Pulpit Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs
As we were going along be pointed out an eagle's nest on the top of a pinnacle of the mountain. Presently we arrived at Gardener City, a flourishing place of a dozen dwellings. It was now getting towards sundown. "Won't you have a lantern, colonel, for the rest of the road?" "No, thanks," said our driver; "the brightness of my face and the brilliancy of my wit are quite sufficient to light up the road."
The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is large and commodious, and for a summer resort fairly comfortable; it is capable of accommodating 400 guests. In the hall is a splendid specimen of a mountain lion, bearing in his mouth the significant inscription, "Meet me by moonlight alone!" The hotel faces the famous Mammoth Springs, of which the accompanying sketch gives but a very imperfect idea. The hill is about 200 feet high, composed of the chalky deposit of the hot springs, and the series of terraces present a marvellous scene; but they do not, however, exhibit that beautiful clear snowy whiteness which some enthusiasts claim for them; they have rather the appearance of dirty, crumbling, whitey-brown chalk.
Next morning we started off on a coach and four to view the Park. First we came to "The Golden Gates," an immense cañon through which a small stream runs between enormously high limestone rocks. The road, which is here a splendid one, winds up along one side of the cañon; it is cut out of the solid rock, and it gradually rises to such a height that to a nervous person the look down into the gulch below must be rather alarming, especially if one had not the fullest confidence in the driver. Then we passed through an extraordinary forest of pines, all dead, stripped entirely of their bark, even to the gnarled and curled branches. There must be millions of these naked-burnt trees standing, and the ground is also strewed with them in every direction. Here and there the upturned roots present a very weird and curious appearance. One made a strong impression on me from its marked resemblance to that wonderful griffin which now commemorates the spot where once stood Temple Bar.
"THE OBSIDIAN CLIFFS."
We crossed the Gardener river, then passed below an extraordinary range called "The Obsidian Cliffs." They are composed of glass—perpendicular cliffs of solid glass; I picked up several small blocks for paperweights, but unluckily lost them. The range extends for probably 1,500 feet, and the height may be 250 or 300 feet.
A little farther on we came to the "Lake of the Woods." On this lake is a beaver-dam and house, and there are said to be a few beavers about there, but I have met with no one who has seen them. On the lake were large flocks of wild geese and ducks. The interest of this Park is somewhat diminished by the distance one has to travel from one remarkable point to another. After passing "The Lake of the Woods" we must have travelled about fifteen miles or more, wholly through a green pine forest, over hill and down dale, but all pine. Then we came to "Norris Hot Springs and Geysers." Here we found a number of boiling and bubbling hot springs; some send up small jets, others are great lakes of boiling water. One, called "The Emerald," is a circular hole of perhaps thirty feet in circumference. The water is of the clearest emerald green, so transparent that one could see right down into it for many yards. Within a few feet was another hot spring of quite a different character. In this the stuff that bubbled up was of a thick leaden colour; others were pouring forth streams of red, green, and yellow, all pervaded with a strong smell of sulphur. A spring called "The Paint Pot" is a great cauldron of perhaps 150 feet in circumference. On one side the deposit thrown out is of a bright salmon colour. This is a lake of pure creamy boiling paint, like liquid plaster of Paris.
"THE FAIRY FALLS."