Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [402]
Two of Yellowstone's most unusual, beautiful, and fascinating areas are the Upper and Lower terraces. Strolling among them, you can observe Mother Nature going about the business of mixing and matching heat, water, limestone, and rock fractures to sculpt the area. With the exception of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, this is the most colorful area of the park; its tapestries of orange, pink, yellow, green, and brown, formed by masses of bacteria and algae, seem to change color before your eyes.
The mineral-rich hot waters that flow to the surface here do so at an unusually constant rate, roughly 750,000 gallons per day, which results in the deposit of almost 2 tons of limestone on these ever-changing terraces. Contours are constantly undergoing change in the hot springs, as formations are shaped by large quantities of flowing water, the slope of the ground, and trees and rocks that determine the direction of the flow.
On the flip side of the equation, nature has a way of playing tricks on some of her creatures: Poison Spring is a sinkhole on the trail, so named because carbon dioxide collects there, often killing creatures who stop for a drink. The Lower Terrace Interpretive Trail (see "Day Hikes," later in this chapter) is one of the best ways to see this area.
After passing Palette Spring, where bacteria create a collage of browns, greens, and oranges, you're on your way to Cleopatra and Minerva terraces. Minerva is a favorite of visitors because of its brightly colored travertine formations, the product of limestone deposits.
The hike up the last 150 feet to the Upper Terrace Loop Drive is slightly steeper, though there are benches at frequent intervals. From here you can see all the terraces and several springs— Canary Spring and New Blue Spring being the most distinctive—and the red-roofed buildings of Fort Yellowstone, which is now the park headquarters.
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS TO TOWER JUNCTION
Heading east from Mammoth on the Tower Road, a 6-mile drive will bring you to the Forces of the Northern Range Self-Guiding Trail; this flat, easy, boardwalk stroll is an excellent opportunity to learn about the environmental effects of the fire.
Two miles later is Blacktail Plateau Drive, a 7-mile, one-way dirt road that offers great wildlife-viewing opportunities and a bit more solitude. You'll emerge on the Mammoth-Tower Road, about a mile west of the turnoff to the Petrified Tree.
Turn right onto this half-mile-long road that dead-ends at the Petrified Tree, a redwood that, while standing, was burned by volcanic ash more than 50 million years ago.
TOWER-ROOSEVELT
Just beyond the Petrified Tree, you'll come to Tower-Roosevelt, the most relaxed of the park's villages and a great place to take a break from the more crowded attractions. Even if you aren't going to stay, you might want to take a look at the Tower Soldier Station, now the ranger residence at Tower Junction, one of three surviving outposts from the era of U.S. Cavalry management of the park. Also here is Roosevelt Lodge, a rustic building that commemorates Pres. Teddy Roosevelt's camping excursion to this area of the park in 1903.
At Specimen Ridge, 2½ miles east of the Tower Junction on the northeast entrance road, you'll find a ridge that entombs one of the world's most extensive fossil forests.
FROM TOWER JUNCTION TO THE GRAND CANYON OF THE YELLOWSTONE
A few minutes' drive from the Tower area is the Calcite Springs Overlook. A short loop along a boardwalk leads to the overlook at the rim of The Narrows, the narrowest part of the canyon. You can hear the river raging through the canyon some 500 feet below, and look across at the canyon walls made up of rock spires and bands of columnar basalt. Just