Six Weeks/14 Parks
2008
We don’t care what gas costs!
Tower Falls Rd.
The Petrified Tree
Gardiner, MT
Rafting on the Yellowstone
The Boiling River
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK II
8/2/08
We had a rafting trip scheduled for 2:00 in Gardiner, back in Montana. To make the ride interesting, we decided to go up the road over Dunraven Pass to Tower Falls and then over to Mammoth Hot Springs and out the north entrance were we had come in. The canyon past the falls is breathtaking. Then the road goes through the edge of the Lamar Valley and across the Blacktail Deer Plateau. Here we saw a big male elk just chomping away on the side of the highway. We also took the time to look at the Petrified Tree (although how it got petrified, I have no idea).
After killing an hour in Gardiner, we arrived at Yellowstone Raft Co. Keith, from Boston, of all places, was our guide. It was great fun, lots of splashes and bumps! We paddled for about two and a half hours, going eight miles. We saw why it’s called Yellowstone. The sulfur deposits from all the hot springs stain the rocks around them.
After rafting, we stopped on our way back into the park at the 45 parallel for a touristy photo-op. The next touristy thing we did was go in the Boiling River, the only natural spot in the park were people can swim in the hot springs. The boiling water flows into the cool Gardiner River, making the water temperature bearable. If you sit too close to the hot water coming into the river, you can get scalded!
