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 National Park - Day 3- Julie Arrives

August 25, 2018

Click here for a map of Yellowstone to see where we were.  This was between Gardiner and Norris Campground. 

I only had to drive less than two hours to the airport in Bozeman to pick up Julie at 1:30 PM in Bozeman.  I left early so I could have an excuse to eat at the Nova Cafe and then drive a few more blocks to one of my favorite libraries. I also had to leave time to pick up the fresh groceries. But all too soon Julie plane's was landing and I was making my way to the arrival gate.

(A word about Julie.  She is the same age as my youngest daughter but feels like my twin. I met her over the phone at Okefeenokee NWR when she called for information on paddling the Swanee River out of the refuge. I got her to write my only guest blog on that trip she did with her father. Then we met in person on a overnight paddling trip she invited me on.  Since then, we have met up a few more times and now I plan for her to meet up with me at least once a year. I've also visited her several times and expect to do so again this winter. She is one of the several wonderful people that live across the country but I consider my very good friends and which I've scored as part of my volunteer life.)

The day started with a smoky sunrise  

We have arrived- at the north entrance gate

Julie was ready to start her adventure immediately, so we had kept our swimsuits and towels at the ready.  We stopped at Boiling River for the hot soak.  Actually, we got a lot of exercise spinning our bodies around as we usually could only have one side hot while the other side froze. And struggling back up through a chute with high current gave us even more exercise. 

The Boiling River soak spot that is hot water coming out of the springs at the right, as well as one higher up

Our first stop after the soak was to photograph some of the Mammoth Elk who give birth right in the grassy areas of Mammoth

The most visible feature of Mammoth

We didn't get to the Mammoth features until the sun was disappearing  

The view seemed entirely different in this light

The golds were more darkly golden

Whites turned silver

I took this picture on the way by in the morning

Getting darker

Closeup of one of the features

I shot this straight down into a pool - aren't these amazing?

Another closeup

One of the Mammoth Elk grazing near the public restroom

We stopped at a pullout to catch the disappearing sun

We ran out of light to see the upper drive area at Mammoth but left that for the following Thursday. 

By the time we got home, it was almost 9:00 PM. Julie got her tent up and started a fire with logs I'd bought and wood she scrounged while I fixed a quick supper. We decided to save our steaks for the following night, when we planned to get back earlier.  I stayed up way past my bedtime enjoying wine and the fire, but still gave out before Julie.

Since Julie and I are both a little ADHD, we egg each other on.  Be warned, we may have to divide our reports of our days, just to not wear YOU out. Please share your memories or other comments. They really are fun for me to go back and read in subsequent years.

I have so many blogs covering our visit, I'm going to put out two during this week.

On the personal front, as I put this blog out, I'm starting my last eight days. It is a bittersweet time as I will probably never see some of my favorite people again as my boss and the maintenance person are retiring this winter.  And I'm getting excited about visiting my next summer home in Colorado and getting to return to Georgia for the winter and meeting back up with lots of friends and colleagues. 

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.

Yellowstone National Park - Day 2 - Adjusting for the Cold

August 24, 2018

I was SHOCKED to find the weatherman was very wrong about Yellowstone weather.  And I live less than 100 miles from any part of Yellowstone, as the crow flies, so I thought I had brought enough clothes and bedding. But the forecast changed for the cooler as I got there and we even had a forecast of rain for one day.    Julie is from Florida and has a hard time envisioning the summer weather here, which is colder than most of her winter weather in Florida. So I decided I needed to get some more bedding, long underwear,  jackets and warm shirts. I forgot the hats I intended to get.

I was fifty miles from home but it was a two hour drive.  I got up early with a plan to look for wildlife along the road back to West Yellowstone.  I could only see a flock of female elk, some with a baby, from any of the pullouts.  So I headed on home where I cooked a late breakfast, gathered up my extra stuff, and put up a quick blog about my wonderful hike along the Yellowstone River that I had done on my first day.

Then I headed back over the dusty dirt road for the first twenty-two miles, and drove into and out of Idaho and Montana, and finally into Wyoming in my two hour drive back. I also crossed the Continental Divide three times, once as I left Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge through Red Rock Pass, and twice as I took the long way back to Norris around the Grand Loop Road.  I knew Julie and I would hit all the most important spots, so I just stopped at a few lesser spots, some I didn't remember visiting before and some where I had a very slim chance of seeing eruptions.

If you would like to see where the places I'm talking about are, click here for a map of Yellowstone.

My first stop was to drive the Firehole Lake Drive.  It has a couple of geysers that go off on a sort a schedule.

The sign says I could see the Great Fountain Geyser go off between 9:45 PM today and 1:45 AM tomorrow- I didn't wait

A view of the structures building up in the field around the Great Fountain Geyser

Looking across the Great Fountain Geyser Field to the White Dome Geyser

White Dome Geyser  still goes off but at long and variable intervals

A little geyser along Firehole Lake

I stopped at a picnic area and found two bison bulls hanging out in the shade. 

Kempler Cascades on the Firehole River - I didn't remember stopping here before

A shoreline view along  Yellowstone Lake

This bison must have been caught in the LeHardy Rapids - that is where I found the separated bones of his carcass

Some of the LeHardy Rapids - great place to look for Harlequin Ducks in early May

 A view of the Yellowstone River between Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Where the Yellowstone makes a wetland

I think these bulls have contests to see who can slow the most cars - sometimes there were scores of cars
creeping behind  a lone bull, often in places where he could not get off the road for a half mile or more. 

Yellowstone has fewer swans than we do, but they are easy to find along the Yellowstone River  as it comes out of the lake

A very smoky sunsut

One of the few times I made it back to camp before dark

Last red reflections from the smoky sunset

I didn't have wi-fi or phone service so I've built up lots of adventures to share. I plan to spend most of the weekend writing blogs.  I did a lot of editing of my pictures while Julie drove after the light was low enough to see.

And I only have thirteen more days to work until I leave for Capital Reef and the Grand Canyon.  Then I'll spend some time at my next summer home in Colorado.  I'll try to get two or three blogs out each week. Stay tuned.