SYLVAN LAKE © Haynes, St. Paul
I ventured to put my finger into the water and was nearly burned. This place was only a suggestion of what we were to see later in the Geyser Basins.
At our left, eight miles from Sylvan Pass, we had a splendid view of Yellowstone Lake in the distance. In the heart of the Park Plateau, averaging more than eight thousand feet elevation, surrounded by mountains, waterfalls, and cascades, is the lake, twenty miles in length, which, at its elevation, has but one rival, Lake Titicaca, in the Andes. As our party did not visit West Thumb, it was our privilege to see the lake only at a distance, where we could have but a slight idea of its beauty and immensity.
"David E. Folsom, of the Folsom and Cook Exploring Party, in 1869 says:
'As we were about departing on our homeward trip, we ascended the summit of a neighboring hill and took a final look at Yellowstone Lake. Nestled among the forest-crowned hills which bounded our vision, lay this inland sea, its crystal waves dancing and sparkling in the sunlight as if laughing with joy for their wild freedom. It is a scene of transcendent beauty, which has been viewed by but few white men, and we felt glad to have looked upon it before its primeval solitude should be broken by the crowds of pleasure-seekers, which at no distant day will throng its shores.'"
YELLOWSTONE LAKE © Haynes, St. Paul
For the next few miles the scenery was most fascinating, but it was only a prelude to what awaited us in the first glimpse we were to get of the Grand Canyon.
We halted at Inspiration Point, where I followed others down the steps to a great ledge of rocks overhanging the chasm. The scene that greeted my vision was so overwhelming and unexpected that I became dizzy and had to make my way back to the car, supported by the railing.