We started Day 3 somewhat slowly. We had reservations to take a tour out of the Old Faithful Inn (where we had reservations for dinner the night before and didn’t make. I’m definitely over it and a bit sheepish knowing the cause. I went north and down the west side in case the West thumb road was still closed. We got to see some new country side which was very interesting as we got into the hot springs and geyser areas. As we drove along you could see steaming water coming out of river bankings into the river. These inflows usually had laid down some beautiful yellow and reds from minerals and thermophilic bacteria (heat loving), More and more sandy areas with steam rising started showing up the closer we got to the Old Faithful area. Many areas that were desert like wastelands that had dead trees that clearly had thrived there in the past until the hot outflows had covered them up with sand and the trees had absorbed the contents of those flows. The bottoms of the dead trees were all white about two feet up the trunk. More of the why later.
We arrived at the Old Faithful Inn for our three hour tour (not on the SS Minnow) and walked into The Inn and were somewhat awestruck by the massive cathedral soaring ceiling in the lobby. And all the massive logs that held the structure up. We discovered later that it is the largest log hotel in the world. We went through two massive entrance doors that are original to the Inn which was built starting in 1903 and finished in 1904. There have been wings added since much bigger than the original tiny rooms. But once finished in 1904 it had electricity, steam heat and indoor plumbing. A marvel for the day in the middle of the wilderness no less. There are all sorts of window pane shapes across the building change the shadows in the rooms to mimic the way the light comes through the trees per the architect. It is a truly amazing building and story. The original cost of a room was $4 a night the equivalence of a months salary for the carpenters that built the hotel but still a bargain at around $75 at todays value. If architecture and ingenuity by the craftsmen that built the Inn interests you the National Park Service site has a nice article by Karen Wildung Reinhart.
Our tour driver came in and introduced himself. He is about our age and from Wisconsin and has been giving tours and driving busses in Yellowstone summers for twenty years (his wife has also driven there). When we followed him outside to the yellow very cool looking antique bus we discovered we had a very intimate 6 of us plus an employee. Employees get to go for free if there is an open seat. Tom explained that the yellow bus we were riding in with a removable canvas top was built in 1936. Yellowstone used to have as many as 98 of these busses in the early years but once they opened the park to automobiles ridership dropped and they sold all the busses. In 2007 they purchased eight of these busses which were built by the White Company. They were Model 706 busses with manual transmissions with no synchromesh meaning the gears would often grind when drivers shifted earning the drivers the name of Gear Jammers or “Jammers”. The eight busses put back in service had the upper bodies removed and restored and placed back on new F450 chassis and equipped with power steering and automatic transmissions. No grinding gear sounds for us. We took a 3 hour Firehole Basin Tour which involved going to many of the active thermal features on the west side of the park. He explained the word hole attached to names like Jackson Hole or Firebasin Hole meant valley. And we were indeed in a river valley. We saw mud pots, geysers, steam vents and other thermal pools etc. Some of these pools had bacterial carpets where the bacteria created amazing blues, yellows, oranges, yellows and more. No jumping in any of these as some were as hot as 170 degrees and some so acidic they could burn through boots and in turn your skin. We did not dip our toes once.
After the tour we stayed to watch old faithful which has changed in terms of its regularity since an earthquake in the 70’s. It still went off within 5 minutes of the predicted time (Ive had watches keep worse time). Pretty spectacular display as another huge geyser was going off for around 5 minutes across the street. Great show.
We discovered that the West Thumb road was open and other than a few stops for construction got us home about 20 minutes earlier than going the AM’s route. We actually saw the car being pulled out of the snow bank long after the event was over that closed the road the night before on our way home from this days touring probably as the result of a 24 hour crime investigation keeping it there. Sadly it appeared drugs may have been involved with the death of a woman found in the car per the news reports. Very sad touch of reality on our fun trip.
Oh and about those white bottomed trees, it turns out the thermal waters have minerals in them that cause geyser bases to rise as they are laid down over the years. These minerals eventually kill the tree when they seep into the ground around the trees but not before the base of the trees are turned white by these minerals in the trees and the dead trees trunks are in essence cemented into the ground. They are called Bobby sock trees. Another factoid is that essentially all the trees in Yellowstone are lodgepole pines. These trees can survive in the poor soils, tolerate drought and have a unique way of surviving the all too common fires in Yellowstone. The trees produce two types of pine cones. The first is a regular pine cone that drops and opens releasing seeds into the ground the same year they are dropped. The second is a pine cone that is sealed shut and only opens after being exposed to very high temperatures like those in a forest fire ensuring that there is auto reseeding and regrowth without any replanting needed. You can see huge numbers of the same age new pines growing all over burnt areas none planted by the park service. Ok I will stop now with the nerdy factoids but I thought the pine trees were another great design in the Grand Design!!
One more day in the park before we leave for Montana and visits with friends of old not old friends. LOL
PS I think if you double tap a picture it will get bigger and show more details.
Bill and Jo’s Road Trip 