Mount Washburn

Named for Surveyor-General Henry D. Washburn from the 1871 Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition, Mount Washburn is 10,243 feet high and provides 3 trails to reach the top.

Oh look, another member of the greeting committee! We didn't stop to say hi, he wasn't in a friendly mood. After using the fence for a scratching post, he meandered down the entry road to challenge cars as they came up. You never know what type of entertainment you'll run across in Yellowstone!

Last year we hiked up the Dunnraven Pass trailhead. This year we chose the Chittenden Road path. The ranger station is the little peak on the highest mountain. That's our destination.


This road is used by the ranger that lives at the top all summer watching for fires. The temps were a brisk 40+/- degrees with wind in our faces so we bundled up and took off. 

This  area is a good example of the 1980 fire that consumed over 60% of the park. It's amazing that through the intense winters, wind, and rain, these trees are still standing like ghosts of time. It's also surprising that there is very little vegetation coming up to replace these trees.

The ranger station is getting closer. Note the orange sticks on the right side of the road. These start appearing all over the park in mid-September and act as snow gauges for the depth and also as road boundaries for skiers and snowmobilers.

We're over half way up and yes, it's still cold!

And we made it! The ranger in residence apparently owns a Honda FITT! The road is steep, very rocky and has several switchbacks so the fact a Fitt makes it, is pretty commendable. This should definitely be a commercial for Honda. I think they missed the boat on this one!





All the walking finally warmed us up, however, we put the jackets back on for the descent. The wind was present and making itself felt.

With all the rain we've had this year, the skies have been crystal clear blue and beautiful. But California and Idaho are battling some large fires and this one day, for our biggest hike, the wind brought the smoke in and, like last year, our pictures are hazy. We'll try again next year for the spectacular views.




We are on the way back down now. You can see the burned out tree area below that I showed the close up of above. It covers quite an expansive area. Other trees have filled in the burned areas below.

This is a great example of an obsidian cliff left over from the volcanic period.

These two were grazing on the side as we walked down. This hike is special for seeing Big Horn Sheep. Not so on this day. But doesn't this Bison look like he's big buds with this Pronghorn? (By the way, Pronghorn's are just Pronghorn's. They aren't a part of the deer family. Also, People mistake these for antelope, which are not present anywhere in YS.)

Miles hiked: 115

Lone Star Geyser and Old Faithful Inn

The Old Faithful Inn is named for the geyser which is nearby. The Inn was constructed in 1904 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It exemplifies the use of rustic architecture at a large scale to complement a natural landscape. Rhyolite that formed Yellowstone's caldera during volcanic upheavals provided the stone for the building's foundation, and local lodgepole pine were used for the walls and much of the internal structure. (Taken partially from the Yellowstone Resources Book).


This is a favorite destination during our stay and we take the same pictures each time but it never gets old.

The restaurant is also rustic and serves a great bison burger (so says Bob :) and the food is reasonable which can't be said of every national park eatery.

This is a shot of the upstairs. There are two floors with rooms but the wood carries all the way up to the ceiling.



Here is the check inn counter. Note the lodgepole pine in the roof and back wall.

We were about one hour away from seeing Old Faithful (OF) erupt so we opted instead to drive a mile down the road to the Lonestar Geyser. We did this last year and it actually erupts higher  and longer than OF. And last year we made it just in time to see it start up. Will we be so lucky this year?

 It was in the steam-spitting stage when we finished the 3 mile hike into the geyser. It's called the LoneStar because the nearest geyser is OF. It only spews hot water out every 3 hours so it's hit or miss to get to see it.








While we waited, I decided to try a sketch of it. Bob captured a rainbow over my head from the steam floating my direction. Does this mean I'm blessed? You betcha!

I also got a great facial sitting there from the ensuing mist from the geyser. 

And yes...we got there is time to see it again. The cone itself is 10-11 feet tall so you can see how far up the water is going. 

And this is pretty much the peak. It continued in this manner for the full 15 minutes before going back down to the spitting and then the steam phase which will last for the next 2 hours and 30 minutes. 









Where does all that water go you might ask? This is another creek that starts in the mountains and is fed by numerous water features along the way.








Even without rain for several days, you can see the water is still rolling along at a good clip.


Another beautiful day, another terrific hike.

Total miles hiked: 106

Lower and Midway Geyer Basins

We're really headed to Old Faithful geyser and Old Faithful Inn for lunch. Our history of hitting our goals are sometimes not realized, leaving open other exciting adventures.

The geyser basins are 3 in a row: lower, midway and upper. After that you eventually reach Old Faithful Inn.

This is the Lower Geyser Basin. If you don't believe Yellowstone is a volcano in waiting, take a look at these pictures. Rangers and volunteers have built a boardwalk all the way around this area. It's quite amazing to walk over to these boiling fissures and just look down into them.

We started out early and it was chilly still so the steam was very visible. I don't know that anyone can ever duplicate the colors that you see as you walk around.







Next we drove to the Midway Geyser Basin. 
Home of the trail head for Fairy Falls if you pass a several acre flat area of mud pots, small to large geysers and many ground level springs. Our intention was to hike to Fairy Falls on this spectacular day. So we suited up with jackets, hats, camera, back-packs, and hiking sticks and headed up the trail.







