Fort Yellowstone, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Natl Park

The welcoming committee at Mammoth Hot Springs

Admin building

After a day of taking care of business on Wednesday, we got back to visiting Yellowstone.  Today was "Get acquainted with the Mammoth Hot Springs area of the park" day and get a double scope of Moose Tracks ice cream.  Both accomplished!

The Mammoth Hot Springs area is about a 15 minute drive across the Yellowstone River, through the Roosevelt Arch, say "Hi" to the ranger

The Gardner River just east of Ft Yellowstone

at the fee booth, and a scenic drive through Gardner (without the "i") Canyon to the herd of elk welcoming you to Yellowstone.  As a pre-teen, my parents had brought me here, but I don't recall much.  I don't remember being very impressed.  I now understand why.  Once you've been to the Yellowstone Grand Canyon and Old Faithful areas, there doesn't seem to be much action here.  The elk herd is neat - just watch out for the elk "droppings".

Yellowstone River as it enters Gardiner, MT

The Mammoth Hot Springs terraces are impressive, but it's not the action you see at Old Faithful or Norris.  We'll walk more of it over the weekend.  Today I can appreciate the history of the area, and there's a lot of that here in the Fort Yellowstone complex.  You see, it was here that the gov't saw just how important it is was to have a designated agency take care of our national parks. If the PBS special

Roosevelt Arch

on the national parks doesn't  get that point across, just spend a few hours here and it smacks you in the face!

We enjoyed our time here, today.  We start hiking some trails tomorrow.  Later, David

Just across the street!

...and they poop in this RV park, too!