Dear colleagues,
At the Annual Meeting of the IAH Karst Commission (KC) in Dubrovnik in 2017 we have initiated renewal of a nice tradition of the KC from its youth age to have common geotrip in some “karstic countries”. We started this year with geotrip in the Carpathians karst of Romania and Serbia, attended by some 30 people who after all expressed great satisfaction with both, landscapes/ sites visited, and organization (shared cost, no fees). In Dubrovnik we have also touched idea to have geotrip in USA to commemorate 50 Anniversary of the KC. While Chris Groves with his team is going to organize a great event "UNESCO and Karst 2020" in Bowling Green between 18-22May (with Pre-meeting field trip 15-17 May) Augusto and I have agreed to schedule and announce “Yellowstone Geotrip” for the KC members and friends prior the Bowling Green event, i.e. between 11-15 May.
Here is the brief plan for Yellowstone adventure:
10 May - Arrival to Gardiner, close to Park's Northern entrance the single which is constantly open.
The nearest airport is Bozeman, MT (Yellowstone Intl), well connected to major USA cities which are further well connected with overseas airports. Another option is tocome to the Jackson Hole Intl airport, in which case you should drive through the Grand Teton National Park to reach the South Entrance of Yellowstone (100km away from Jackson Hole) and further drive through Yellowstone park till northern entrance and Gardiner.
11-14 May - Planned visits of Park. There would be four tours by convoy of rented cars (there are good renting choices at the Bozeman and Jackson Hole’s Airports).
The tours in Yellowstone could be as follows:
- “Easy reconnaissance (adaptation) tour”: Boiling River hot springs, Mammoth hot springs, Undine Falls, Lava Creek area.
- “Great Geysers tour”: Norris Geyser Area, Madison, Lower, Midway (Firehole River, Grand Prismatic Spring) and Upper Geyser Basins (Castle Geyser), final stop at Old Faithful.
- “Yellowstone Lake tour”: Norris, Canyon Village, Fishing Bridge, Lake Village.
- “Animals tour”: Tower– Roosevelt, Lamar Valley. 4b. Optionally, the tour to the Grand Teton NP.
Sites: These above are justsome of the most remarkable sites, there are also plenty of others, and tours would be accordingly adapted at the spot by following advises of more experienced chaps than we are. As we keep contact with our American colleagues it is very probably that we would have some guides with us.
Distances: All tours, with exception of optional visit of Grand Teton NP (4b), have furthermost point at distance of max. 100 km from Gardiner. This means effective drive should not be longer than 4-5 hours, the rest is for enjoyment.
Reasons: There are several reasons to go to Yellowstone. Apart from fantastic geothermal occurrences, there are carbonate rocks in and around, while some more data among others could be found in Kresic’s “Water and Karst” (p. 53, 54), or Blackwood et al. story about hypogene speleogenesis (https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol47/iss3/11/).
Organization: No any fee, all payments / reservation would be done individually. We as just one “interest group” could just communicate how to manage trips or share cost of rented car: as smaller convoy we are that is logistically better (and easier to escape from bears, angry bison, wolfs…). The 7-day ticket for car is 25$, each person 20$. In Gardiner, the accommodation could be found with reasonable price, which is not case for places inside the Park where only few hotels are open in that, still fresh period. The cost of 2-bed room in well-furnished and recommended motels in Gardiner is around 100$/night. Some social dinner we may jointly organize in Gardiner or in nearby Chico Hot springs (recommended by many visitors).
Map and Learn More: Attached to this e-mail is a small sketch map which will give you some better insight to this proposal.
To get some more information you may visit many web sites. For instance, I recommend Yellowstone Visitors Guide, Information for Travelers
UNESCO & Karst2020: As most of us would join UNESCO and Karst 2020 in Bowling Green the departure to Nashville should be on 15 May (no direct flights, but good connections are via Mineapolis, Chicago or Salt LC). The organized transfer (still to be confirmed) will be from Nashville airport to the Hamilton Valley for Pre-conf field trip which will take place on 16-17 May. The Bowling Green conference is scheduled for18-21 May. Departure to the Nashville Airport is on 22 May.
If you accept this proposal and make reservation please keep Augusto and myself informed about your itinerary that we may further communicating and planning. Contact us also if you have any concern or idea how to improve this geotrip.
Best regards to all of you and have a good weekend.
Zoran