RHH's photos with the keyword: gallatin mountains

These are the Gallatin Mountains of Montana photographed from the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces in Yellowstone National Park.

I intend in the next series of photos to give a photo tour of Yellowstone National Park. The park is 2.2 million acres, 63 miles north to south and 54 miles west to east. The main roads in the park are in the shape of a figure "8" with its top to the north. The park lies mostly in the state of Wyoming with the north and western sides of the park lying in the state of Montana. There are five entrances to the park, one each from the north, west and south and two from the east. Most of the photos will be from two trips to the park in the spring and again in the autumn of 2019, a few from other trips. These photos are taken where the north entrance road meets the top of the figure "8". Traveling into the park from the north one passes through the town of Gardiner, Montana. Just outside the town is the north entrance to the park and the beginning of a five mile drive to the main road where lie buildings of the Mammoth Hot Springs area, a visitors' center, a hotel and old Fort Yellowstone, the buildings visible in this photo. The Gallatin Mountains , which are also visible in the photos, lie to the north outside the park and are the background to Mammoth Hot Springs and its terraces. The area is quite active thermally though the activity varies from year to year. The lower terraces are accessed by boardwalks and the upper terraces by a short drive on a one-way side road. These photos were taken from the terraces looking back north except for the photo of the eagles which was taken near the north entrance. Our tour will take us down the west side of the top of the figure "8" to Norris Junction and the Norris Geyser basin (the east side takes one down through the mountains and Dunraven Pass to the area of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone). The park lies at an average elevation of 8000 feet. When we were there in May some of the park roads were not yet cleared of snow and open and it was very cold, below freezing, at night as it was again when we were there in September. The snow is visible also in the mountains to the north and can be seen in some of the other photos. At the same time it can be very hot during the day and is often very hot and dry during the summer. There are several lodges and hotels in the park but most of the accommodations are in the campgrounds.

These Eagles were photographed near the town of Gardiner, Wyoming, and the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

This photo was taken in May which is early spring in Yellowstone National Park and looks north from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Gallatin Mountains of Montana which lie outside the park.

Porcelain Basin is a part of the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. It is noted especially for its hot springs, steam vents and pools. It is on the west side of the park just north of the place where the two loops that the main road makes through park come together. It is one of the most active areas in the park and is also one of the most beautiful, though I say that hesitantly, since there isn't any part of the park that isn't beautiful. The photo below is very old, an old film photo taken in 1979 on one of our first visits to the park, but shows the reason for the name, Porcelain Basin.

This view of the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs shows some of the characteristics of these remarkable thermal features. It is evident why they are referred to as terraces and the way in which the hot water, visible in the picture deposits these formations. The extent of them is also evident and the mound in the back shows how much they have been built up over many years (the terraces in the foreground are also at the top of a huge mound). The colors of the algae that grow in the hot water can be seen as well as the line between recently built up areas and areas where some of the vegetation has begun to come back. The bone white of the sinter where no water is seeping and where no algae are growing is seen in the foreground and dead trees killed by the hot water and sulfuric acid can be seen in the background. The mountains in the distance are the Gallatin Mountains of Montana and between them and the terraces lies a valley where the village of Mammoth Hot Springs is found, a National Park village with accommodations, gas and a store. The area is named "mammoth" not for its size but for the bones of mammoths which were found there.