Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Just before you reach Tower-Roosevelt Junction is the 0.25-mile turnoff (no RVs or
trailers) to the heavily visited
Petrified Tree
, surrounded by a fence like a priceless work
of art. The tree is worth a quick look if you've never seen one before, but the parking lot
can be cramped and busy. A nicer way to visit the tree is on an early-morning or evening
hike from Roosevelt Lodge on the Lost Lake loop (
Click here
)
.
MAMMOTH TO NORRIS
The 20-mile road from Mammoth to Norris passes the Upper Terraces and enters a
jumbled landscape of
hoodoos
, formed when the 65,000-year-old travertine deposits of
nearby Terrace Mountain slipped down the hillside, breaking into boulder-like fragments.
(You can get an up-close look at the hoodoos on the Terrace Mountain hike or by walking
the Howard Eaton trail from Glen Creek Trailhead down to Mammoth). The road climbs
to the cantilevered road of the Golden Gate, named after the light-colored welded rock
formed from cooled ash flows. The sprouting knob of rock on the outside of the road was
actually pulled down and then replaced when the road was widened! Shortly afterwards a
pullout offers views of tiny
Rustic Falls
, a natural funnel that was probably used by
Sheepeater Indians to trap bighorn sheep.
BOILING RIVER: THE PARK'S WORST-KEPT
SECRET
One of the few places where you can take a legal soak in Yellowstone is
Boiling River
, halfway between
Gardiner and Mammoth. From the parking area by the Montana-Wyoming border a trail leads 0.5 miles along the
river to a point where an underground hot spring surfaces from below a limestone overhang. There are several
pools along the riverside (see the boxed text
Click here
for the potential dangers of soaking in hot springs).
Bring a towel and flip-flops. The only changing area is the vault toilet at the parking lot. Swimming is allowed
only during daylight hours, and food, pets, alcohol and nudity are prohibited. The pools are closed during high
river levels (most commonly in spring).
The turnouts north of here are good places to spot pronghorn in the summer and bighorn sheep and elk in the
winter. Also to the north is a sign that marks the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole.
The peak rising to the left is
Bunsen Peak
(8564ft), a plug of solidified magma that
formed inside a long since eroded volcanic cone. Hiking and biking trails head up and
around Bunsen Peak from the busy Bunsen Peak/Glen Creek Trailhead (
Click here
a
nd
Click here
)
. Further along on the right, delightful
Swan Lake
in the middle of Gardner's
