Heyden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., U.S.A.

Publication

Heyden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., U.S.A.

Description

HAYDEN VALLEY, YELLOWSTONE PARK. When ready to move on, we take the coaches again for a sixteen mile ride down through Hayden Valley, along the banks of the Yellowstone River. On this trip the tourist crosses the celebrated Hayden Valley, which with its meandering outline of forest border, approximately circular, has an average diameter of nearly ten miles. The river winding gracefully through the valley and the undulating, grassy stretches of meadow--of every shade of green, and rich in flowers of many hues--are in marked contrast to the dark green surfaces of the undulating forest that are seen from all the high elevations in the park. Dotting the valley here and there are bright colored areas of rock and soil, marking the scenes of extinct or dying volcanic activity. Numerous winding streams are gnawing away at knolls and cliffs of old volcanic and spring deposits, and thereby flecking the general landscape with the various colors which characterize this entire mountain region. Flowers of many species and of all tints bloom in patches, streaks, and spots, thereby adding to the general effect of variety and brightness. Thus it comes about that, particularly at sunrise and sunset, a landscape of varying forms and colors of earth and of vegetation looks smilingly up to a cloud-flecked sky of almost equal variety of form and color, and the glory of the heavens vies with the glory of the earth in the production of enchanting beauty.