Click on the map to enlarge it. About This Site Planning Your Trip -- Detailed Expanations Old Faithful & the Geothermal Areas Road South to Old Faithful Old Faithful and Geyser Hill Upper Geyser Basin Old Faithful Village Mud Volcano Area Norris Geyser Basin Yellowstone Lake Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Mammoth Hot Springs Wildlife Safari in the Lamar Valley Grand Teton National Park This travelogue is one family's experience in Yellowstone. To see a photo in a 1024 x 681 size, just click on it. We hope you enjoy the record of our journey, and that you get to experience your own. Note: Stock photos of these and many other images with reproduction rights are available in their original 3008 x 2000 size. We also have a screen saver. Click here for more information. Mammoth Hot Springs is in the northwest part of the park, and is where the National Park Service has its headquarters. It's also the location of the famous travertine terraces. This is a shot of the area from the terraces, which are on a steep hill. The first terrace you see is the famous Minerva terrace. The terraces are formed as water heated by Yellowstone's volcano flows through fissures in limestone that is buried under the ground. As the super-heated water flows through the limestone, the minerals dissolve into the water and are deposited on the hillside when the water cools as it emerges onto the hillside. Today, many of the terraces have stopped growing because the water has stopped flowing. While much of the Minerva terrace no longer has water flowing over it, you can see one area on the left where water still flows, depositing a golden-colored travertine. While it looks like gold, the travertine takes on a golden color as it is deposited on Minerva terrace. As you walk up the hill past Minerva terrace, there is what almost looks like a vein of gold open on Mound terrace. Alas, "all that glisters is not gold," to again quote Shakespeare. It's just travertine run-off from the heated water, but it's eerily beautiful. Here's the vein of travertine "gold" from another angle on Mound terrace. The panoramic view from the Overlook at the Main terrace is spectacular, and the terraces keep on going further. There are upper terraces that you can reach via an even longer walk or by driving through the upper terrace drive. Here's a shot of Jupiter's terrace, which is on the left side of the lower terraces. The 45-foot high Liberty Cap is an extinct hot spring cone. It stands as a monolithic sentinel to the terraces, which are just above. The amazing Cleopatra terrace is on the right had side of the terraces. Here's a panoramic shot. The famous Devil's thumb is in the center. Here's a shot of Cleopatra terrace from a distance. It gives you a good perspective of the hillside. Here's a shot of The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, which is one of the few that is open in both summer and winter. Mammoth Hot Springs wouldn't be complete without the elk, which are frequent visitors. In this case, they established their turf right in front of the dining and grill rooms, which are just across the street from the hotel. After about 30 minutes, the park rangers made some noise and moved the elk to an open field across the street because nobody could get out of or into the dining room easily. A shot of two more elk who staked out some territory outside the dining room at Mammoth Hot Springs. Click here to tour the Lamar and Hayden Valleys.>

© 2009 by Stephen Caswell. All Rights Reserved.