Your National Parks Part 28

The Oregon Short Line reaches the Park at Yellowstone, Montana, the western entrance. This line makes connection with transcontinental roads pa.s.sing through Salt Lake City or Ogden, and with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul at b.u.t.te, Montana. Round trip in connection with through tickets Salt Lake City or Ogden or b.u.t.te to Yellowstone, $12.25. Connection may also be made at b.u.t.te with the Northern Pacific Railway.

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy reaches Cody, Wyoming, 63 miles from the eastern entrance by a good automobile road. All tickets from eastern points on the Burlington system are honored via Cody to the Park boundary without extra charge.

Tourists holding transcontinental tickets via the Great Northern may make the side trip to Yellowstone Park for $15.70 (see p. 428) additional.

Tickets including transportation to Denver, Yellowstone Park, and Glacier Park are sold at the following rates: Chicago, $58.00; St.

Louis, $55.00; Kansas City, $47.50.

Coupon tickets may be purchased covering railroad transportation, accommodation at hotels or camps, and automobile transportation in the Park.

Automobile Routes

From the Lincoln Highway the Park may be reached by two routes--on the east from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and on the west from Ogden, Utah. The route from Cheyenne pa.s.ses through Chugwater, Wheatland, Douglas, Casper, Lost Cabin, Thermopolis, Worland, Basin, and Cody to the eastern entrance, the total distance being 541 miles. From Ogden the route leads through Pocatello and Idaho Falls to Yellowstone, Montana, the western entrance. The distance by this route is 324 miles.

From the Yellowstone Trail the Park may be reached from Billings via Cody to the eastern entrance (175 miles); Livingston to Gardiner, northern entrance (55 miles); Bozeman to Yellowstone, western entrance (93 miles); b.u.t.te to Yellowstone, western entrance (170 miles).

Automobiles entering the Park are required to pay $7.50 for a single trip or $10.00 for a season permit. Speed limits range from 8 to 20 miles per hour.

Hotels and Camps

The Yellowstone Park Hotel Company operates hotels at Mammoth Hot Springs (Mammoth Hotel), Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful Inn), Yellowstone Lake (Lake Hotel), and Grand Canon (Grand Canon Hotel). It also maintains a lunch-station at Pahaska on the road to Cody. The rates at the hotels are $6.00 per day for rooms without bath. The Fountain Hotel at Lower Geyser Basin is not open.

The Yellowstone Park Camping Company operates permanent camps at Mammoth Hot Springs, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake, Grand Canon, and Tower Falls. The rate at the camps for the regular 5-day trip through the Park is $18.00. Rates per day range from $3.25 to $4.00, according to the cla.s.s of tents.

Transportation

The familiar Concord coaches that were for so many years a feature of travel in the Yellowstone have been discontinued and transportation is now by means of automobile stages. All the transportation is furnished by one corporation, the camping companies no longer operating coaches as was the practice before the consolidation. The automobiles will make the circular tour in 2 days, but this allows no time for seeing anything at the hotels or camps. Coupon tickets covering hotel and transportation within the Park are not sold for less than a 5-day trip.

The regular tour of the Park by the automobile stages costs $25.00.

Surreys may be obtained for drives at the important points, but it is far more satisfactory to walk, as the distances are not great.

The hotels will furnish guides for $5.00 per day and saddle horses for $3.50 per day. The camps will supply saddle-horses for $3.00 per day, and guides for $4.50.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRAVEL-GUIDE MAP OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK WYOMING-MONTANA-IDAHO

_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior_]

Princ.i.p.al Points

The places generally visited are Mammoth Hot Springs, the Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Canon of Yellowstone River, and Mount Washburn. All these points lie on the main road system that is traversed by the automobile coaches. The distances along this route are as follows:--

_Points of interest and distances on circular tour on main road from Gardiner, Montana, northern entrance_

_Miles_ Mammoth Hot Springs (Mammoth Hotel, permanent camp) 5 Hoodoos and Silver Gate 8 Golden Gate and Rustic Falls 9 Swan Lake 10 Willow Park 14 Apollinaris Spring 15 Obsidian Cliff 17 Beaver Lake 17-1/2 Roaring Mountain 20-1/2 Twin Lakes 21 Bijah Spring 22 Fryingpan 23 Norris Geyser Basin 25 Elk Park 27 Gibbon Meadows 28 Artists (Gibbon) Paint Pot 29 Gibbon Canon 29-1/2 Beryl Spring 30 Soda and Iron Springs 33 Gibbon Falls (80 feet) 33-1/2 Canon Creek 34 Road to western entrance 35 Cascades of Firehole River } 39-1/2 Road to western entrance } Nez Perce Creek 43 Lower Geyser Basin 45 Excelsior Geyser 48 Biscuit Basin 51 Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful Inn, permanent camp) 54 Kepler Cascade 56 Lone Star Road 57-1/2 Continental Divide 62-1/2 De Lacy Creek 63-1/2 Shoshone Point 64-1/2 Continental Divide 69-1/2 Lake View } 72 Duck Lake } Thumb of Yellowstone Lake 73 Arnica Creek 78-1/2 Natural Bridge } 84-1/2 Bridge Creek } Yellowstone Lake (Lake Hotel permanent camp) 89 Lake outlet 90 Mud Volcano 96-1/2 Grotto Springs 97 Hayden Valley 100 Alum Creek 102 Grand Canon of the Yellowstone River (Canon Hotel, permanent camp) 105 Dunraven cut-off 112 Top of Mount Washburn 116 Tower Falls Road 119 Tower Falls (132 feet) 125-1/2 Permanent camp 127-1/2 Petrified trees 128-1/2 Blacktail Deer Creek 140 Lava Creek, Undine Falls (60 feet) 143 Mammoth Hot Springs 148 Gardiner 153

