05-21-2026 Thursday, Mammoth Hot Springs, Roosevelt Arch, Grizzly Sighting

We woke up to SNOW!!! A lot of snow for us, 8-10 inches on top of the Jeep and all the RVs and vehicles in the campground. It snowed all morning. We spent some time trying to see the webcams and figure out if it was snowing in the Mammoth Hot Springs area. Most of the webcams were offline, but the Mammoth Hot Springs one was working. It looked like a nice spring day and no snow, so we decided to head out after breakfast burritos. We also made sandwiches for the day and packed our cooler. 

The Fishing Bridge area was so pretty. The Hayden Valley area was beautiful with Bison here and there. I was able to take some great photos of snow along the Yellowstone River. 

Driving over Fishing Bridge.

Hayden Valley

Yellowstone River

Our first stop was just north of Norris at Roaring Mountain. The side of the mountain has fumaroles, which are steam vents. We could barely hear them, but supposedly they are really loud at times. The pine trees along our route were dusted with snow. Such a beautiful sight. 

Roaring Mountain 

Obsidian Cliff National Historic Landmark, our next stop.  The obsidian here was used by Native Americans for making tools. 

Sheepeater Cliff was our next destination. The cliff was named after the Shoshone Indians, who used bighorn sheep. This basalt cliff was formed 500,000 years ago. The stacking of square rocks on top of one another formed columns created by a lava flow. It reminded us of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.

Our drive after Sheepeater Cliff took us to Golden Gate. It was a section of the road that took a tight curve around a mountain, and when it was originally built, it was made of wood. Take a look at the sign below to see the old wooden road. You may have to zoom in. Can you imagine going over that in a stagecoach? At the turnout to view this part of the road is also a beautiful waterfall called Rustic Falls. It’s not listed on the NPS map of Yellowstone, and I don’t know why. We loved it.

The photo on the left shows the old wooden road.

New Road

Rustic Falls

The GuideAlong app recommended a left turn after Golden Gate that is not on the map. It’s a loop that is not even ¼ mile long. Per GuideAlong, it comes before a big yellow arrow sign. The rock formations look like Hoodoos. We actually took the loop twice. I would recommend this to everyone.

When we arrived and parked at Mammoth Hot Springs, we were awestruck by how huge this area is. These hot springs are part of numerous terraces. There are upper terraces and lower terraces. We only walked the boardwalk around the upper terraces. It hailed off and on while we were here, but we dressed in about ten layers....just kidding, maybe four. You can tell from our selfie photos that we have a bunch of layers on. The waters here were turquoise. There was one Kildeer bird hanging around, which I found weird. I’ve only seen these birds at beaches and warmer lake areas. The hot springs' colors here are mossy greens and rust. When combined in the same pool, it’s stunning. Per GuideAlong, walking the lower terrace would take about two hours. Instead, we drove to the lookout area and saw them. We had a lot to see today, but I would love to come back and walk it. 

Canary Springs at Mammoth Hot Springs Area.

Killdeer enjoying the warmth of the hot springs.

Good example of a terrace.

Terrace up close.

See the terraces on the white hill behind the two stumps?

We headed into Mammoth Hot Springs town and stopped at the visitor center for passport stamps. They have a great museum, so we took the time to wander through it. There was one room that had displays of most of the animals in the park. Something I learned today is that the park is a World Heritage Site. There was a large plaque, about 3 x 3, commemorating the park’s designation in September 1978. We ate lunch in the jeep and watched the ground squirrels in the grassy field in front of us, very entertaining. Once we were done, we drove past Fort Yellowstone. There was a lot of construction, so we didn’t get to see much.

This building is currently the Visitor Center.
When the Fort was active, it was the Bachelor Officers' Quarters. 

This plaque is part of a Visitor Center display.

We drove five miles north to Gardiner to see the original Roosevelt Arch park entrance. Stopped and took photos, then drove through it to the Yellowstone Forever store. I had no idea I could get a passport stamp here. I was so excited.  I spoke with one of the volunteers and asked about the road closed between Canyon Village and Tower-Roosevelt. This is the road we normally would take to Lamar Valley, but it is closed. The NPS website says it will open tomorrow. The gentleman stated he also checked the NPS and saw the same thing. He said it should be open tomorrow. May 22 is Yellowstone's official start-of-the-season date. Keeping my fingers crossed. I bought another sticker and a Yellow-Bellied Marmot pin. None of the other stores had one. I was excited about that too. As we left the area, we drove back through Roosevelt Arch. 

 

On our way back to Fishing Bridge, there were three Bison blocking the road. One was straddling the center line. I thought it was funny, and he was probably doing it on purpose to mess with the humans that were in the cars up front. We got some great photos since we had to drive really slowly when they finally all moved to the side of the road. I also spotted Sandhill Cranes and Great Blue Herons. We pulled over so I could view them through binoculars. 

As we drove into Hayden Valley, we saw a fox run across the street. It had a huge bushy tail. He stopped on a log, but by the time I got my phone out, it was gone. Then, on the other side of Hayden Valley, we saw another fox running alongside the road. We slowed down, but again were not able to get a photo. 

When we got closer to Fishing Bridge, Barry asked if I wanted to drive past it to see if we could see anything by the lake. The answer was, “Of course.” 

We were about 2 miles out and saw a group of people with cameras and huge lenses, so we stopped to ask what they were looking at. Apparently, there was a huge owl in the trees, but it was too far for us to see. All these people had their huge lenses so they could see it. We decided to drive on. 

In about another mile, I saw a vulture with its wings spread out sitting at the top of a pine tree. A few branches over was another large bird. I raised my binoculars and figured out it was a juvenile eagle. I thought it was bizarre that the two birds were so close together. Just amazing. 

Not long after that, we saw a healthy coyote running through sagebrush on the north side of the road.  We pulled over and watched him until he disappeared into the woods. We drove a little further and saw a dozen or so cars parked on both sides of the road. It’s an unwritten rule that when you see a group of cars stopped on the side of the road, you pull over and ask what they are observing. 

It was a GRIZZLY. We parked, grabbed our phones, and ran across the street. We saw her walking along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. A few people told us her name was Storm. Some of these people follow the grizzlies religiously. Many of the bears even have their own Facebook page. We observed her for about thirty minutes and took a bunch of videos and photos. We were so happy we finally got to see a grizzly. We also saw five large elk on the hillside across the highway. 

All in all, I’d say today turned out awesome. Not many days you get to see these animals in the wild. Now just to locate a moose!

 

Copyright © 2026 by Jacqueline Threet Henderson, Jacqueline's Jaunts. All rights reserved.