2016 was just a total joke of a year and I was glad it was over, 2017 has been much better and full of adventures.
January started off recuperating from an sudden illness that happened in mid-December and during this time I started planning a trip up to Vancouver, WA the end of February to visit family and purchase my new adventure vehicle, a 2017 Subaru Outback.
Again leaving at 7:30AM we all head for the upper (northern) loop in the park heading clockwise to miss the construction traffic later in the day. We first want to visit the Mammoth Hot Springs area, then work our way back south. As we pass the major road construction project the wait was a little longer today and there was more of a line in front of us and behind us.
Is Mammoth Hot Springs drying up? No according to the National Park Service, it is in a constant state of change as the movement of water and fissures constantly changes underground. The Park Service estimates the amount of water emanating from this area has not changed, only where it issues forth.
A little history lesson
In the first 10 years of Yellowstone’s life as a National Park it was under serious threat from exploitation. Speculators built camps and hotels right next to the hot springs along with bath’s and laundries in the hot springs for the tourists. People took large pieces of geysers and artifacts from the grounds, while hunters poached animals.
With no one to protect the resources Congress, in 1886, sent in the Army to protect these natural resources. For the first 5 years life was harsh in temporary Camp Sheridan. Soldiers lived in temporary wood framed buildings and tents through harsh winters. In 1890 Congress allocated money for a permanent post, Fort Yellowstone, to be built in the Mammoth Hot Springs area seeing no end in site for the Army’s deployment here. In 1910 there were 324 soldiers stationed here patrolling the park on horse back in summer and skis in the winter.
Fort Yellowstone 1910
Here are some excerpts from people who explored the region now known as Yellowstone. Which do you find realistic? Which do you find fantastical?
“At length we came to a boiling Lake about 300 foot in diameter forming nearly a complete circle as we approached on the South side. The steam which arose from it was of three distinct Colors from the west side for one third of the diameter it was white, in the middle it was pale red, and the remaining third on the east light sky blue. Whether it was something peculiar in the state of the atmosphere the day being cloudy or whether it was some Chemical properties contained in the water, which produced this phenomenon. I am unable to say and shall leave the explanation to some scientific tourist who may have the Curiosity to visit this place at some future period—The water was of deep indigo blue boiling like an immense cauldron running over the white rock which had formed [round] the edges to the height of 4 or 5 feet from the surface of the earth sloping gradually for 60 or 70 feet. What a field of speculation this presents for chemist and geologist.”—Osborne Russell, 1839
“One geyser, a soda spring, was so effervescent that I believe the syrup to be the only thing lacking to make it equal a giant ice cream soda of the kind now popular at a drugstore. We tried some experiments with our first discovery by packing it down with armfuls of grass; then we placed a flat stone on top of that, on which four of us, joining hands, stood in a vain attempt to hold it down. In spite of our efforts to curb Nature’s most potent force, when the moment of necessity came, Old Steam Boat would literally rise to the occasion and throw us all high into the air, like so many feathers.”—William Clark Kennerly, 1843
This day it would be just my son and I exploring Yellowstone, as the rest of the group have scheduled a boat at a local lake.
Leaving at 7:30AM we head for the upper (northern) loop in the park as we first want to visit the Mammoth Hot Springs area, then work our way back south. Passing Norris Geyser Basin for later in the day or tomorrow we continue clockwise on the east side of the loop. We soon encounter a major road construction project going on. There must have been at least 8 plus miles (13 km) of broken pavement and dirt one-lane road to travel before we are back on the 2-lane asphalted roadway.
Did you know Yellowstone was home to the army, stagecoach robbers, a president, and the largest free roaming herd of bison?
1800s Accounts From Out West
For decades, fur trappers and mountain men told stories of the lands out west. To folks living back east, all of the accounts must have seemed fantastical, yet today we know that some of the accounts were quite accurate (and some embellished works of fiction). How do you go about determining the truth of a story?
Here are some excerpts from people who explored the region now known as Yellowstone. Which do you find realistic? Which do you find fantastical?
“From the surface of a rocky plain or table, burst forth columns of water of various dimensions, projected high in the air, accompanied by loud explosions, and sulphurous vapors, which were highly disagreeable to the smell.”—Warren Angus Ferris, 1833
“Here we found a few Snake Indians comprising 6 men 7 women and 8 or 10 children who were the only Inhabitants of this lonely and secluded spot. They were all neatly clothed in dressed deer and Sheep skins of the best quality and seemed to be perfectly contented and happy.”—Osborne Russell, 1835
Intreged by stories coming from explorers and of two earlier expeditions, the US Geological Survey funded the first government-sponsored mission to the area in order to document the geological wonders and beauty it had to offer. They undertook this with the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The history of the science in Yellowstone began with this expedition. Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden’s 1871 team included two botanists, a meteorologist, a zoologist, an ornithologist, a mineralogist, a topographer, an agricultural statistician/entomologist, artists, photographers, and support staff. The group of 35 men set out in July 1871 to bring back scientific evidence of earlier tales of thermal activity.
TVP Journeys 
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