Hiking – Meanderings & Mind Munchies

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Greg decided that today we would tour the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, thinking that it would involve more driving than walking.

Ha!

We have since come to the conclusion that you can’t really do Yellowstone without a lot of walking.

Pictures can’t begin to communicate the impact of seeing the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone in person. It really takes your breath away.

Imagine standing on top of a cliff, looking down 1200 ft to a winding river that looks hardly wider than a piece of thin ribbon. The sides of the gorge walls are beautiful creams, yellows, pinks, and oranges with deep greens and browns delineating the dramatic downward slope of the canyon walls.

We began our day at Artist’s Point on the South Rim.

Photo taken at Artist’s Point of the Lower Falls.

Photo taken at Artist’s Point looking in the opposite direction. This was actually my favorite view. The soft pastel colors were so gorgeous.

Next, we headed to the Upper Falls Viewpoint. We arrived just as a park ranger was about to begin a tour, so we ended up joining it.

He talked about the creation of the canyon, the lodgepole pines and subalpine fir common to the area, and the importance of fires to the ecology of the forest. It was quite interesting.

After touring the South Rim of the canyon, we moved to the North Rim.

One of the more grueling hikes of the day was the one we took to Red Rock Point. It involved hiking down the side of the gorge.

No handrails to keep you from plunging down the side of the gorge made this hike particularly…um, interesting.

The hike ended with a series of staircases down to the viewpoint.

Our reward for that hike. Was it worth it? Eh. I’m not sure.

If I had to name one thing that I loved most about the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, it was probably the color of the rock. In person, the rock pictured below had an alabaster glow that was absolutely beautiful. It looked like white marble.

Of course, what goes down must come up! The slog back up the gorge really tested our stamina.

Of all the pictures I took, this one probably best captures the switchbacks of this hike.

This big fellow alighted on the tree branch above my head. I think he decided to keep an eye on me, as I was a little too close to his mate and nest for his comfort. The nest was about a quarter way down the gorge in front of me.

One last photo of the canyon just for the hell of it.

Before heading back to West Yellowstone, we stopped at The Visitor Center to learn about the supervolcano and the caldera that make up much of Yellowstone National Park. I didn’t know this, but the caldera is moving! Someday it may not even be in Yellowstone National Park anymore.

On our way back to camp, we stopped to get a video and photos of this steam vent. It was loud!

And, of course, there was the expected traffic jam on the road out of the park. Only this time, it was caused by elk rather than bison.

Ever since this trip started, Greg’s dream has been to see an elk. Every time we passed a sign for an elk, he would say, “Look! There’s an elk!” But the elk we saw today did not do it for him. I think he’s hoping to see one with a giant set of antlers, and he won’t be satisfied until he does.

Old Faithful

We got a somewhat late start this morning because we had a late night.

We had gone into Yellowstone National Park last night to see if we could find an open area to take pictures of the night sky and hopefully the Aurora Borealis.

Greg’s research (I did no research on what to do in Yellowstone before getting here, so our itinerary while here is up to Greg) indicated that the Madison Amphitheater might be a good spot. However, when we got there, we found that we would have to hike through the woods in the dark to get to the amphitheater.

We both decided that we didn’t want to be eaten by bears on our first day at Yellowstone, so we turned around and went back to the campground.

(Just FYI. We picked up bear spray before we headed out, but I wasn’t willing to risk it. Interestingly, we rented the bear spray at the same place we had dinner last night, a pub and restaurant called Madison Crossing.)

Our first stop this morning was the Upper Geyser Basin area, which includes Old Faithful. (It was also our last stop, since it took most of the day to tour.)

As we were headed there this morning, I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the steam vents in the distance with a herd of bison in the foreground. So cool!

We got there shortly before Old Faithful was about to blow, so we joined the horde, cameras at the ready.

It did not disappoint. (This is actually a photo from later in the day from a different angle.)

Then we walked along the boardwalk to see all of the other steam vents and geysers. In all, we walked almost 6 miles today.

I just love the juxtaposition of the thermal activity with the trees and mountains. So much going on under the surface while life continues relatively undisturbed above.

I wondered why Greg was so gung-ho this morning, whereas I felt like a dehydrated slug. Every step was an effort. Later, I remembered that Greg had sat in the shade and relaxed while I hiked the Cathedral Spires Trail and the Sylvan Lake trail, so maybe he was experiencing less muscle fatigue.

But then, it could have been the altitude, too. West Yellowstone is at 6700 ft above sea level. Where we live is about 250 ft above sea level.

All those minerals build up over time, creating interesting formations around the geyser.

Sometimes it looked like snow coated the landscape, but it was just minerals from the water being released by the geysers.

Morning Glory Pool. Apparently, it used to be even more colorful, but people have been throwing things in there, which has been changing the chemical and bacterial makeup of the water.

Greg and I stopped to get a snack. While we were sitting on the bench, this little fellow came over looking for a handout. At one point, he even jumped up onto the bench between Greg and me. Bold little bugger!

And, of course, there was the obligatory bison backup. This fellow was just meandering down the road as if he were one of the tourists.

Greg got an especially good photo of him.

As usual, I was completely captivated by the landscape.

I told Greg that we should do something that did not involve hiking tomorrow (something like driving through Hayden Valley. Hint, hint.), since I’m not sure I can muster up the energy.

Are we doing something tomorrow that doesn’t involve hiking? Of course not.

Porter’s Creek Trail

We did another hike today. This one was a 2-mile hike to a waterfall.

After a rather harrowing 3-mile drive down a too-narrow, windy gravel road, we arrived at the trailhead. The trail itself went gently uphill for 2 miles to the waterfall.

The first mile was relatively easy. After that, we had to deal with rocks, roots, small streams, and bridges.