Yesterday my wife and I had the good fortune to travel down to and through the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park at Gardiner, Mt. As most of you are aware this entrance along with the northeast entrance have been closed since the awful floods in June. But since then, the old stagecoach road was transformed into the new road to Mammoth. For those of you heading here this coming summer you are in for a treat. This new road rocks. This high twisting steep road that circumvents the Gardiner Canyon and away from the river is a treat to travel on. An awesome road for motorcyclists. We had traveled on this road back when it was still a one lane gravel stagecoach road a few times years back and that was fun. But the best part is that it reopens the north part of the park again and the residence of Cook City and Silvergate are back in business. Gardiner's economy will have a chance to recover as well. A huge hurray for them!!! Their snowmobile business in Cook is going to rule this winter. Anyway, for me at least, the best part is that the old road along the Gardiner River is closed. That means those willing to hike a bit from the north entrance will find solitude and fish that haven't been stuck a hundred times.
As it looks now that road will be removed from the river corridor in the future. Hurray for that!
Also, on another note the Boiling River Hot Spring area has been annihilated. Wiped out, gone, removed by the floods. It's now simply a Thermal Feature. No more swimming there.
So, check out the photos below for a sneak peek at some of the road and its elevation. Pretty cool IMHO.
Mark
As always click on the photos for a larger image.
The old parking area of the Boiling River from above on the new road:
The road entrance from Mammoth and beyond:
Excellent motorcycle ride:
More:
Some critters this day:
Not all critters were happy about the new road though. Here's what the Pronghorns think of it:
