Cluff’s Carhop Cafe

December 15, 2010 by 7 Comments

Time traveling back to early October…

We’ve left Yellowstone National Park, enjoyed our travels though Idaho while gawking at the yellow aspen, and hiked through Hells’ Half Acre.  We spent the night in Salt Lake City – one of the few major cities in the United States I had never visited. The next morning, a few hours south of Salt Lake City, we pulled off the Interstate and headed into the mountains in search of Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Before we got very far, our hunger pains forced us to look for food.  We were traveling down Main Street in a tiny town and  stopped at this cafe – just HAD to stop – in the town of Fillmore, county seat of Millard, state of Utah. Yes, the town was founded when Millard Fillmore was President (1850-53).

Cluff's Carhop Cafe

Cluff’s Carhop Cafe © 2010 Bo Mackison

Now, isn’t this just the kind of place to stop for local home cooking. The temperatures were dropping, storm front moving through, and so the carhops weren’t doing much hopping, though there was still a small crowd eating at the outside picnic tables.

Hungry?

Hungry? © 2010 Bo Mackison

Now if this isn’t a teaser menu to make you slam on your brakes (carefully so the trailer won’t jack-knife on the wet pavement) and go in for a bite. Plus a good representation of the population of Fillmore (pop. 2200) were hanging around, so that was a good enough recommendation for us. BTW, the fried pickles, alone, were worth the stop..

Utah Decor

License Plate Decor © 2010 Bo Mackison

What a great interior. Narrow room, only enough space for tables against the wall, but there was plenty to amuse the senses. Old license plates and metal signs, old cartoons, wheel rims, wallpaper mapping Route 66, and the low rumbling and loud shouts of conversation amongst the locals.

We had a couple of shakes and sandwiches. Sorry, I can’t give a more complete assessment of the food, except to say it was cooked perfectly to order and delicious. While we were eating, we realized the weather was turning nastier, and we were heading towards higher elevations, so we left rather quickly.

Next post:  Quick detour to photograph Utah’s Territorial Statehouse. Then the story of how successful we were getting to the summit and Cedar Breaks National Park.

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Norris Geyser Basin

December 7, 2010 by 8 Comments

Sun Rays through Norris © 2010 bo Mackison

We explored Norris Geyser Basin on an early October morning. We arrived before sunrise. The temperatures had dropped to nearly freezing overnight, so we were alone in our explorations. Perhaps everyone else thought warm rooms and hot food were a better choice than dark and spooky geyser basins. Personally, I was quite enthralled with this magical looking land–a setting that one might expect in a few of the scarier fairy tales.

Mineralized Forest © 2010 Bo Mackison

Standing water from geyser eruptions has turned this Lodgepole Pine forest into a rather ghostly, mineralized forest, especially when seen before dawn. The near freezing temperatures made the steam from the geysers all the more visible. Since there are over 180 thermal features in Norris, this place becomes a steamy place when the temperatures drop. Even daylight doesn’t help much.

Norris Geyser Basin at Sunrise © 2010 Bo Mackison

See? Sunrise doesn’t provide much light, but it does add some interesting reflections and light to the many geyser runoffs in the basin.

Back Basin © 2010 Bo Mackison

The Back Basin at Norris contains stands of trees that are in varying degrees of decay. It is park policy to leave the trees as they fall, unless they are an obstruction to traffic or a safety hazard. Lodgepole pines have a shallow root system, and so larger trees are easily toppled by strong winds or they absorb the minerals in the geyser runoff.

Fogged In Trees © 2010 Bo Mackison

More cold. More steam. More trees standing in cold air, but in steamy fog.

Crater Spring © 2010 Bo Mackison

Crater Spring is one of the few pools on the Back Basin loop. Norris is the most changeable and unpredictable of all of Yellowstone’s geyser basins. It is one of the hottest areas in the Yellowstone region. Geologists doing test drills have found water temperatures over 400˚ F at depths of 200 to 1000 feet. They also estimate that this geothermal area has been continuously active for over 150,000 years.

Steamboat Geyser © 2010 Bo Mackison

Back Basin is the location of Steamboat Geyser, Yellowstone National Park’s tallest, though unpredictable, geyser. Steamboat is most always steaming or spouting, but only minor eruptions of 40 to 60 feet have occurred in recent years. When the geyser was having major eruptions, water was forced upwards nearly 400 feet. Steamboat was at its peak performance in the 1960s, erupting more than 100 times in that decade. It has steadily declined since then, and there have only been a few major eruptions since 2000.

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Springs and Pools of Yellowstone

December 6, 2010 by 4 Comments

Crested Pool © 2010 Bo Mackison

Crested Pool is a sinter (or silica) pool; its crest is made of layer upon layer of sinter that has been laid down over the centuries. This is one of Yellowstone’s super-heated pools, and it is surprisingly deep at 42 feet. Crested Pool is in the Upper Geyser Basin, north of Old Faithful Geyser and the Old Faithful complex.

Chromatic Pool Landscape © 2010 Bo Mackison

Walk further north past Crested Pool, and Chromatic Pool comes into view. Chromatic Pool and Beauty Pool seem to exchange brilliance. When one pool cools and its colors lessen because of a decrease of bacteria, the other pool seems to heat and its colors deepen. Chromatic Pool seemed to have the better colors when we were visiting in early October.

