Assorted Yellowstone Scenic

57 scenic images from Yellowstone National Park, including the Lamar Valley, Old Faithful Inn,
the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, and other scenes.

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Geothermal Scenery Old Faithful Geyser Eruption Assorted Yellowstone Scenic

Rivers and Waterfalls of Yellowstone Grand Teton National Park

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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery Old Faithful Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Roosevelt Arch Yellowstone 5868

The Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana.
Roosevelt Arch is a rusticated triumphal arch which was constructed in 1903 under the supervision
of the US Army at Fort Yellowstone. President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone in April 1903,
not long after the Northern Pacific Railroad finally completed laying tracks to Gardiner, Montana. This
connected America’s first and most famous National Park to the rapidly expanding railway network,
transforming a difficult journey to this isolated region into a reachable destination for those of the
wealthier class who were able to afford rail travel and the time to take a vacation. The Reamer
depot in Gardiner was the location where railway passengers transferred to the stagecoach
tours which would take them on the newly built Grand Loop Road through Yellowstone.

Roosevelt Arch Yellowstone 5870 M

Roosevelt Arch, North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana.

The depot staging area was a dusty and unattractive place, and Hiram Chittenden,
the Army Corps of Engineers officer in charge of Yellowstone roads, came up with
the idea of creating a monumental gateway to make a bold statement at what was
at the time the primary park entrance. Although documentation is lacking, historians
state that Robert Reamer, the architect responsible for the railway depot as well as
Old Faithful Inn and many other structures in the park, designed the arch based on
ideas which originated in the mind of Hiram Chittenden. The arch was built using
hundreds of tons of unhewn local basaltic rock. The arch opening is 25 feet wide
and 30 feet high, and the entire structure is 50 feet tall. The arch is 50 feet wide
at the top of the towers, and two wing walls extend on both sides of the arch.
Other than the cornerstone (on the other side of the arch), the stones were
left unfinished to preserve the natural appearance of the volcanic rock.

Early visitors to Yellowstone were of the wealthy class, and people of
that time did not think of natural beauty the way people do today. The
Roosevelt Arch provided a prominent landmark, creating a glamour
at the entrance similar to that provided by the unique architecture of
the Old Faithful Inn and the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, giving the
visitors a memorable experience to bring them back to the park.

The North Entrance is the only entrance which is open year-round.

Tourist Cabins Gardiner Montana 6123

Tourist cabins in Gardiner, Montana, with a low cloud hovering over imposing Electric Peak (11,000 feet) in the background.

Yellowstone River Gardiner Montana 6134

The Yellowstone River passing through the quaint town of Gardiner, Montana. In the background is Mount Everts.

Electric peak is the tallest mountain in the Gallatin Range, rising to 10,969 feet. It was named
during the first ascent in 1872 by members of the Hayden Survey who experienced electrical
discharges from their hands and hair while standing atop the summit after a lightning event.

Mount Everts was named by Henry Washburn for Truman C. Everts, a member of the Washburn
Expedition who became lost for 37 days in Yellowstone after wandering away from the group and
losing his pack horse. He survived on local thistle plants, weighing only 55 pounds when rescued.
Everts wrote an account of his ordeal “Thirty-Seven Days of Peril” in 1871, which was published
in Scribner’s Monthly and raised awareness of Yellowstone before it became a National Park.

Miner’s Wagon Gardiner Montana 6126

An 1860s miner’s wagon from the early gold rush days, displayed at the Iron Horse Bar & Grille in Gardiner.

Gardiner was established in 1880 immediately after the first Post Office was built just outside the park,
although it has an earlier history. Gardiner is named for Johnson Gardner, a fur trapper who worked in
the area (1831-1832). Gardner named the headwaters of the Gardner River “Gardner’s Hole” and the
river itself “Gardner’s Fork”. A camp already existed on the site when the 1870 Washburn Expedition
came through the area, and expedition members named the river after Gardner. The first permanent
white settlement was a ranch established by the Bottler brothers (1868), which served as a stopping
point for early travelers heading into the park. The first road to Mammoth Hot Springs was built from
Bottler’s Six Springs Ranch (1871). Yellowstone National Park was established the following year.

Miner’s Wagon Gardiner Montana 6130

Miner’s Wagon Gardiner Montana 6132

Two 1860s miner’s wagons from the early gold rush days, displayed at the Iron Horse Bar & Grille in Gardiner.

Gold was found in Paradise Valley in the 1860s (Emigrant Gulch, Bear Gulch and Crevice Gulch).
The gold strikes were not very lucrative and the boom did not last, but settlements were established.
Many of the ranches established in the Paradise Valley area by early miners are still owned by their
descendants today. Paradise Valley, just north of Gardiner, was Yellowstone’s original entrance.

