Road Trip - Yellowstone

Sheepeater Cliff

We pulled off the main road to eat some sandwiches and found ourselves at Sheepeater Cliff! It is an exposed cliff face of columnar basalt, formed 500,000 years ago during a volcanic eruption, as basalt-rich lava flooded the area. Each column is hexagonal and breaks off at the joints.

Golden Gate Canyon

We passed through Golden Gate Canyon on our way to explore the north-west region of the park. The road is perched on the side of the mountain, with a towering rock face on one side and a river on the other. This part of the highway is celebrated as one of the great engineering feats of the 20th Century.

Golden Gate Canyon connects Mammoth Hot Springs and Fort Yellowstone to the rest of the park. The road has been rebuilt and widened several times as earthquakes and tourism have damaged it and left it unsafe to travel on.

Mammoth Hot Spring

On the northern edge of the park, outside of the Yellowstone Caldera (which formed during multiple eruptions over the last 2.1 million year), is the town of Mammoth Hot Springs.

The massive system of hot springs (as well as the land beneath the Mammoth Hotel) is formed on a hill of travertine, a kind of limestone deposited by the springs. As the travertine accumulates, it forms terraces, which are continually growing and changing shape.