The story behind the photo: Across the road from the main body of terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern part of Yellowstone, Opal Terrace is really in the backyard of the Park Superintendent. Mammoth Hot Springs is an unusual part of Yellowstone, sort of the capital of the park, where one will find houses and permanent residences. It is the only place in Yellowstone where I can remember seeing houses. This permanent occupation dates back to the cavalry days in Yellowstone when Mammoth Hot Springs served as Fort Yellowstone, the main headquarters of the military governance of the park made necessary by the lack of effective enforcement of rules and regulations in the early years of Yellowstone National Park. Many of the structures date back to that time. Yellowstone being vast, it seems practical that there would be some permanent quarters for Park Administration, although it seems somewhat anachronistic seeing that Mammoth Hot Springs is only about five miles from Gardiner, Montana, and the North Entrance of the Park. Near Opal Terrace, one will see the strange site in Yellowstone of a lawn. Often on that lawn, one will see elk feeding near the street. Mammoth Hot Springs is as near as real civilization as one finds in Yellowstone, but one wonders if that is a good thing. It seems strange to me that such a wonder as this rests right next to a planted lawn. On the other hand, understanding Yellowstone in some way requires the preservation of the Fort so responsible for protecting so much. Perhaps, there is room for some adjustments that comes somewhere between the pure wilderness that once was and the taste for civilization sometimes taken too far.