As good things must

The last day of our August 2006 trip started out as we drove to fossil butte NM. There is a museum there, and a few trails. Along the road to the museum we spotted a ruffed grouse, and snapped a picture, though it blends in so well It's a little hard to make out. The museum has a video on the fossils, and some very nice specimens on display. We made some crayon rubbings from the fossil plaques they had on display, but at this point, I just didn't want to do a lot more hiking/walking. Instead of hiking, we went hunting for a fossil store. and we found one, back in town, with a nice man running the counter who sold us a basic fish fossil for a reasonable price, and a cross section of a petrified tree that looks nice on our mantle.

Having had our fill of fossils, we headed into Utah. Just as you cross the state border, there are huge red rocks that cut up into the air, but after a while they diminish, then disappear all together. By the time we arrived in Salt Lake City, the terrain had grown to resemble Idaho. We stopped in town only to eat at a Marie Calender's. We probably should have ordered pot pies, because the food we did order was so bland, I think the meat was boiled and not seasoned at all. It was perfectly edible, but I cook better food at home.

We continued on to Antelope Island, located in Salt Lake. And we did see antelope, as well as buffalo among the golden grass and sunflowers. Satisfied with a drive around the island, we headed back to Boise, stopping to eat a huge ice cream desert at the same Jaker's we'd had dinner at when we first began our trip. Finally, we returned to ground zero, and boarded the plane the next morning.

Medicine Wheels, Canyons, and Hot Springs - oh my!

After leaving Yellowstone, having been to Glacier, and Craters of the Moon, you could say the remaining days of out trip was a bit of a denouement. We headed east through Wyoming to the Big Horn Medicine Wheel. Despite the fact that a road stretches all the way to the wheel, which is set high atop a hill, up a steep and winding road, you must park about a mile from the wheel and walk the rest of the way. The medicine wheel is something like a simple Stonehenge. It has astronomically significant alignments, and was especially useful for marking the summer solstice. It consists of rows and circles of piled rocks, in the general shape of a wheel. The walk to it was steep, and there was a biting wind, but it was worth it.

There is a barb wired fence around the wheel, and a path outside of the that you walk counter clockwise around, in respect for the traditional practice. Native Americans still hold ceremonies here, and many leave offerings tied to the fence, in the form of small brightly colored bundles of cloth, or braids of grass. Less traditional offering, such as bandannas, probably come from the few tourists who may actually find their way here. Another bonus for making the walk to the wheel was seeing picas, which are like teeny weenie bunny rabbit mice. They are cute beyond belief.

After the Medicine Wheel, we went to the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. This is a narrow canyon with a green river flowing in a tan hued landscape. There is not a lot of plant life here, but there are the namesake Bighorn, which have made a comeback in the area. There are also wild horses, and we saw a small family near the road on our way in. They are grayish with a black mane, and, if you look, they have horizontal black stripes across their legs in the back. This fascinated me, because it relates to some of Darwin's theories on evolution, about how when modern species or breeds intermix, you tend to see what are the most basic characteristics, and therefore the characteristic of the common ancestors. So here are stripes on a horse, when none of the parent horses would have had them, showing perhaps a trait that is dormant in them, but exemplified in the zebra.

We then headed south toward Thermopolis. The plan had originally been to spend the remainder of the day hanging out at the free to the public hot spring/baths here, but after my visit to Yellowstone and learning about all the nasty extremophile disease causing bacteria that live in hot springs, I'm afraid I lost interest. So we headed instead towards our destination for the next day, which was Fossil Butte National Monument. We got as far a Kemmerer before stopping for the night. It also happened to be the home of James "Cash" Penney, who started the now national chain right here in this little town.

Yellowstone Exodus

After staying the night in the fabulous Old Faithful Inn, we packed our bags, and headed to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast. We ordered the buffet, which came with juice and a hot chocolate for each of us, but we had to specifically ask our waiter to bring the hot chocolate, since he did not offer to do so. The hot chocolate was VERY GOOD, but Jake spilled his before even taking a sip, which was a real tragedy, especially because they didn't offer to bring us a replacement. We were put off by the poor service, though the food was very good.

After that we went out for a walk along the boardwalk the led out and around the many geysers in this area. We spent some time hanging around Old Faithful to see if it would go, but got tired of waiting and continued up the trail. We arrived at the Grand Geyser and I began reading the information about it. It is the tallest predictable geyser know. It's much larger than old faithful. it erupts about twice daily. Before it erupts, it begins to churn/bubble strongly. As I read all this, the pool in front of us began to churn. I thought, OK, some geysers do that for hours before an eruption. Then it said, "moments later the geyser erupts" So I'm like hey Jake, it's about to go, and there it went. There were several volunteers who document the geysers, and all remarked on what a good show it was putting on. According wikipedia, it gets as much as 200ft tall. It went on for several minutes, and when it finally died down we wandered further up the trail.

