Today we headed up US-89 to the North entrance of the park (the original entrance) in order to avoid the holiday crowds. When we exited the park in Gardiner, MT, we continued North about 21 miles on US-89 to where the Old Yellowstone Trail splits off from US-89. The Old Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental automobile highway in the United States through the northern tier of states from Washington through Massachusetts and this is one of the few remaining portions of it. The road was gravel and paralleled the West side of the Yellowstone River. It traveled through ranch land (mostly hay fields), but the view of the mountains to the West was great. We encountered three different herds of Pronghorns feasting on irrigated hay. A herd of them had started to cross the road in front of us (with the buck in the lead) and turned back when we approached. We stopped for pictures and the buck (who didn’t seem to be afraid of cars or humans) stared us down.
Pronghorn Buck
We reached a sign that stated that the road was closed ahead, so we crossed the Yellowstone River and returned to US-89 at Carbella, MT. We crossed the river again and rejoined the Old Yellowstone Trail at Corwin Springs, MT. There was a National Park Service boat ramp just South of this location and we stopped to checkout the river.
Yellowstone River 
Yellowstone River
The Old Yellowstone Trail rejoins US-89 in Gardiner, MT just prior to the Roosevelt Arch at the park entrance.
Beth at the Roosevelt Arch 
Roosevelt Arch – Back
When we reentered the park we stopped and ate lunch in a picnic area just across the road from the Boiling River swimming area. This is one of the few approved swimming areas where boiling springs enter the Gardiner River. Unfortunately, neither one of us had packed our swimming trousers for the day’s drive, so we were stuck to enjoying the view from our side of the road.
View from Our Picnic Table
After lunch we stopped and visited Mammoth Hot Springs. We walked the boardwalk up and around the different hot springs although we didn’t go all the way to the top (one level below instead). This ended up being about 1.2 miles round trip from the particular parking lot in which we managed to find a parking spot.
Mammoth Hot Springs 
Mammoth Hot Springs