Yellowstone Days 3 to 5

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Yellowstone Days 3-5

Day 3 - Old Faithful

Up early again to catch wildlife - saw mule deer, and - ho hum - lots of bison. But we went south past West Thumb and Yellowstone Lake and crossed the Continental Divide. At Isa Lake where there is a sign announcing the divide, we got out to take pictures of the yellow lily flowers.

Long drive to Old Faithful. We had eaten stuff in the car but had no real breakfast, so once we arrived we went to the ranger station to find out the next expected time for the geyser to erupt, and finding we had some time, we went back to the car to have some cereal. Then we waited in line for restrooms, and then headed over to the area with benches to await the eruption. The timing, as I recall, was pretty close to the predicted time (maybe 5 to 8 minutes later). It begins sending out teaser small eruptions a few minutes before the big one. There was quite a breeze blowing - we all watched as someone’s plastic grocery bag blew across the scene - we could not remove it as no one is allowed to step on the ground around the geyser - but luckily it blew away before all the cameras were set to click. The breeze blew the spray into an arc. It was not only lovely to watch, but the feeling of joining in with others - people from all over the country and all over the world - to view something that is a tradition going as far back as the establishment of the first national park, was also a part of the allure.

Lone Star Geyser

After the eruption we were not sure what to do - but had read about some day hikes in our guide book. At the ranger station we were able to learn the predicted time for the eruption of Lone Star Geyser and decided that a medium length walk (4 or 5 miles) along flat terrain - in the woods - would be nice, so we drove on to the trail head and got out our hiking poles, water bottles, bug spray, binoculars, wildflower book, snacks - and the omnipresent bear bell that is part of my water-bottle hip pack gear, and set off. There were eventually a few other families making the trek, and closer to the time for the eruption, several cyclists. If we had it to do over again - we would bike this trail, since it is flat, and having a bit of speed would help with the insects that were enjoying the shade as much as we were. The wildflowers on this trail were varied and profuse - from lupines to monkshood, wild geranium and lots of others.

It was fun to have time to stop and look them up when we saw something unfamiliar. When we reached the waiting spot there was a large bump of limestone deposit that had built up from the eruptions and while we waited in the shade we observed a young couple being attacked repeatedly by some kind of fly - and offered our bug spray, which they gratefully used. As others arrived and as the eruption finally came, one group of onlookers insisted that the primary eruption had not yet occurred - that it would be taller and was worth waiting for. Well, we not only didn’t think there was another eruption coming but figured, even so, once you’ve seen a few, you’ve seen ‘em. Weary from rising at dawn, we were ready to head back to the campsite, looking for wildlife on the way. I think this was a day we showered, did laundry, and generally put ourselves back together in the late afternoon - and this always included a good dose of coffee. At our campground it probably also included a whizz through the gift shops - I used my Yellowstone cookie cutters this Xmas - the tree shape and Moose were special hits.

Day 4 - Ice Lake & Little Gibbon Falls Hike

The following day we left the boys to sleep in and drove in the direction of Norris to get to the trailhead for the Ice Lake and Little Gibbon Falls Loop. The first part of the trail along the lake shore was somewhat unremarkable, the trail leading through pine woods and getting buggy as the sun rose higher, but the river crossings were lovely and fun (balancing along logs and so on), the view of the falls wonderful, and the trail leading away from the falls full of interesting wildflowers. The very last leg of the hike is along the road back to the parking area - but we were out early enough that cars were scarce. Again, for my own mental comfort, I will be certain to have a bear canister for the next trip through bear country so as to cache all our very smelly trail snacks away and feel less tense about constant use of the bell and clapping. We headed back to the camp site to pick up the boys and take Max for his kayaking trip. I had called the previous day on a whim just to see if we could book an OARS trip for all of us, but they had an opening for 1, so we decided Max should go and Rollie and Miles and I would do some biking around the area of Grant Village. So we drove down to the meeting spot, and handed Max over to the kayaking crew, and then we decided to go up and park at Lake Village, get out the bikes and ride down along the lake.

Natural Bridge

We noted a bike trail marked for Natural Bridge and thought we might do that. After going along the road we saw the turnout to Natural Bridge, so we biked as far as we could and then there was a bike rack, so we went the rest of the way on foot, ending up walking over the top of the bridge, and continuing past it on a footpath whose terminus was unknown - we were hoping it would loop us back to the starting point - and it did. Since we’d had some bad luck previously with taking unmapped paths, Miles was hesitant, but was relieved when we could see that we would re-join the original trail. Then we rode back to the lakeshore and along a spur road that hugs the shore. We decided to get off at a secluded spot and swim - in underwear or pants (Miles) - it was a pretty warm day so the prospect of staying in wet clothes was not too daunting. The lake was cool and clear. After skipping stones and lounging around a bit more we biked back to the car, loaded up the bikes again and set off to retrieve Max. He enjoyed the kayaking - they had gone down into the South Arm part of the lake that is accessible to non-motorized craft only. Although he enjoyed it, the lake kayaking didn’t deliver quite the thrill of whitewater kayaking - so at least he learned that he prefers the more adrenaline-boosting version of the sport.

Although the kayaking instructor had suggested a nearby restaurant - and I was kind of leaning in that direction, Rollie’s efforts to keep us on a budget (and offer to come up with dinner) persuaded us to head back to the campsite and rustle up something there. It is hard, when camping, to have a tiring day of outdoor activities and then come back and have to fix dinner and clean up afterwards - but we had gotten into a pretty good rhythm of dividing up these chores and though the boys generally complained, they nevertheless did their duty most of the time - which really helped a lot. On the drive back we saw smoke on the other side of the lake and people stopping to get out of their cars and have a look. We had heard the previous day that a forest fire had broken out in the southeastern part of the park, and evidently it was still burning - thought not immediately threatening any tourist or prime hiking areas. We felt lucky that after the smoke of all the Northern California fires our time from central Oregon onward had been fire-free - but this was a reminder that after several dry summers lightning can ignite a fire nearly anywhere.

On the road back we also got some of our last views of Yellowstone wildlife. One bison was very close to the road and they boys got out with Rollie and all 3 got, IMHO, a bit too close - but not nearly as close as some other foreign tourists. We had elk cross the road in front of us, and later on near the large meadows that always had a bison herd, we snapped a photo of a photographer getting way too close. No shots of him being charged, alas.

Next blog: Through the Grand Tetons to Thermopolis Wyoming and the dinosaur dig.

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Photos

Deer in the distance with geysers steaming behind.
This is what many of our animal sightings were like without a high-powered spotting scope.