Day 6 - Staycation Saga - Mesa Falls

Day 6 – Saturday May 30, 2009 - Mesa Falls

Today we slept in a bit, and then we packed a lunch and headed out to the Jonny Sack cabin. It was only a short distance to drive but the cabin is currently closed. We were sad. :( So we then headed out to Mesa Falls. When we got to the highway we saw the canoes out on the river’s bank and since we wanted to do a small canoeing trip we stopped in. Unfortunately they don’t open till next Friday (the day we leave Island Park) but they did say that we could stop in on Thursday and see if they have any canoes ready for renting. We shall see what happens.

So we drove into Ashton to get some gas and then it was off to Mesa Falls. We drove through some very pretty country and as we left the rolling farmland and climbed into the mountains. The mountains in this photo are the west side of the Grand Teton Mountains. When we go to Grand Teton National Park, that will be the other, or east, side of these mountains.

We saw many beautiful canyons and landscapes. (Tetons in the background)

We did stop along the way as we had this great viewpoint of a valley and the river that runs through it. This land is so beautiful.

We came upon the lower mesa falls first and I believe that they were 65ft tall and it looked as though a large amount of water spills over them each day.

You could also see the mist rising up from the upper falls about a mile or so up the river. (Upper right corner of photo) (Lower falls on lower left of photo)

When we arrived at the upper falls, we paid the 5 dollars for parking and then we hiked down to the falls. It was a short walk and most of it was stairs and boardwalk. The falls are wonderful and it was interesting to learn about the hard and soft layers of rock in the area that contributed to the creation of the falls.

This is the river at the bottom of the Upper Mesa Falls.

This is the Upper Mesa Falls.

This is a close up so if you have motion sensitivity you might want to stand back or skip this video.

This one is not so close but better portrays what you see in the pictures above.

Since we now live in Mesa, AZ we had to go see the falls and find out why they are called mesa because there are no mesas in the area. There is an Inn built at Mesa Falls and it was build by the Mesa Power Co. which wanted to build a hydro-power station their back in the early 1900’s but because of cost and its remote location that never happened. But that is how the falls got its name as the land originally was owned by the Mesa Power Co. before it eventually became part of the Targhee National Forest.

These are some of the views that we had coming back from the Mesa Falls to Island Park.


After that we came back to the condo and spent the rest of the afternoon inside. Shari got sick in the afternoon, so I cooked some dinner and put her to bed.

Educational notes for the day:
For those of you who are interested in some of the history, here are some of the things we learned along the way. Since the signs will not be readable from the blog photo, I have transcribed them below their pictures.



Two kinds of Volcanic Rock
Two different kinds of rock can be seen from this viewpoint. [picture is of the river below the lower falls] Both types of rock were formed during eruptions that created the major landscape features of Island Park and the Yellowstone Plateau.
Tuff
The tuff, seen on the far side of the canyon, is a rock composed of volcanic ash and other materials expelled in violent eruptions. The hottest and densest ash flowed almost like molten rock. 1.3 million years ago, the Mesa Falls Tuff welded into a hard rock layer as it cooled. this hardened rock form the ledge over which the Henrys Fork flows, creating Mesa Falls.
Basalt

Basalt, which forms the vertical cliffs on this side of the canyon [photo on the sign], erupted in molten form approximately 200,00 years ago.
The nearly straight columns of rock you see along the canyon walls are known as columnar jointing. As the basalt flow cooled, the rock crystallized forming hexagonal patterns. The cooled rock shrank and fractured along parallel joint lines, creating six-sided rock columns. Freezing and thawing continue to accentuate these forms.



The Island Park Caldera
The Island Park landscape is a product of volcanic activity that began approximately 2 million years ago. Massive eruptions created what are called calderas - Broad crater-like areas tens of miles across. Three of these calderas were formed at intervals of hundreds of thousands of years, the most recent one about 650,000 years ago near the center of what is now Yellowstone National Park.

How are Calderas formed?
(Of four diagrams from left to right)
Diagram 1
A large chamber of magma from deep within the earth begins to push toward the surface. As it lifts the rock layers above it, a circular series of fractures in the rock is formed around the crest of the dome.

Diagram 2
The magma pushes its way up through these fractures, releasing with explosive force the dissolved gases contained in the molten material. As it is blown into the air, the molten material solidifies into hot ash. The lighter ash is carried along by wind over a wide area, while the heaver portions flow down and outward across the landscape, covering thousands of square miles with hundreds of feet of hot volcanic material.

Diagram 3
With pressure relieved and considerable magma released to the surface as ash, the rock layers above the magma chamber collapse downward as much as several thousand feet to form a large crater.

Diagram 4
The continued rise of the magma chamber pushed up the center of the caldera and molten material erupts through the fractures to fill in the bottom of the crater.
Picture inserted over old faithful photo
The Island Park caldera, seen in this view, was created about 1.3 million years ago and is nearly 15 miles wide and ejected approximately 250 time more material into the atmosphere than the 1980 eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. It was the smallest of the three calderas that were part of the creation of the Greater Yellowstone landscape.


What's a Micro-Climate?
Look at the canyon walls directly across and below the falls [Upper Mesa Falls - see above photos and videos]. You can see that plants growing there are different from those at this location. Along the opposite canyon wall, mist from the falls and a cool northerly aspect are two factors that help create a micor-habitat which is different than the habitat surrounding your. This micro-climate allows plants that might not survive there to thrive there.


The Henrys Fork
Henrys Fork of the Snake River was named for Andrew Henry, who led a trapping expedition through the area in 1810. The primary source of the Henrys Fork is Big Springs, one of the largest freshwater springs in North America. Approximately 120,000,000 gallons of water at 52 degrees Fahrenheit flow from the spring daily. The springs and upper river remain ice-free year round.
Big Springs, located 20 miles north of Mesa Falls, is one of Island Park's most popular attractions. Large rainbow, cutthroat and brook trout can be seen in the crystal clear waters. An interpretive trail and the historical Johnny Sack cabin are located nearby.