Yellowstone Park - Day 4b - Mystic Falls Hike

Julie and I were just hitting our stride about 1:00 P. M. on Sunday.  We had arrived at the Mystic Falls Hike which has a walk to the falls, and another loop trail to the top of the mountain which gives an overlook of of the Old Faithful Basin.  Since Julie is both very fit AND my daughter's age, I always plan to let her do some things without me so she doesn't have to wait on my slow hiking. I borrowed another bear spray and taught her the quick draw and the importance of keeping the spray at hand, not packed away.

We hiked together for a few minutes until I suggested that Julie go ahead as she was going to hike the full trail while I only hiked to the falls.  And I felt free to stop as often as I wanted to take pictures.

Julie at the trailhead at the back of Biscuit Basin

View near the beginning of the trail

Much of the trail was through woods

A tiny bit of fall color is appearing

This flowers are at the end of their bloom time. I loved their natural arrangement

This is the Little Firehole River, a tributary of the Firehole River

The river song and image made the hike better - I hiked down close to the river for this shot

One of my first views of Mystic Falls

I couldn't get all the falls into one picture - here are more of them

And another view

Each picture I took was different - but I won't show you all 20 versions

The falls bend and you have to keep hiking forward and up to see more of them

I liked this foreshortened view of the main part of the falls

Julie was rewarded by a view over to Old Faithful basin (photo by Julie)

Julie caught up with me just after I finished the hike.

We still had to visit Old Faithful and all her near neighbors before dark. Stay tuned. 

Yellowstone Park - Day 4a- Let the Adventures Begin!

August 26, 2018

Julie doesn't like to get up early but likes to stay up until midnight.  I like to be up before dawn which currently is happing around 6:00 AM.  We negotiated to let Julie sleep in until around 7:00 A. M.  I also had not made a batch of overnight oatmeal with almond milk, yogurt, walnuts, oats, and blueberries.  So we spent a slow morning getting breakfast and snacks packed for the week, organizing our ice chests into which I'd just dumped food and ice the previous day, and organizing the car so we could find what we needed and have extra clothes at hand. We also let the day warm up - most days were below freezing to start.

We had discussed having an easy day, and starting by going over to the Norris Geyser Field, only a mile away. So after coffee and breakfast, we packed up and left for there, arriving early enough that the huge parking lot wasn't yet full and the light was still beautiful.

A view across Norris field from the entrance

Another long view across Norris Field

Julie's picture of me

Patterns

Porcelain colors

My most inclusive view of Norris Geyser Field

Another view to the west

I'm always completely captivated by the colors and patterns that are here

Julie in the fog

For more detailed information of the complete tour of Norris Basin, click here.

Then we were ready to start charging. We walked the back country trail to several other features before leaving Norris Basin.  Then we drove to Biscuit Basin where the trailhead to Mystic Falls is. I thought this was a perfect trail for Julie and me.  She walked the top loop which is an extra mile, while I only did the bottom loop,  so we finished at the same time. I ended the day with nine and seven tenths miles while Julie walked about twelve miles.  I'll save the actual trail for another blog, but here are some pictures of this very colorful and beautiful basin.

A lone bison bull we passed

Just glorious

View across the field in an overcast moment

All the shades of blue are my favorite colors so I always feel in heaven here

Loved the form and color of this little geyser

More colors

We started our hike about one o'clock.  We also managed to have time to visit the Old Faithful Basin and look for wildlife. Stay tuned.