Tolsons' Discovery Travels: West Yellowstone, MT

Thu (9-8-11): We are here at the Grizzly RV Resort (Good SAM) [406-646-4466] in West Yellowstone for the next 5 nights. They have 191 sites and are mostly full as there is a Prevot Rally coming in on Sat. We left Cody, WY this am and headed west into Yellowstone. The smoke from the fire on the east side of Yellowstone Lake was blowing in our direction. There are several fires burning in the Park, but this one is the only one that we've noticed so far.

Red Indicates Active Fires in the Park

Fire Damage in the Park Heading to Yellowstone Lake Area--

We should see more fire damage as we head thru the park and south

to Jackson, WY on Tuesday.

We encountered quite a bison road block as we drove north thru Hayden Valley. Seems the bison herd

Fri (9-9-11): Drove from West Yellowstone into the park on the western side up thru Mammoth Hot Springs and out the park into Gardiner, MT where we did a little shopping and got an ice cream. We were here in 1991 and saw the 1988 fire damage. It was great to see it now with beautiful green pine trees everywhere along this drive.

Pics to come

Sat (9-10-11): Chuck and I (Hellrungs feeling under the weather) drove north out of West Yellowstone on Hwy 191 and then west on Hwy 287 to view the Madison River Canyon Earthquake Area this morning. This is in the Gallatin National Forest. On the beautiful moonlit night of Aug 17, 1959, a 6.3 foreshock was immediately followed by a 7.5 earthquake triggering a massive landslide which sent over 80 million tons of rock crashing down into the canyon, blocking the Madison River. The water backed up behind the rocks and formed the new Earthquake Lake. High velocity winds and a gigantic wall of water swept through the area. Three sections of Hwy 287 fell into the lake. Hundreds of people vacationing in the area were trapped and 28 people lost their lives most by the huge avalanche of rock and trees that cascaded off the south wall of the canyon just above the campground. Unfortunately, the Visitor Center closed on Labor Day, which has a DVD presentation and a working seismograph on display. After we left the slide area, we turned south on Hwy 87 and saw a herd of Pronghorn. We also saw many ranches and crossed the Continential Divide. This highway deadends on Hwy 20 that does back into MT and that is how we made the loop back to West Yellowstone.

http://visitmt.com/history/Montana_the_Magazine_of_Western_History/Spring03/earthquake.htm

http://www.seis.utah.edu/lqthreat/nehrp_htm/1959hebg/i1959he1.shtml

Effects of Madison River Canyon Earthquake

21-ft Fault Scarp Severed this Old Campground

Shaping of Earthquake Lake

Earthquake Lake

Rock Slide Area

Sep and Oct 1959--Spillway was Made and Then Deepened Across Slide so the

Madison River Could Continue to Flow Into the Valley

Pronghorn Along Roadway on Hwy 89

SW Montana Ranch - US or JS PONDEROSA

Into IDAHO

On Driveway to Ranch Giving Trail Rides

Our campground allows coach washing, so that is what Chuck and Larry did this afternoon. Patty was feeling a little better later, so we went over to the Imax Theater just down the street from the campground and saw "Yellowstone" on the big screen. After, we spent a short while at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center next door. Two of the large grizzlies, Sam & Illie twinsiblings, were cubs found wandering into a fishing village when their mother was probably killed at Katmai NP near King Salmon in Alaska. They are much larger than Yellowstone grizzlies and weigh 1,000 and 750 lbs respectively! There are two wolf packs at the Center.

PICS TO COME

Sun (9-11-11): Chuck and I drove west and then south on US 20 out of West Yellowstone to the Mesa Scenic Byway and ended up in Ashton, ID. Another beautiful sunny day with beautiful white clouds to our north. Stopped at the Lower Mesa Falls. A few more miles down the road, we had a nice view of the Teton Mt Range. Found miles and miles of wheat fields and then seed potato fields.