West Yellowstone is a town at the west gate to Yellowstone National
Park. The West Yellowstone town had a
very nice RV Park (we stayed a week) and a great tee shirt shop. We got all the grandchildren very neat tee
shirt that we pick-out and then had them printed. We also explored to the west of the town and
found the following neat things. There
was a Big Spring, in Idaho; it is the beginning of the Henry’s Fork River. John Stack put a cabin there and used a
paddle wheel to put water into his house.
The water comes from the base of the mountain at the rate of 120 million
gallon a day at 52 degrees. It is one of
40 largest springs in the world. We also
saw a moose on the way to Big Springs.
At Big Springs we saw a muskrat and a young coyote. We
left Big Spring and headed to Quake Lake and saw deer, elks, antelopes, bighorn
sheep and mountain goats.
There is also a new 6 mile lake that was created, in 1959, by the
largest earthquake ever recorded on the North American Continent. The lake was created when Madison Valley Mountain slid down across the river.
The slide hit the canyon bottom, then surged 400 feet up the opposite
canyon wall. It buried the old river bed and 19 campers under
more than 200 feed of rock. This all happened
within 20 seconds. The volume of the
slide was 80 million tons. That amount
would fill more than 6.8 million dump trucks. That’s enough material to build a
2-lane, 3-fout thick highway from Idaho to New York City. It also stranded other campers who were
rescued by paratroopers.
Moose 
Muskrat at the mouth of the Big Spring
John Sack cabin and paddle wheel. The water was coming from under the mountain side as various points. 
Young coyote coming toward my car.
Young coyote on the road in front of my car.
Crossing in front of my car.
Mountain goats on mountain below dam
Mountain goats on mountain below dam
Mountain goats on mountain below dam
A large rock that was moved by the slide. It is now a memorial for the campers that died. 
On top of new mountain created by the slide.
The missing tree area is part of the mountain that slide into the valley and up the other side.
The missing tree area is part of the mountain that slide into the valley and up the other side.
A diagram of the area before the slide.
A diagram of what was happen during the slide.
The Quake Lake
The new dam of Quake Lake
The new dam of Quake Lake
They made a visitor center for the quake victims.
A diagram where the old river was located and the location of the camper were.
The new lake. The stick that you can see was where the big trees were before the quake.
A better view of what it look like before the quake. Most of that whole area is now under water.