Ore Carts Gardiner Montana 6127

1860s gold ore carts on display at the Iron Horse Bar & Grille in Gardiner, Montana.

Ore Cart Gardiner Montana 6133 M

A 1200 x 1590 image of an 1860s gold ore cart at the Iron Horse Bar & Grille in Gardiner, Montana.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery Old Faithful Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Lamar River at Sunrise 0678

Lamar River at Sunrise 0704

The Lamar River at sunrise, taken a little over a mile past Crystal Creek near the entrance to the Lamar Valley.

Lamar River Lamar Valley 0505

Lamar Riverbank Lamar Valley 0506

The Lamar River in the heart of the Lamar Valley. The Lamar River used to be called the East Fork of
the Yellowstone River prior to the 1884-85 Geological Survey of the park, when the survey geologist
Arthur Hague named the river and valley after Secretary of the Interior Lucius Lamar. Lamar Valley
was previously named Secluded Valley by the mountain man Osborne Russell, who first entered
the valley in 1834. Osborne Russell later helped to form the government of the state of Oregon.

Bison Lamar Valley 0509

Bison browsing below a grove of Cottonwoods near Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley.

The Lamar Buffalo Ranch was built in 1907 in an effort to increase the herd size
of the few remaining bison in Yellowstone to prevent the extinction of the species.
Although there were 30 to 60 million buffalo (American Bison) in North America in
the early 1800s, market hunting, poaching and the US Army slaughter campaign
designed to remove the food source for Indians to force them onto reservations
had reduced the population to 23 by 1902, all of which were in Pelican Valley.

The Pelican Valley herd and 71 Bison from Buffalo Ranch moved to central
Yellowstone in 1936 to form the Mary Mountain herd grew to the point
that by 1954, the central herd had expanded to 1300 individuals.

Bison Lamar Valley 0511

Bison Lamar Valley 8520

Bison grazing below Cottonwoods near Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley.

Bison Lamar Valley 0517

The northern herd was created at Fort Yellowstone in 1902 using 18 females from Montana
and three males from Texas in an effort to avoid extinction of the species, and in 1907 these
28 Plains bison (including four new calves) were rounded up and moved to the Lamar Valley.

Buffalo Ranch was created to grow hay to feed these Plains bison which were brought in from
Montana and Texas to augment the Yellowstone herd. The bison grazed freely in summer and were
kept in corrals to help them survive the cold winters. In bad weather the bison were fed hay grown
next to the Lamar River. When their numbers increased, the Park Service culled the herd, and
the ranched bison were added to enhance the growing herd of wild bison. When the herd
had reached 1000 bison in 1952, the bison were released to the open range and some
were used to start or supplement other herds on public and tribal land. Buffalo Ranch
closed in 1952, and the few remaining buildings are used as a field campus by the
Yellowstone Association, where field seminars are held and students are lodged.

Bison Lamar Valley 0521

Bison grazing in the Cottonwoods below Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley. In the distance,
you can see the Ranger station and some of the remaining buildings of Lamar Buffalo Ranch.

The Yellowstone bison are the oldest and largest public herd in the United States,
and are considered to be the only genetically pure herd of Plains Bison other than
the Henry Mountains bison herd in Utah (which descended from animals brought
from Yellowstone) and the Wind Cave herd (descended from 14 bison donated
by the New York Zoological Society in 1913 and six from Yellowstone in 1916).

The Wood Buffalo National Park herd in Canada and herds derived from it are
hybrids of Plains Bison and Wood Bison based on recent genetic studies. All
other bison are to some extent hybrids of bison and cattle derived from the
hybridization experiments conducted by owners of the 5 foundation herds
in the late 1800s. Of the 500,000 bison in all public and private herds,
15,000 to 25,000 are estimated to be pure-bred rather than hybrid.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Photoshelter Scenic Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery Old Faithful Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Bison Lamar Valley 0707 16x9

Bison grazing in the Lamar Valley. The Lamar Valley is near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, and is
accessed either from that entrance or from the road leading past Tower Junction from Mammoth Hot Springs.
The Lamar Valley is home to Bison, Pronghorn, Bears, Elk, Coyotes and Gray Wolves (reintroduced in 1995).

Bison Lamar Valley 0711

Bison Lamar Valley 0716

The Lamar Valley is a glacial valley with one of the richest populations of wildlife in North America.

Bison Lamar Valley 0764 16x9

Bison grazing on the “American Serengeti” (the Lamar Valley is often compared to Africa’s Serengeti).

