Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [400]
Most of Yellowstone's visitors enter at the West Yellowstone Entrance, so we'll use that as a jumping-off point for an extended tour of the park. As you travel the 14 miles from the gate to Madison Junction, you will find the Two Ribbons Trail, which offers an opportunity to walk through and inspect the effects of the 1988 fire. Park maps don't identify all the observation points and side roads in the area, so now is the time to begin forming the habit of driving off the beaten path, even when you may not know where you're going. Keep a sharp eye peeled for the poorly marked Riverside turnout on the Madison River side of the road; it's a paved road on the north side of the highway about 6 miles from the entrance. This back road takes you along a river, removed from most traffic, with a number of turnouts perfectly situated to let you look for resident swans, enjoy a picnic, or test your fly-fishing ability.
As you continue toward Madison Junction, you'll see vivid evidence of the 1988 fire and, odds are, a herd of bison that frequents the area during summer months. As frightening as the fire was, it had its good points: When temperatures exceeded 500°F (260°C), pine seeds were released from fire-adapted pinecones, which has quickened the rebirth cycle. The thick carpet of tiny trees making their way through the soil is evidence that this forest is recovering very quickly.
The short Harlequin Lake Trail offers an excellent, easy opportunity to explore the area and see various types of waterfowl. An alternative hike, the Purple Mountain Trail, is more strenuous, but it is one of the best in the area. For descriptions of both, see "Day Hikes," later in this chapter.
Madison Junction marks the confluence of the Gibbon and Firehole rivers. The two famous trout streams meet to form the Madison River, one of three that join to form the Missouri. This is also where you'll enter the northern loop toward Norris Junction, along a winding 14-mile section of road that parallels the Gibbon River. At Gibbon Falls, which is 84 feet tall, you'll see water bursting out of the edge of a thermal vent in a rocky canyon, the walls of which were hidden from view for several hundred years until being exposed by the fire of 1988. There's a delightful picnic area just below the falls, on an open plateau overlooking the Gibbon River. Before arriving at Norris Junction, you'll discover the Artist Paint Pot Trail in Gibbon Meadows 4½ miles south of Norris Junction, an interesting yet easy half-mile stroll. Across the road from the trailhead is Elk Park, where you are likely to see a large herd of elk.
NORRIS GEYSER BASIN
Perhaps more than any other area in Yellowstone, this basin is living testimony to the park's unique thermal activity. It changes from year to year as thermal activity and fierce weather create new and different ponds and landscapes. This is the location of one of the park's highest concentrations of thermal features, including the most active geysers, with underground water temperatures that reach 459°F (237°C).
There are two loop trails here, both mostly level with wheelchair access, to the Porcelain Basin and the Back Basin. If you take in both of them, you'll see most of the area's interesting thermal features. If you're pressed for time, opt for the shorter Porcelain Basin Trail, a boardwalk that takes only 45 minutes. To us, this area is especially spectacular on summer days when thermal activity takes place on the ground with thunder and lightning storms overhead.
The Porcelain Basin Trail is a .75-mile round-trip that can be completed in 45 minutes; on it are Black Growler Steam Vent, Ledge Geyser, and the descriptively named Whale's Mouth.
The 1.5-mile Back Basin Loop is easily negotiable in 1 hour and passes by Steamboat Geyser, which has been known to produce the world's highest and most memorable eruptions. However, these 400-foot waterspouts occur infrequently, so it will take some luck to see one. (There were only two from 1990 through 2001, but six between 2000 and