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.

View from Mystic Falls Hike - Notice the Steam Everywhere

View from atop Mt. Washburn

Grizzly Mama + Cubs

A Land of Extremes

“It seems like there should be dinosaurs here.” -Tom

Yellowstone is truly a land of extremes. This morning (7/8…Sunday I think) we started our day with a hike to Mystic Falls. Getting to the trailhead involved following a boardwalk over mini-geysers, fumaroles, and bacteria pools. As the steam rose around us we marveled at what early settlers must have thought as they first came upon the area. Of course, many of these early visitors (often trappers in the area) were ridiculed when they shared their stories back at the taverns of civilization. The hike was a pretty strenuous jaunt uphill to an observation point that overlooked the Old Faithful area and all of its geological hyper-activity. From then we continued down to Mystic Falls…waterfalls just don’t seem to get that old to me.

This afternoon we drove north, stopping at Artist’s Point for some pictures of the falls as they cascaded through the canyon. The canyon walls themselves were amazing; the colors ranged from a bright yellow to oranges and brick red. This little trip was also interesting as I almost saw a man fall off the cliff while he tried to sit on a rock for a picture.

After we got a campsite in the Tower Falls area and had a late lunch (real gourmet today…chicken breast, butter/herb noodles, corn) we decided that we still had enough time to do the Mt. Washburn hike. The view was supposed to be fantastic and guidebooks all but guaranteed a sighting of bighorn sheep. Alas, the trip was a failure in this regard as the sheep were apparently hiding in the valley today, but the view was absolutely marvelous. This was another strenuous hike with a (no exaggeration) continuous uphill the whole way. We did top out at over 10,000 feet (I’ll have to look at the picture of the sign to be certain of the height) so it really felt like we accomplished something. The fact that we did the whole thing in just under 3 hours means that we’re pretty tired now.

While in the parking lot after the Mt. Washburn hike we ran into a guy who was telling us that they had seen a grizzly mom with her two cubs just up the road. We left right away with the hope of seeing her before she moved on. Fortunately, our wildlife-viewing luck returned from its bighorn sheep sabbatical and we indeed came upon the grizzly on the hill above the road. She was making her way up the hill and the cubs were running around this way and that. It is amazing how effortless their movements look for being such a large animal.

Tomorrow we’re going to drive through Lamar Valley in the evening and hopefully see some more animals (we just keep checking them off the list!). Again, you’ll have to adjust for the dates because this won’t be posted until 7/10. If these posts seem like they are getting wordier (maybe they always seemed that way to you, or maybe you’re like Tom and just like to look at the pictures), just bear with me; I usually keep a journal on vacation and it seemed redundant to do the blog and the journal so this is serving as both.

I almost forgot! Last night we took a walk along the river by our camp (some bugs had hatched and the fish were jumping like crazy) when across the bend there was about 5-8 doe elk and 5 little fawns laying around and browsing in the grass. With the mountain in the background and the stream in the foreground, it really did look like a painting. Alas, you will have to take my word for it because we didn’t take the camera for the hike.

View of Old Faithful from the Observation Overlook

*sniff* *sniff* mmm…sulfur

It’s 7/7/07 and our lucky streak of seeing wildlife continues. Just a minute ago on the way to our campsite we saw two elk with nice sets of racks. Ok, that little bit of excitement out I can now focus on catching you up to where we are. First of all, let me just acknowledge that this probably won’t be posted until we get to Great Falls, MT for our night in the hotel (7/10). The trip is going great but to be honest to you, we’re both looking forward to getting to the hotel and taking it easy for a day. As a bonus, I think the All-Star game is the 10th so we’re gonna order pizza and hang out in front of the TV for an evening.

We weren’t sure about our schedule but we decided this morning to leave for Yellowstone today. So far we’ve only been with the other 98% of the people along the road but tomorrow we are going to do a couple of hikes, including Mystic Falls for sure. Despite the fact that we haven’t left the road, the Park has certainly given us plenty to look at as we strolled along the West Thumb Geyser Basin (saw a doe elk there…still not sure if elk are like deer or cattle in their naming…doe/buck or cow/bull…you could tell me if you know, it’s quicker for me to read a comment than do a Wikipedia search); looking at the water bubbling out of the ground is a peculiar sight.

The appearance isn’t the only thing that is peculiar in Yellowstone; the nose gets to be an active participant in the vacation as the odor that eminates from the geysers and standing pools is very pungent sulfur. At Old Faithful we got a very up close experience as the wind shifted just before the main eruption – a blast of water that proceeded to rain down upon us. We actually watched Old Faithful erupt twice – once up close and once from up at the top of Observation Trail. That walk was nice as it took us past smaller geysers on the way; plus we saw an osprey swoop over head while we crossed the river. On a side note, the forest has made a marvelous recovery since I was last here in 1999 (the forest fire was 1988).

Moose...scroll all the way down for Black Hills/Badlands/Rushmore

Bear rustling up some grubs