Bison Lamar Valley 9926

A lone Bison crosses a sea of grass in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley in autumn.

Pronghorns Lamar Valley 0548

A herd of Pronghorn Antelope crosses the Lamar Valley towards Buffalo Ranch (out of frame at right).

Pronghorn Lamar Valley 0584

A lone Pronghorn Antelope buck and Cottonwoods in autumn in the Lamar Valley.
The Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is not technically an antelope but it closely
resembles true antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due
to convergent evolution. It is the second fastest land animal, able to run at 55 mph
for a half mile (35 mph for 4 miles), and developed its 60 mph top speed to outrun
the extinct American Cheetah (cheetahs are faster, but can not keep up the speed
as long as a Pronghorn). Pronghorns can easily outrun modern predators such as
the cougar and gray wolves, and it is North America’s fastest existing land animal.
The fastest speeds vary between individuals, and are hard to measure accurately.

Pronghorns Lamar Valley 0589

Pronghorns and Bison grazing by Cottonwoods in the Lamar Valley in autumn.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery Old Faithful Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0852

Cottonwoods by Rose Creek in the Lamar Valley in autumn.

Rose Creek Lamar Valley 0497

The footbridge over Rose Creek, with Cottonwoods and a corral at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch in autumn.

Rose Creek Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0498

Rose Creek Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0499

Rose Creek Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0504

Cottonwoods in full autumn color beside Rose Creek at the Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley.

Rose Creek Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0850

Rose Creek Cottonwoods and a corral at Lamar Buffalo Ranch in autumn.

Petrified Redwood Tower Junction 6023

Petrified Redwood Tower Junction 6025

The remains of a petrified Redwood tree on a spur road 1.5 miles west of Tower Junction,
near the Lost Lake trailhead. There were originally two trees at this location, but early souvenir
hunters destroyed one of the trees and damaged this one as well. In 1907, a fence was erected to
prevent thieves from destroying it further. 50 million years ago the Redwood tree was covered during
a series of volcanic eruptions, and the lack of oxygen prevented the tree from decaying. Silica was
absorbed filling spaces between the wood cells and hardened to stone, then the later erosion by
wind and rain uncovered the tree. Specimen Ridge nearby is home to the world’s largest
concentration of petrified trees and other petrified plants (over 100 species found).

Palette Spring Dead Trees Mammoth Hot Springs 6768

Close detail of dead trees and a dead bush embedded in the multi-hued travertine
on the face of Palette Spring at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

Palette Spring is named for the colorful hillside of amber, brown and orange caused by the presence
of different thermophilic (heat-loving) cyanobacteria. Water flows from the terraces above down a steep
ridge, depositing deep layers of travertine in several interesting and colorful patterns along the hillside.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Photoshelter Scenic Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery Old Faithful Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Geothermal Mist Geyser Creek 1262

Geothermal Mist Geyser Creek 1264

Steam and mist collecting over the geothermal areas near Geyser Creek just after sunrise in autumn.
On the left is Paintpot Hill, and on the right is the geothermal area on the other side of Grand Loop Road.

Mist at Sunrise Swan Lake Flats 1232

Mist over Swan Lake Flats at sunrise with Electric Peak in the background,
off the Grand Loop Road in the northern section of Yellowstone National Park.

Mist at Sunrise Swan Lake Flats 1235

The rising sun illuminates Electric Peak as a line of mist stretches over Swan Lake Flats.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 9107

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 0659

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River.

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone at 309 feet tall is the largest volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is an erosional feature extending for 24 miles from the Upper Falls
down to Tower Fall, cutting through rhyolite lava flows from the supervolcano eruption 640,000 years ago.
The canyon is only 10,000-14,000 years old, caused when ice dams at the mouth of Yellowstone Lake
(which were formed at the end of the glacial period 14,000-18,000 years ago) melted and released
a series of massive flash floods which caused immediate and catastrophic erosion of the canyon.

Fishing Bridge Yellowstone 1098

Fishing Bridge is a rough-hewn corduroy log bridge crossing the Yellowstone River at Yellowstone Lake.
The existing bridge was built in 1937 to replace the original built in 1902. It crosses over a spawning ground
for native cutthroat trout, and it used to attract as many as 50,000 fishermen per year. Due the decline of the
trout population, in part because of fishing in the spawning ground, the bridge was closed to fishing in 1973.

Yellowstone Lake at Sunset 1099

Bison grazing at sunset in autumn, beside the mouth of the Yellowstone River at Yellowstone Lake.

