Mammoth Hot Springs...All Dried Up

Hey, Hey, One More Day!!

Now don’t get me wrong, the trip is going absolutely fantastic but I’ve gotta tell you: we’re looking forward to that hotel stay in Great Falls like no other! We were both pretty whipped this morning (cumulative effect of lots of hikes but probably mostly from our hard push up Mt. Washburn. We decided to take it easy today, walk the falls (Tower Falls) that are next to our campsite (we can hear their distant thunder at night) and then do an easy-ish hike around some meadows. The Tower Falls hike was OK, but it was a tough start to the morning because we were all stiff (think 3rd day of basketball conditioning).

We then decided to head up to the Mammoth Springs area (even though that’s the way we are leaving tomorrow) because there was supposed to be an easy hike called Beaver Ponds Trail (6 miles, 3 hours). We started looking at a few more maps once we got up there and discovered that what is “easy” to one author and mapmaker is considered “moderately strenuous” to another. In all honestly, it probably is an easy-moderate hike (there was a fair amount of up and down as well as switchbacks) but for us today, it definitely ranked closer to that “moderately strenuous” category. By the end we weren’t appreciating the abundant wildflowers or views from the ridge. Let me sidetrack for a minute about the wildflowers: they are amazing right now! We lucked out in that things are blooming a little early this year so we’re witnessing the mountainsides at their peak. There’s an abundance of blues and purple of varying varieties as well as a few different types of yellows. The oranges and reds seem to be less common. From the Black Hills to here we have also noticed wild roses that seem to closely approximate the KnockOut or Carefree varieties (shrub roses).

After the Beaver Ponds trail (which we still managed to do in 3 hours even though we were pretty much walking zombies at the end) we decided to forego our steady diet of sandwiches and eat at the little grill that they had in the town area of Mammoth. My chicken sandwich was pretty good but Tom’s burger was burnt worse than he does sometimes. As a nice bonus though I found a pair of sunglasses that I like enough to replace mine (the arm snapped in half a couple of days ago and I’ve been squinting non-stop since then.) As I close yet another parenthesis I once again implore all of you to not judge my writing style/skills based on this blog as I am pretty much going stream of consciousness…and trying to look for wildlife while Tom is driving.

The afternoon at Mammoth ended with a walk to the top of Mammoth Hot Springs…which was a disappointment. They were drying up when I was here 8 years ago and today there is water flowing in only a few spots. I’m not sure if this is a natural occurrence or a result of human influence on what is a very fragile ecosystem. Fortunately, that was our last bit of walking for today as Tom has developed a sore leg. The day off tomorrow will be a nice break.

Today we are driving through the Lamar Valley in hopes of seeing wildlife. So far, we’ve seen a lot of buffalo (there’s a huge herd along the river) which is pretty cool but we were hoping to see bears or wolves…we’re always on the lookout for something different. So that’s it for today. I probably won’t have much to say tomorrow (except about how nice it is to be at the hotel.)

Brandon: if you’re reading this, I’m going to try and give you a call soon (when I have a signal…if I can find your number) but we’ll be out there on the 14th if you want to come hang out downtown and maybe join us for a Tiger’s game.

Rewind: I forgot to mention that we saw a buffalo on the road while driving to Artist’s Point the other day…and it almost charged some people who were standing on the bridge as it crossed. The funny (for me anyway) part is that it was heading up a trail to a picnic area and I could see that the people sitting down and eating had no clue that it was coming. I’m sure that will make a great story.

PS: Tom wants me to add that one of the reasons we are looking forward to the hotel so much is that it has a personal bathroom.