Yellowstone NP: Mammoth Area, Wyoming - June 16th, 2021
We saved the Mammoth area for Wednesday, our last day in Yellowstone National Park. We were camping in Mammoth, so that meant we did not need to drive much that day. We would be driving 24 hours, split between Thursday and Friday, so we wanted Wednesday to be a light day.
When we got up Wednesday morning, there was a small group of elk hanging out in the shade of the trees across from our camp site. As we sat in our camp chairs eating breakfast, a couple of the elk slowly walked by in front of us while grazing on the bushes. They looked up at us every now and then, but didn’t seem bothered by our presence. See, we didn’t need to go anywhere, the entertainment will come to us!
We could have walked up to the visitor center, stores, and Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces from the campground, but the path up the hill was rather steep. We had done enough walking the day before so we used the excuse that we needed to put gas into the van to drive. After filling up with gas, we parked over by the Visitor Center. There were people with cameras pointed up towards a tree next to the Visitor Center. Of course we went over to check out what the attraction was. There were two young great horned owls in the tree with their mother.
The Visitor Center is in one of the historic buildings of Fort Yellowstone. Fort Yellowstone was created when the army was stationed at Yellowstone to help protect and serve the park starting in 1891. Most of the buildings of the original fort are still standing. There is a pamphlet explaining the buildings in the two blocks around the Visitor Center. Most of the buildings are now private residences, which means you cannot go inside them, but you can view them from the outside.
After touring Fort Yellowstone, we walked over to the hot spring terraces. We spent a couple of hours exploring the network of boardwalks on the terraces. It was only a couple of miles of walking, unlike the 13 miles of walking we did the day before at Old Faithful. We believe we’ve walked on more boardwalks in the past three days than we have the rest of our lives up to that point!
The terraces are beautiful. Just like the other thermal features, there was a variety of color, textures and patterns. The terraces are mostly composed of travertine. The hot water from the springs cascades its way down over the terraces. We overheard some people saying that the hot springs have less water than years ago and more of the terraces are dried out than before.
To end our tour of the Mammoth Terraces, we drove the one mile scenic drive loop around the upper terraces. There was not as much to see on the drive as there was from the boardwalks.
For a treat, we decided to drive into Gardiner, Montana for dinner. It is only about a ten minute drive from the campground. Gardiner is a small town just outside the park entrance. The Roosevelt Arch, the original entrance gate to Yellowstone National Park, is on the edge of town.
There are a handful of restaurants in town, but half of them were closed. The Iron Horse Bar & Grill situated alongside the Yellowstone River looked like it was the most popular, so we gave it a try. The entrance is tucked away off of the main streets. It is rather industrial looking from the outside, but the inside is filled with all kinds of interesting knick knacks and quirky items on the walls and ceiling, including a canoe. There was a line out the door just to get your name added to the list. However, it was a short wait after that. A sign asking for forgiveness indicated that there were only three servers and two cooks and they were moving as fast as they could.
RB ordered the huckleberry BBQ chicken breasts with watermelon slaw because it sounded intriguing. LB had the dry-rubbed ribeye steak. Both dishes came with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. The food was delicious! Everything was cooked excellently. The chicken was very moist and the huckleberry BBQ sauce was not too sweet. The watermelon slaw contained watermelon, onion and celery along with small pieces of jalapeño. There was an additional herb that RB could not identify. Somehow the combination of flavors of the slaw ingredients worked. The only issue we had with the food was that there was too much of it! RB managed to stuff herself and finished all but some of the mashed potatoes. LB boxed up part of his steak to save for lunch the next day.
It had been a great day. We walked a few miles among some beautiful sights and our bellies were stuffed with wonderful food. Who could ask for more than that? We headed back to the campground and turned in early for the night. The next day would be a long day of driving, so we set our alarm for 5:30 am to get an early start.
We still wish we could have spent our originally planned nine nights in the park instead of the three, but we managed to pack those three days with a good sampling of what Yellowstone has to offer. Don’t worry, we’ll be back to explore Yellowstone in more depth the next time.
Check out our related video: Yellowstone NP: Mammoth Area, Wyoming
(RB)