Do you see that spine-looking ridge on your left? That’s the White Elephant Back. This might surprise you—but, it’s not a ridge, it’s a fissure, or crack in the earth’s crust. Inside that fissure, hot springs push water saturated with calcium carbonate up to the surface. Over time, the minerals are deposited to form what looks like the back of an Elephant. Hence the name, White Elephant Back Terrace.
To me, though, it looks like the earth was split, and then sorta glued back together. I guess, in a way, that’s kinda what happened. So, what do you think it looks like?
Now that we’ve addressed the elephant in the room—er, park, let’s take a dip into our story of Bath Lake.
The Bath Lake of yesteryear wasn’t the sad little mud pool we see now. Whomp, whomp. Back in the early 1900s, it was warm, steamy, and filled with mineral water deep enough to swim in. So, the soldiers from Fort Yellowstone, hotel workers, and tourists all started swimming in the lake. There was just one problem… Some fellas just couldn't keep their pants on. Y’see, they preferred skinny dipping, AKA, swimming completely nude.
George Thomas, a waiter at Mammoth’s hotel, recounted one of my favorite Bath Lake stories:
“…One afternoon, I and three other young fellows from the Hotel Waiters force, went to this lake for a swim. We had no bathing suits on, and the lake was surrounded by a growth of shrubbery that hid the water from sight, so we figured that we would not be disturbed by any passers-by. We had been in the water about an hour when we were surprised by a shower of stones that were being thrown by four young women who wanted their turn in the lake. As we were reasonable gentlemen, we left the water, grabbed our clothes and took to the brush, leaving the victorious women to enjoy their bath…”
Mighty decent of you, George.
Eventually, the park required that all bathers be properly dressed before entering the lake.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after, that the lake dried up. By 1926, Bath Lake was little more than a mud puddle. Much to everyone’s surprise, it was briefly refilled in 1959 by a huge earthquake over at Hebgen Lake. But, in 1984, the bath went dry for the second time, and has remained dry ever since. Skinny dippers will need to look elsewhere.
And that, my friends, is the naked truth.
Want more stories like this?
Check out our Yellowstone National Park tour!