venturing4th: Specimen Ridge Trail to Fossil Forest

Looking in the trail guide books for a hike to do today we read that an area in Yellowstone, several acres in size, contains some of the finest and most scientifically significant fossil forests in the world. Who knew! Even though the trail to the Fossil Forest is just about as far away for West Yellowstone as you can get and still be in the park, 70 miles, we headed out to the Visitor Center in Mammoth which was on the way. We had three questions for a Ranger, one having to do with trail that we wanted to take. We have 4 trail guide books and only one of them mentioned the trail and the directions it provided we found confusing.

The Ranger in the Mammoth Visitor Center pulled out a hand-out sheet that described the trail and he then proceeded to mark up the map telling us we did't want to go the way that was shown but to use the hand drawn directions that he drew in for us.

We also asked why we see downed lodgepole pines, with the bark off, that have straight grain and why some have spiral grain. The Ranger told us that some of them develop the spiral because of their relationship to the sun; those with straight grain are shaded from the sun when they are small.

The third question was the one we had yesterday - what are the cone-shaped outcrops that we saw along the trail? I showed the Ranger the pictures we had taken and he didn't know. He has given me the email address for the park geologist so I'm going to email the pictures to her to see if she knows.

On the way from Mammoth to the trailhead, traffic was held up for this herd of bison.

The directions that the Ranger gave us had us start the trail from a roadside pull-out, bushwhack across a sagebrush flat (if there wasn't a bison herd grazing there), and then head straight up a mountain side to a ridge 1,300 feet above. He warned us that the trail was strenuous, climbing 1,300 feet in 1.5 miles, and he was right, but we made it and, as usual, we'll have pictures on the way down; it's all I can do to climb the hill let alone take pictures, too.

The prized specimen is a huge petrified stump, the remains of a giant redwood tree. It has a circumference of 26.5 feet and probably stood 200 to 300 feet high when living.

Frederick is there for scale.

Just below the giant redwood are two standing pine fossils.

There are the two pines in the bottom right of the picture with the redwood in the top left.

From the edge of the mountainside where we found the fossils, we took these pictures. You can see our car on the road 1,300 vertical feet below. It's the white spot in the very middle of this picture. (Click on the picture to make it larger and it's easier to see the car.)

This is looking down on the Crystal Creek drainage. Beginning in 1995 this area was used as one of three staging grounds for the Yellowstone Wolf Reintroduction Program. In the first two years, 31 grey wolves were transplanted in Yellowstone from the Canadian Rockies. In less than three years the wolf population grew to over 85 healthy animals in eight separate packs.

After visiting the area of the fossil trees we continued on a short side trip to the top of Specimen Ridge. It was an additional 400-foot climb in 0.4 miles.

Here's Frederick at the top of Specimen Ridge - windy and cold but...

with fabulous views!

To the south we could see Mount Washburn. Remember? We climbed it last week.

To the east, you can see the burned over ridge just one over from Specimen Ridge.

Northwest, where we were yesterday.

Another view down into the Crystal Creek valley.

Open meadows -

At the base of Mount Washburn, running across the center of the picture, is the 23-mile-long Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and...

the northern terminus of the canyon.

At the top of the peak - in the cold and wind - small blue alpine flowers and...

hardy, small daisies.

Starting back down from the top of Specimen Ridge.

Trail from the top to the secondary ridge where we found the fossils.

At the top of the lower ridge we could see the car and...

more beautiful views of Crystal Creek valley and...

open meadows.

From the top of the first ridge we had to find our own way down and...

part way down we could see the bison herd moving in the direction that would intersect the path to our car. (The car is the white dot at center left and the herd is below the center of the picture on the right side.

You wouldn't think they moved that fast, but it was close, the herd was just a few hundred feet from us when we crossed in front of them.

As we re-crossed the sagebrush flat we saw wolf tracks.

A full-grown male wolf may weigh 120 lbs., stand nearly three feet high, and attain a length of six feet.

We also passed some bison wallows.

From the car we could look back across the sagebrush flat, up the hill to the first ridge and see that the bison herd had moved past the path we took up the ridge.