Ken's Journal
No. 4 - Summer 2004

Yellowstone, Wyoming - 08/10 - 08/18/2004
Days 45-53 on the road. Part IV.
 
 

Yellowstone Maps.
  Each map covers about 60 miles by 60 miles, or 3600 square miles.
  Small, 200 Kbytes. Large, 912 Kbytes.
 
 
A sinter area next to the trail at Fountain Paint Pot. Sinter is the silica deposited by the flow of the mineral rich waters.
A view from West Thumb across Yellowstone Lake. This is a very active geothermal area on the east side of the lake. The central West Thumb Geyser basin has 19 named pools, springs, geysers and fumaroles all within a short 1/2 mile hike on a boardwalk.
 

A view of the Yellowstone Lake shoreline at West Thumb.
 
Into one of the colorful pools at West Thumb.
 

A view to the lake across an active pool at West Thumb.
 
They call this one Twin Geysers. I think it looks more like a Halloween Punkin'.
 
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone starts here - the Upper Falls. The bridge in the background is the Chittenden Bridge, carrying the access road to Artist Point. Look carefully and just to your right of the brink you'll see people on the "Brink of the Upper" overlook. This picture was taken from the South Rim Trail.
Just a few hundred yards from the Upper Falls you have the Lower Falls - here caught with a rainbow in the mist. This shot was from Uncle Tom's Trail.

 
   
For a map of the Canyon Village area showing roads, trails, and all features in the area, click here!
 
 
This shot of the lower falls was from somewhere on
Uncle Tom's Trail.

The canyon varies from 800 to 1200 feet in depth and from 1500 to 4000 feet wide. It's about 24 miles with the upper 2 1/2 miles the most colorful. In places, you can see steam vents and geysers working on the wall of the canyon.
This is Uncle Tom's Trail - a 500 foot descent into the canyon by way of a series of paved inclines and more than 300 feet of stairs. The story has it that Uncle Tom, an early entrepreneur, installed a series of ladders and ropes to guide people to the floor of the canyon for a view of the lower falls. I think I prefer the stairway.
 
  Next, Yellowstone - Part V.
 
 

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