Chromatic Pool © 2010 Bo Mackison

The deepest part of the pool actually reflects the color of the sky. The other colors–usually reds, browns, yellows–are the result of bacteria and algae mats.

South Scalloped Spring © 2010 Bo Mackison

There are a pair of scallop-shaped springs near each other. The water level of Scalloped Spring is several feet below surface level. This is thought to be an un-natural occurrence and is presumed to be the result of human interference. The South Scalloped Springs gurgle and slurp, and occasionally spill water into Firehole River.

Shield Pool © 2010 Bo Mackison

Shield Pool, so named because of its shield shape, is across the path from Crested Pool. It’s colors are not remarkable when compared to the more colorful hot pools, but I love the different depths and swirling waters.

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Copper and Shell Fountain, Artist Elizabeth Eaton Burton

November 13, 2010 by 10 Comments
Copper and Shell Water Fountain in Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Lobby

Copper and Shell Fountain © 2010 Bo Mackison

One afternoon we spent a few enjoyable rainy hours wandering around the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel in Yellowstone National Park.

We had tea in the lobby while a fire roared in the fireplace. Then we checked out the Map Room. I took a few photographs of some of the more interesting nooks and crannies including this tiny space, just big enough for a table and two chairs.

And finally we discovered this quaint, copper and shell water fountain.

It took me awhile to track down the information about this artistic creation. I picked up an information sheet about the fountain while we were at the hotel, but in the distraction of arriving home and then preparing for a long weekend trip to New York City, I filled a large pile of brochures and maps in a box to organize some of the clutter from the studio. And then I forgot where I put the box.

A couple of days ago, while in a studio-cleaning mood, I rediscovered the box, and found the story of the fountain. Again.

Since I had tried to find information on the internet, and found nothing, I will write more than usual. It seems the fountain is rather a mystery.

When Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel was renovated in 1993/94, the fountain was brought out of storage and restored in its original space. Evidently it had been removed from the hallway of the hotel and stored in a warehouse in Gardiner, Montana in the mid 1980’s during an earlier remodeling job.

Why it was removed is unknown. In fact, much of the history of the fountain, an Arts and Crafts style fountain with a koi fish design, is unknown. Research in the Yellowstone archives gives no details regarding when the fountain was first installed in the (1937) hotel lobby or why or when the fountain was first obtained by Yellowstone.

The fountain was crafted by metal smith and artist Elizabeth Eaton Burton, a Santa Barbara, Californian.

She worked extensively with metals in the Arts and Crafts style in the early 1900s. It is estimated that the fountain was made circa 1910. The fountain is signed by the artist in her distinctive mark, an oval incorporating a central “B” surrounded by a rounded “E” to the left and a reversed rounded “E” to the right, making up the monogram “EBE”.

The spigot of the fountain was originally a thin copper tube out of which water continually flowed. An on/off switch was added during the re-installation in 1993/4 and the edge of the shell was smoothed to repair damage. Otherwise, the fountain is as it was originally designed.

The fountain has lovely detailing and is truly a work of art. It’s rather amazing that so little is known about it, but we celebrated our finding of such a hidden treasure by having a drink of cold water from the re-fashioned spout of Burton’s copper fountain.

(Some of this information was originally compiled by Randy Ingersoll, Music Coordinator for Xanterra Parks and Resorts, September, 2010, and provided to the public in a written handout distributed in the lobby of Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.)

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Yellowstone, Redux – Castle Geyser Reflection

November 9, 2010 by 12 Comments

Castle Geyser Reflections © 2010 Bo Mackison

Castle Geyser is in the Old Faithful Complex of Yellowstone National Park, a half mile walk from the Old Faithful Inn. I say “walk” and not hike because the trail is paved for bikers and is wheelchair accessible. (2.4 miles worth of great scenery is accessible t0 all — I applaud the efforts of the National Park Service to make at least portions of the parks available to all who want to visit.)

Sounds busy, but on a mid-week day in October we nearly had the place to ourselves once we left Old Faithful’s crowds behind.

I thought Castle Geyser was quite lovely, but the dozen or so people I spoke with while I was gazing, enamored with this sinter cone, were quite peeved that this thermal formation wasn’t performing up to expectations. Seems Castle Geyser used to be one of the regular guys. It would erupt explosively every 13 hours, give or take a few minutes, spouting one hundred feet in the air, and then steam for 30 to 45 minutes. For its final act, it would emit what was described to me by another passerby as a “thrilling, contralto roar”.

I cannot verify any of those facts. Castle Geyser puffed prettily for me, steamy and hot, and dribbled bubbly water that overflowed the lip of the cone. But there was no massive eruption. No thrilling roar. Only evidence that something was amiss was the mysterious sign, hand-lettered by a park employee, saying, “Future eruptions–unreliable.”

As I was photographing this scene, several other shooters waved me on, telling me not to bother. Well, I quite liked this “unreliable” geyser, fashioned from geyserite parts, some that are a thousand years old. It did rather look like a medieval castle, partly under attack and in (unseen) flames, and its run-off provided a great reflection of a perfect October sky.

Maybe by now Castle Geyser has its internal plumbing fixed and it is once more spouting on schedule. Though I liked it fine the way it was.

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