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July 2, 2010
So, let’s catch you up to date. Today at Yellowstone was awesome! So much better than my first day!
On day 2 at Yellowstone, we decided to abandon the masses and find a little more “backcountry” hike. I ventured into the gift shop where the Ranger told me I could find different hikes. Apparently, you have to buy the good information. I found the hike book in the gift shop. In the beginning it sort of had a rubric-type set up allowing you to select the features you would like your hike to include. I selected to see waterfalls, rivers, mountains, and geysers. That sounded like everything “Yellowstone”. It was about a 3.5 mile hike. Perfect. It had views of Old Faithful if you timed it correctly. Perfect. It was moderate to strenuous. Perfect. (I ate two smores last night). It would allow us to do this hike and still have ample time to drive around the park and see some other sites. Perfect. It was going to be perfect. Armed with this knowledge and enthusiasm, I returned to camp, rounded Justin up, who of course was napping (as it was 15 minutes after breakfast) and we set
off!
Bear jams and buffalo jams are quite common in the Yellowstone area. When you see a whole bunch of cars piled up on the side of the road, you know they are spying something cool. You hit them constantly in Yellowstone. They are usually for Buffalo, but this one was different. It was a Bald Eagle Jam. One was perched in her nest, the other flying above hunting. Absolutely beautiful and so exciting! They are gigantic. It takes them little effort to fly. They float on the air, barely flapping their wings. Everyone watching had to be feeling a little patriotic at that point. Who knows why that bird represents America, but it sure was a good one to pick. Way better than a sea gull or something.
We continued on to our hiking destination. Our hike began through a geyser field with hot pools. Not long after we began our hike through the field, Justin had to pee. So he ventured off the beaten course, which is highly discouraged as you could easily fall through the Earth’s crust into a hot geyser or pool. But he had to go. While he was peeing he called me over. Ok,
what? Really, while you’re peeing? Well it turns out, he peed right next to decaying animal bones. This turned into “let’s play archeologist”. It’s fun pretending you’re an archeologist. I have no idea what the hell those bones were, but we talked about the size of the scull and pelvic bones, like we actually knew what we were talking about.
On with the hike. After the field it headed straight up a mountain. It was cool and scary. The trail was right on the edge of the cliff and was extremely narrow. It winded up along the mountain. You had to leap over downed trees, rocks that had slid, all the while not get distracted by the ever increasing gorgeous view. When we got to the top, it was amazing. Justin played with his panoramic feature on his camera, I sat on a rock and tried to identify various land features. We sat there for about 15 minutes and discussed the possibilities of which geyser could be Old Faithful. This geyser must love us, because it opted to end our discussion promptly by erupting. Even from a distance, and above it, you could tell that this geyser was large. It
also seemed to be very in sync with Justin’s and my schedule, never keeping us waiting long. I love you Old Faithful. It was also a view that most others don’t get. We were alone on a mountain top, watching one of nature’s phenomenons, mountains in the background and aqua hot pools below us. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Our hike down was a lot easier. (Duh). We saw Mystic River falls and had lunch by the river. (For those that may want to try this hike, it is called Mystic River Falls Loop). I stuck my feet in, Justin examined the buffalo chip that we nearly sat on. We also then decided, due to the noise level of the river, the surrounding buffalo chips, and our lure of delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwhichs, that we would not be aware of an approaching animal. Justin felt unsafe, and I trust his cautious nature. We opted to quickly leave.
We spent the remainder of the day hiking a boardwalk in the upper geyser basin. We saw some cool geysers and hot springs as well as the Morning Glory pool, which has the colors of the rainbow in it. From the reds, oranges
Yellowstone and Glacier 010
View of Old Faithful from the top!and browns on the outer rim, to the deep blues, and greens in the center. Beautiful.
On our way home we joined a bear jam. We saw a grizzly. I had never seen one of those massive bears before, but they are a lot lighter brown than I thought they would be. They are also big, and kind of cute. For me to say this kind of stuff, you know I thought it was really cool. I don’t’ like animals, and Yellowstone made me sort of enjoy the other living things on this planet. Hmmm, maybe there is hope for me yet. Though, I still mosquito fogged the crap out of campsite and bathed in insect repellent, but you know…
All in all, we walked over 7 miles. We saw a grizzly bear, two bald eagles, buffalo galore, Old Faithful again, a beautiful view from the mountain top, lunch by the river, a water fall, and some seriously colorful pools. So far, my favorite day.
Dana
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