Ahh, the greeting committee of one.

2nd plateau

What is it about a challenge that I can't resist?? The trail head to start up to Fairy Falls is one mile from the parking lot. We were about 3/4's of the way there when this guy with a large camera stops us to say "If you want a great picture of Grand Prismatic, take the 3rd trail up to a small plateau area." This was totally unsolicited but we looked at each other and said, sure, we're game, let's go.

Top Bluff Area

So we get to the first area and another camera buff says "if you go straight up there (pointing up!) you'll get a better view and less obstructions for your pictures." Okay, so up we went.



We got there and a 3rd camera buff was just leaving and said "go across this small valley and up to that bluff and you'll get a totally unobstructed view and pictures."

Grand Prismatic Spring

Seriously??

Well, of course we went there...(with me huffing and puffing by now). But oh my, what a view.

This is looking to the left of Grand Prismatic Spring to the Firehole River. It's very appropriately named as it is basically created from all the water running off from the springs, mud pots and geysers.

We're back down now. This is another smaller spring. When you look into it you see trees that must have at some time grown along the edge and they died from the intense heat and are preserved in the mineral water. It looks like you can just run and jump in there but it's not advised. Well, unless you enjoy losing your skin...ahhh, nevermind!

The amount of water these water features dump into the various creeks and rivers is astounding. The Firehole River runs into the Gibbon River runs into the Gardiner River that runs into the Yellowstone River. When it rains, oh buddy, does the water level go up!

We never made it to Fairy Falls. We instead hiked these 3 miles for a surprisingly wonderful view. But we were still on plan for lunch at the Inn!

Miles hiked: 100

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

This is one of our all time favorite hikes in Yellowstone. Last year we parked on the south side and walked to the north side and back. Being the wild and crazy guys that we are, we parked this year on the north side and walked to the south and back!







Bob took so many pictures that I could make this 3 blogs easily, but will refrain and share the best of the best with descriptions.

We started on the north side of the canyon and its pretty easy to see why this whole region was named Yellowstone by the Indians who first settled here.

These two pictures are of the upper falls.



Look closely at this picture. Note the bridge off in the distance. That is our cross over destination.

Here is that same bridge. Between last year and this year we must have over 100 pictures of this bridge and area. Named Canyon Bridge, it was built by the Army Corp of Engineers in the 1920's.










It was closed to vehicle traffic in 1950 and serves as the foot bridge to make it from the north to the south side. 







It is just so scenic. We love the huge rocks in the water and the trees that are growing out of them. I read recently that the dirt in the wedges of the rocks is so nutrient rich that vegetation thrives better there than in the open meadows.











This is looking down at the top of the upper falls. There are several great vantage points to see different areas of the upper and lower falls but they involve hundreds of steps and that requires fresher legs than an 8 mile hike allows for!







Just some more ho-hum scenery as we walk along the Yellowstone River's edges.

Another great example of the yellow in Yellowstone.









It's September and we've had the pleasure of seeing a few Osprey nests but all have been empty. On the top of this rock outcropping, there is a nest with one baby left. I've included this picture so you can get an idea of how far 'out there' these birds build their nests.








Here is it close up. Someone had a scope on it and we could see it was picking the insides out of a fish head. Yum!













This is a shot of the lower falls. The lower is actually taller than the upper. 

Another smaller halls along the path. It was another stellar day for hiking. We started out bundled up and wound up carrying it all in our packs.

Total miles hiked to date: 95
(Snakes seen or almost walked on: 6-at least)
Just sayin' :-)

Animals and Fowl - Part One

Since Bob took the course on Wildlife Photography, his animal shots are numerous and fun. Here is a beginning sampling of animals we've run across just driving along the road or while lunching in the 'wild.'





This is a family of mule deer. So named for the large 'mule like' ears. Widely dispersed throughout Yellowstone National Park during the summer, the foraging is sparse for them in the winter and they migrate to the southern regions.

Mule deer is an exclusively western species, whereas the white tail is the most common deer seen throughout North America. There are white tailed deer in the park also, but they are so low in numbers they are not monitored.

 The main difference between the two is the shape of the antlers and tail size and appearance.

Here is the Golden-mantled ground squirrel. They are very adept at begging. There was an entire colony of these cute critters in the Sheepeaters Cliffs.

The easiest way to tell him from the chipmunk is the white stripe doesn't go up onto the face. The second way is he is slightly longer and while still quite small, almost double the size.

The ground squirrel hibernates from October to March or April.

In the fall, they cut cones from trees and cache them in middens, which are used for years and can be 15 by 30 feet. Grizzly bears search out these middens in whitebark pine habitat to obtain the nuts. (Totally not fair to the squirrel!)

Songbirds and woodpeckers, or passerine and near passerine species, comprise the majority of bird species in YS. Their habitat is mainly in areas that have a higher concentration of Willow.

I'll have to obtain a YS bird card to figure out the exact bird this is.

Monitoring of willow-songbird communities began in 2005. Birds were among the first vertebrates to return to the 1988 fire-affected areas as well as areas since that fires have occurred in.  Scientists are studying how the different bird species use different types of post-burn forests.

(Information taken from the Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook 2013)