_Distances from Yellowstone, Montana, western entrance, to main road_

_Miles_ Via Canon Creek:-- Ranger Station 3 Junction of Gibbon and Firehole Rivers 13 Canon Creek, main road. (This point is 35 miles from Gardiner; for distances beyond this point see table of distances from Gardiner) 17

Via Firehole River:-- Cascades of the Firehole River direct via road up Firehole River. (This point is 39-1/2 miles from Gardiner; for distances beyond this point see table of distances from Gardiner) 15-1/2

_Points of interest and distances from Cody, Wyoming, via eastern entrance to main road_

_Miles_ Eastern entrance 63 Sylvan Pa.s.s 71 Sylvan Lake 72 Cub Creek 76 Turbid Lake 83 Lake outlet, main road. (This point is 90 mile from Gardiner; for distances from this point see table of distances from Gardiner) 91

_Points of interest and distances from Jackson, Wyoming, via southern entrance, to main road_

_Miles_ Southern entrance 25 Lewis Falls (upper, 80 feet; lower, 50 feet) 34 Lewis Lake, south end 36 Trail to Shoshone Lake 41 Continental Divide 43-1/2 Thumb of Lake, main road. (This point is 73 miles from Gardiner; for distances beyond this point see table of distances from Gardiner) 48

Mammoth Hot Springs

Here are located the famous terraces, the Mammoth Hotel, the abandoned army post of Fort Yellowstone, and the headquarters of the Park Supervisor. The terraces are near the hotel, and the tourist will have no difficulty in finding his way over them. The princ.i.p.al ones are Minerva, Mound, Pulpit, Jupiter, Angel, Cleopatra, and Hymen. Near the southwest end of the terraces is the Devil's Kitchen--a cave which may be visited. Another peculiar rock formation beyond the Devil's Kitchen is the ma.s.s of travertine known as the White Elephant.

Upper Geyser Basin

The Upper Geyser Basin contains more active geysers than all the other geyser regions in the world. Several days might well be spent roaming among the geysers and observing the varied phenomena.

The more important ones are listed in the table on page 439.

------------+--------+---------------------+----------------------------- _Geyser_ _Height_ _Duration of _Interval_ (_feet_) eruption_ ------------+--------+---------------------+----------------------------- Artemisia 50 10 to 15 minutes 24 to 30 hours Bee Hive 200 6 to 8 minutes 3 to 5 times at 12-hour intervals following Giantess Castle 50-75 30 minutes 24 to 26 hours: quiet 4 to 7 days, then plays 3 or 4 times at intervals stated Cub, large 60 8 minutes With Lioness Cub, small 10-30 17 minutes 2-1/2 hours Daisy 70 3 minutes 85 to 90 minutes Fan 15-25 10 minutes Irregular Giant 200-250 60 minutes 6 to 14 days Giantess 150-200 12 to 36 hours Irregular; 5 to 40 days Grand 200 15 to 30 minutes Irregular; 1 to 2 days Grotto 20-30 Varies 2 to 5 hours Jewel 5-20 About 1 minute 5 minutes Lion 50-60 About 2 to 4 Irregular; usually 2 to 17 minutes times a day Lioness 80-100 About 10 minutes Irregular Mortar 30 4 to 6 minutes Irregular Oblong 20-40 7 minutes 8 to 15 hours Old Faithful 120-170 4 minutes 60 to 95 minutes Riverside 80-100 15 minutes 6 hours Sawmill 20-35 1 to 3 hours Irregular; usually 5 to 8 times a day Spasmodic 4 20 to 60 minutes Irregular; usually 1 to 4 times a day Turban 20-40 10 minutes to 3 hours Irregular ------------+--------+---------------------+-----------------------------

The following springs are well worth a visit:--

Black Sand Spring (about 55 by 60 feet).

Chinaman.

Emerald Pool.

Morning Glory.

Punch Bowl.

Sponge.

Sunset Lake.

Grand Canon

The tourist would do well to spend some time at the Grand Canon, as its wonderful beauty cannot be grasped in a short time.

If the canon is to be viewed from the northern rim a high, steel bridge is crossed over Cascade Creek. At the east end of the bridge a path leads to the right down the edge of the gulch to Crystal Falls, a lovely little falls, that is often overlooked in the presence of the larger attractions. This path can be followed to top of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, 308 feet high, but dangerous. Another path from the end of the bridge leads to the left; this is a short cut to the Canon Hotel. The main road winds up the hill, affording here and there glimpses of the Grand Canon. At the top of the hill are the stairs to the Lower Falls. A few hundred feet farther the branch road to the hotel and to Mount Washburn turns out to the left.

On the road about 1 mile from Canon Junction is Lookout Point, reached by walking a hundred feet out to the right of the road. Down the gulch to the right of Lookout Point is a rather steep trail leading to Red Rock, a fine point from which to view the Lower Falls. Grand View and Castle Ruins are other good points from which to view the canon.