The Madison River is the road's constant companion from Seven Mile Bridge to Madison Junction. Gentle hills give way here to a lava-lined canyon, with eagles and ospreys along the water and bison on the road in the cooler months. The Mount Haynes Overlook, on the right heading east, has a level boardwalk down to the water.
Seven Mile Bridge, just behind you, is the halfway mark of this entrance road, and it splits two kinds of country. West of it you had gentle hills. East of it, where you are now, the walls come in and the Madison runs through a canyon lined with lava. Watch the sky over the river. Bald eagles have nested west of that bridge, and ospreys nest along the Madison. Then watch the pavement. Bison favor these meadows in spring, fall and winter, and they often use this road to get from one patch of grass to the next. If one turns up in your lane, stay in the car and be patient. Most of what's green on those slopes is lodgepole pine, close to eighty percent of the park's forest. We'll come back to that tree before the day is out. The water has been somewhere. Downstream of the thermal areas the Madison carries about twenty-five times the drinking water limit for arsenic in summer. Follow the park rules and you've got nothing to worry about, but that number tells you what's waiting up this river. If you want a closer look, use a pullout, with all four tires right of the white line, and never stop in the road. In just under two miles, the Mount Haynes Overlook is on your right, with a level boardwalk to the river. Mount Haynes and Mount Jackson are places to see rhyolite standing in columns, so from there, look up and try counting them.
Photo: NPS Photo / Neal Herbert · Public domain