Yellowstone Lake at Sunset 1112

Bison grazing at sunset in autumn, beside the mouth of the Yellowstone River at Yellowstone Lake.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

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Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone 9582 16x9

The Old Faithful Inn is the world’s largest log hotel, and possibly the world’s largest log building.
It was designed by 29 year old architect Robert Reamer and was built from Lodgepole Pine logs
in 1903-1904, with the exterior work done between June and October and the interior work done
during the brutal winter which followed. The central building is the gabled seven story Old House,
which housed the lobby and the initial phase of guest rooms. The ground floor is an eleven-log
structure on a volcanic stone foundation, which supports the upper wood-framed stories that
are faced with half-logs. The porch faces Old Faithful Geyser, and on the roof is a viewing
platform which can be seen to the left of the bus. The historic Old Faithful Inn is the prime
example of rustic resort architecture called National Park Service Rustic, and it is one of
the few remaining log hotels still standing in the United States. Atop the Old House is a
roof walk with flagpoles which once held searchlights to illuminate Old Faithful Geyser.

Old Faithful Inn Gables Yellowstone 9554

Shed and gable dormers on the front slope of the roof of the Old House. The windows are of different
shapes and sizes: diamonds, squares and rectangles, and dormer placement is purposely asymmetric.

Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone 8669

Old Faithful Inn has four stories of balconies (two are open to the public), built from curved and twisted
Lodgepole Pine. The main log-built structure houses the lobby and guest lounge in an enormous space.
All logs, branches, and the unusual twisted brackets were acquired from trees 8 miles from Old Faithful.
The architect Reamer instructed his crews to search for oddly-shaped limbs of Lodgepole Pine, then
matched up sets with similar bends to make peculiar brackets which create a woodsy atmosphere.

Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone 8672

At the peak of the roof is a viewing platform or “Crow’s Nest”, accessible from stairs,
which was used by musicians in the early days to entertain guests of Old Faithful Inn.

Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone 8685

Detail of one of the Lodgepole Pine balconies in the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn.

Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone 8692

Twisted pine brackets support iron candlestick lamps.

Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone 9562

The “Crow’s Nest” at the peak of the Old Faithful Inn lobby.

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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

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Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Old Faithful Inn Yellowstone 8695 M

The little house at the top of the northeast corner of the lobby ceiling is adorned
with crooked limbs that match the style of the balconies below. This “Crow’s Nest”
reminiscent of a tree house has its own roof, hinged windows and a door. The early
visitor could climb up to this perch and look down on the lobby far below, and musicians
would sometimes entertain guests from this unique viewing platform and other balconies.

Pendulum Clock Old Faithful Inn 9570

The 20 foot wrought iron clock at Old Faithful Inn, built by the Livingston Montana blacksmith
George W. Colpitts in the winter of 1903-04, has been mounted on the enormous 82 foot tall
eight-hearth volcanic stone fireplace since the Inn opened in 1904. For nearly 100 years, the
clock ticked on with patchwork repairs which over time finally caused it to have to be rebuilt
from scratch by Dave Berghold, a Bozeman Montana clock expert. The pendulum is over
13 feet long, and the three foot hands sweep over Roman numerals to tell the time. The
blacksmith who created the clock also created all of the other wrought iron hardware
still present at the Inn, such as the fireplace tools and popcorn popper, dining room
hardware, the chandelier, lamps and vintage candlestick lights, and other items
which add charm to the splendid character of the Old Faithful Inn to this day.

The clock face is 5 feet in diameter, with 18 inches long Roman numerals.
The 13 foot pendulum has a copper disc weight. The 3 foot metal hands
replaced the original wooden ones, and an endless rewind mechanism
put in by Berghold, based upon a design invented at the time the clock
was first built, eliminated the requirement for daily winding, for which
terrified bellhops had to crawl out on an iron scaffolding each day.
The mechanism now slides on synthetic rubies to reduce friction.

Old Faithful Eruption 0548 M

An eruption of Old Faithful Geyser. Old Faithful is a cone geyser located in the
Upper Geyser Basin, and was the first geyser at Yellowstone to receive a name.
The interval of eruption has increased over the years, averaging 90 minutes apart.
The average eruptions are 145 feet (the highest recorded eruption was 185 feet).

Old Faithful was once used as a laundry (clothes were put in the crater during
quiescent periods, and were ejected perfectly clean by the following eruption).

Sunset over Madison Junction Yellowstone 1130

An exceptionally colorful Yellowstone sunset over Madison Junction in autumn.

Sunset over Madison Junction Yellowstone 1132

Red-orange beams pass under the clouds as the sun hits the horizon beyond Madison Junction in autumn.

Beware of Hikers with Hula Hoops 1140

A comical addition to a traffic sign near Yellowstone Lake.

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Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery Grand Tetons

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Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

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