Geyser Day 2018, Montana Take 2.

Paid registration for Sunday’s marathon once before.  2016 was a marathon no-show.  Whole lotta puking that summer/didn’t stop a  family vacation with Ash & Tom though.  Rode horses in the Tetons, bear watched in West Yellowstone, geyser-gazed for 2 days in USA’s first National Park.  Ever dependable Old Faithful: filmed its eruption, ate lunch in the Lodge.  AWESOME LIFE memories.

Fast forward two years.  No cancer, no 10-hour monster ride to Wyoming.  Hour-15 direct flight to Bozeman.  Marathon Eve plans?  Yellowstone NEW.  Whole section of geysers never seen on the Montana border.  Same GREAT Park, NEW life adventure 😊

7am wakeup, FREE hotel breakfast, MT Highway 89 South to Gardiner.  Crossed under Roosevelt Arch, Yellowstone’s North Entrance.  Dedicated in 1903, this was the Park’s origin – directly across from Fort Yellowstone, established to protect the Park.  Quick stop at Albright Visitor Center (ya’ll know I dig museums), then moved the rental forward another half-mile to Mammoth Hot Springs.

How have I NEVER visited Mammoth Hot Springs before?  WOW, WOW, WOW!  2 mile hike-about.  Naturally-formed terraces of crystallized calcium carbonate.  Reminiscent of Death Valley’s salt flats.  Walked the perimeter to Canary Springs before looping back.

Time check: 3 hours.  Old Faithful & Grand Prismatic Spring, tops on my list.

Walked right up & watched Old Faithful spew.  Not the front row seat I secured 2 years ago – but the timing, mighty perfect.  Ya can’t visit Yellowstone & skip the Main Event, duh.  Gotta/hafta/must experience EVERY time.  Remarkable force of nature.

‘BEST of’ finale: Grand Prismatic Spring, an eye candy WOWser & my Park personal fave.  “Named for its striking coloration, the Spring’s colors match the rainbow dispersion of white light: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.”  It’s a CAN’T miss.

Yellowstone 2018.  No regrets; saw something old, saw something new.  LOVE LOVE our National Parks ❤️

Drive to Ennis — spotted a BRAND NEW Visitors’ Center (Gallatin County MT).  Earthquake Lake.  Unplanned stop/didn’t know its story.  Trees & rock from the seismic mountain collapse (blocking the Madison River/forming Earthquake Lake), creepily still crest water’s edge, stand trapped/barren/dead today.  Well done retelling of events (actual pics & video).

Lodge check-in, early sleeps.  Marathon eve.  School bus road-trippin’ in the morning 🚌

Story of Earthquake Lake

It was near midnight on August 17th, 1959 when an earthquake near the Madison River triggered a massive landslide.  The slide moved at 100 mph and in less than 1 minute, over 80 million tons of rock crashed into the narrow canyon, blocking the Madison River and forming Earthquake Lake.  This earth- changing event, known as the Hebgen Lake Earthquake, measured 7.5 on the Richter scale.   At the time it was the second largest earthquake to occur in the lower 48 states in the 20th century. Twenty-eight people lost their lives in the event.

Geyser Day 2018