago. Obsidian is black glass. It's hard and brittle. It fractures with a sharp edge, making it a valuable rock for tool-making. We don't often think about natives being "miners" but they did come here to chip off pieces and carry them away. It's also shiny and smooth, making it a desirable rock as a souvenir. Rock thieves have pilfered a great deal of it.
Roaring Mountain
It's written that in the late 1800s and early 1900s you could hear the hiss of the fumaroles from miles away. Roaring Mountain wasn't quite that loud when we visited, but it was quite a sight to see.
Hundreds of fissures in the side of the hill released stinky columns of steam.
The highly acidic hydrogen sulfide dissolves the clay-based rock and has carved deep lines in the hillside. It has also bleached the stone and discolored the nearby trees.
We'd reached Norris. Our first stop there was the Norris Soldier Station, now home to the Museum of the National Park Ranger.
Yellowstone was the first national park in the world. Nobody quite knew how to protect it. For the first fourteen years, it was managed by a "superintendent". He had very little authority and no means of enforcing his policies. The position had high turnover. In 1886, the army assumed responsibility. They fared better protecting the park from poachers, but were understandably unskilled in interpreting the park for the public. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson established the National Park Service. A new breed of protector emerged: The National Park Ranger. They took over administration of Yellowstone in 1918.
Today, the National Park Service manages 58 national parks, covering 52 million acres and hosting 63 million annual tourists. But it doesn't end there. In addition to the national parks, they're also responsible for various national monuments, forests, battlefields, and so forth. That's an additional 32 million acres and 257 million tourists.
This is Rustic Falls. It has a unique shape.
In Custer State Park, three elks at dusk, half-hidden in the brush, were the highlight of our day. Here in Yellowstone, more than half a dozen elks posing in an open field had become an ordinary occurrence.
A certain tribe of Shoshone Indians opted not to domesticate the horse and chose instead to use dogs as pack animals and hunt on foot. Their diet consisted of bighorn sheep instead of buffalo, leading to the nickname "sheepeaters".This cliff offers an up-close view of the same basalt column formations that we saw in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone a couple days ago.
Obsidian CliffMolten silica that cooled rapidly formed these cliffs about 180,000 years ago. Obsidian is black glass. It's hard and brittle. It fractures with a sharp edge, making it a valuable rock for tool-making. We don't often think about natives being "miners" but they did come here to chip off pieces and carry them away. It's also shiny and smooth, making it a desirable rock as a souvenir. Rock thieves have pilfered a great deal of it.
Roaring MountainIt's written that in the late 1800s and early 1900s you could hear the hiss of the fumaroles from miles away. Roaring Mountain wasn't quite that loud when we visited, but it was quite a sight to see.
Hundreds of fissures in the side of the hill released stinky columns of steam.The highly acidic hydrogen sulfide dissolves the clay-based rock and has carved deep lines in the hillside. It has also bleached the stone and discolored the nearby trees.
We'd reached Norris. Our first stop there was the Norris Soldier Station, now home to the Museum of the National Park Ranger.Yellowstone was the first national park in the world. Nobody quite knew how to protect it. For the first fourteen years, it was managed by a "superintendent". He had very little authority and no means of enforcing his policies. The position had high turnover. In 1886, the army assumed responsibility. They fared better protecting the park from poachers, but were understandably unskilled in interpreting the park for the public. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson established the National Park Service. A new breed of protector emerged: The National Park Ranger. They took over administration of Yellowstone in 1918.
Today, the National Park Service manages 58 national parks, covering 52 million acres and hosting 63 million annual tourists. But it doesn't end there. In addition to the national parks, they're also responsible for various national monuments, forests, battlefields, and so forth. That's an additional 32 million acres and 257 million tourists.
