The Extended Tour

Closest entrances: Approximately 27 miles from Fishing Bridge to the east entrance; approximately 43 miles from Fishing Bridge to the south entrance

Distances: The lakefront from Fishing Bridge to the West Thumb Geyser Basin is 21 miles

As if the park didn't have enough record-setting attractions, at 7,773 feet, Yellowstone Lake is North America's largest high-altitude lake. It is 20 miles long and 14 miles wide, contains 110 miles of shoreline, has depths ranging to 390 feet, and is very cold. Because the surface freezes by December, and remains crusted until late May, the temperature at the bottom stays at 39°F (4°C) year-round, and the surface temperature isn't a lot warmer. Considering its size relative to the entire volcanic caldera, the lake is considered by many to be just a puddle. At one point in its history, the entire area was filled with ice, most of which has since melted, so the lake relies on 124 tributaries, including the Yellowstone River, to maintain its present level.

The lake exhibits its multifaceted personality every day, which ranges on an emotional scale from a placid, mirror-like surface to a seething tantrum of 3- to 4-foot waves. Boaters should be especially cautious because of the number of boat-related fatalities resulting from hypothermia. Compelling evidence of the ongoing changes occurring in the park as a consequence of subsurface thermal activity is the fact that the lake bottom is rising and tilting about 1 inch per year, a veritable sprinter's pace in geologic time. Trees on the south end of the lake drown as new beaches come into being on the north end, and existing beaches are expanding.

Because the lake has the largest population of native cutthroat trout in North America, it makes an ideal fishing spot in summer. The lake is also an ornithologist's paradise; the skies are filled with osprey, bald eagles, white pelicans, and cormorants. On the shore, moose and grizzly bear are especially prevalent during the trout runs in spring.

Lake Village, on the northwest shore of the lake, offers a wide range of amenities, the most prominent of which is the regal facade of the Victorian Lake Hotel. You'll find food in the fine-dining restaurant, as well as in a little deli and the adjacent general store. Lodging is in the hotel, in its motel-style annex, and the surrounding yellow cabins; and at Lake Lodge in modestly priced, frontier-style cabins. See chapter 7 for more details.

Just south of Lake Village is the Bridge Bay Marina, the center of the park's water activities. Here you can arrange for guided fishing trips or small boat rentals, or learn more about the lake during an informative and entertaining 1-hour narrated boat tour. The views are magnificent, and the skipper shares fascinating facts about the area's history. The marina is usually open from mid-June to mid-September.

Campers will find a large campground here with sites for RVs and tent campers. Trees surround the campground area, which has been cleared, so campsites here have very little privacy.

Although the Natural Bridge, near Bridge Bay, is well marked on park maps, it's one of the park's best-kept secrets, and you might end up enjoying it by yourself. The mile-long path down to the bridge, a geologic masterpiece consisting of a massive rock arch, soaring 51 feet overhead and spanning Bridge Creek, is an excellent bike route.

Looking for a picnic area? Keep a sharp eye out for an inconspicuous paved road on the lakeside of the highway, 13 miles west of Fishing Bridge, which leads down to a secluded spot near Pumice Point.

The West Thumb area, along the western shoreline, is the deepest part of Yellowstone Lake. Because of its suspiciously crater-like contours, many scientists speculate that this 4-mile-wide, 6-mile-long, water-filled crater came to be when a secondary caldera within the primary Yellowstone caldera ferociously burped some 125,000 years ago.

The West Thumb Geyser Basin is notable for a unique series of geysers. Some are situated right on the shores, some overlook the lake, and some can be seen beneath the lake surface. Three of the shoreline geysers, the most famous of which is Fishing Cone, are occasionally marooned offshore when the lake level rises. (Fishing Cone was named for the park's early fishermen who used it as a combination casting spot/kitchen by immediately cooking their catch, hook still in mouth.) Fortunately, a half-mile of boardwalks crisscrosses the area, so it's easy to negotiate.

Near the center of an area that is totally surrounded by healthy trees is a tree graveyard. These pale, limbless trees were killed when thermal activity caused hot water to move toward them. When their roots absorbed the hot water, the trees were cooked from the inside out.

Details about the area, books, and maps are available at the West Thumb Information Station, housed in a log structure that functioned as the original West Thumb Ranger Station. The center is open daily from late May through September from 9am to 5pm.

As you depart the West Thumb area, you are presented with two choices: either to head south, toward Grand Teton National Park, or to head west, across the Continental Divide at Craig Pass, en route to Old Faithful.