We then walked to the morning glory pool, and as we were headed back down the boardwalk there, we noticed a large lone male buffalo drinking from the opposite side of a stream, no more than 40 yards away; this was during breeding season, when males were feeling especially aggressive, too. Well, we stopped along the trail, confident that we were too far out of range to bother him, and watched. A young woman, who had not been reading the signs about saying on the boardwalks, and not harassing the animals, thought that the 15 foot wide stream was enough of a buffer, and left the trail, and cut through some trees to get a much closer and unobstructed view, and began taking pictures. The buffalo, which obviously felt threatened, stopped drinking and gave her a long look. At which point she smartly backed off, but only about 5 feet, until the buffalo returned to his drink. Realizing that she wasn't moving off, the buffalo then crossed the stream, and ambled casually towards her. She, smartly headed back for the boardwalk, and up towards the morning glory pool. Jake and I stayed still to avoid the buffalo's notice while he stood squarely upon the boardwalk and gazed about. Finally, satisfied that he had made his point that he was VERY LARGE, he continued on his way, up into the forest.

We continued our walk and saw lots of other geysers in various stages of activity, when we suddenly realized it was nearly checkout time at the hotel. It was again near time for Old Faithful, so I reserved us some seats while Jake went to get our luggage from the room and check us out. He returned in time for us to watch the geyser, which really isn't anything like as spectacular as the large ones we'd already seen, and in addition to that, the boardwalk is much further away that it is from other geysers, still as probably the most famous geyser in the world, it's a must to see.

From the Old Faithful area, we headed south to West Thumb, then turned east along the norther edge of Yellowstone Lake, finally turning north at Lake Village and cutting through Hayden Valley, which is the place to see buffalo, and wolves possibly. While we saw none of the latter, we got a fairly close encounter with the former. Along the way we saw 2 males butting heads, and further on We noticed a small group of buffalo coming towards the road. 2 females, 1 calf, and a large bull, who was pawing the ground as he came, stirring up dust and grunting. We had pulled into a parking area, but stayed in the car doorways in case he should head our way. This group crossed the road a little behind us and caused a traffic jam.

The main problem was one car. The car would creep up an inch on the buffalo every time it got the chance, and every time, the male would stop and turn and lower his head towards the car. You'd think that driver would have learned to stay still, but he just kept doing it, and managed to make the buffalo pretty angry. He even made a move to headbutt the grill at one point, but stopped short, and finally moved his family off the road.

The sun was setting, and we still had quite a ways to go to leave the park. After darkness had set in, we encountered still more buffalo, having to creep our way through the dark night to avoid a collision with a movable wall. Finally, we exited the park at the north east entrance, and pulled over to sleep at the first shoulder wide enough for our car, completely exhausted, but very satisfied.

Yellowstone: worth staying inn

After our long day of hiking, we were very glad to arrive at the Old Faithful Inn. Originally constructed in 1904, with wings later added in 1915 and 1927, the Old Faithful in is an enormous log cabin, with a touch of early 20Th century charm. Starving, we hurriedly checked in, put our things in our small room, and, having hardly looked around us, we headed straight for some food as we hadn't eaten anything since our meager breakfast outside pictograph cave early that morning.

Foregoing the hotel restaurant in favor of quicker eats, we headed to the cafeteria. Here, we were disappointed by the quality of the food, the cost, and the service, but food is food, and we were starved (how do you mess up chili cheese fries and a burger?) Full, we headed back to the hotel.

The hotel is nothing short of incredible. Old Faithful Inn, made of log, was built in a time when National Parks were still new, and enjoyed immensely by the wealthy elite, and it shows. The 65 ft ceiling of the lobby is beautiful and impressive, nothing but gleaming natural wood. High at the top lies a small booth for the band that once entertained, though it is no longer safe, due to earthquakes in the area, Yellowstone is the caldera of a massive volcano after all. There is a massive fireplace in the center, and everything is lit with glowing yellow lamp light. Our room was small, and, as the cheapest one available, was equipped only with a sink. Well, there was also a bear in our room... He was made of soap, and lives in my bathroom now. There was a bathroom with chrome, and black and white checked tiles down the hall, and showers were located upstairs in a room done in brown tile and wood. Though we needed the shower, we decided to sit for a while on a bench, on a balcony facing over the lobby, and enjoy the piano being played on another level. I can't tell you what was played, but it made me feel like it was a century earlier.

Eventually we had to admit we were exhausted, and had an early day again tomorrow, so we donned the fluffy white robes provided in our rooms, and headed to the showers. Walking back to the room through the now empty halls, I couldn't help but feel I owned the place. I can't wait to go back. When I am semi retired, I'll be working over the summer here, perhaps, and spend long lazy evenings listening to piano by the light of the fire.

Eh Boo Boo?

After leaving Pictograph Cave, we finally arrived at the North Entrance to Yellowstone, located at the edge of a small town called Gardiner.A large stone gate guards the entrance. Once inside the park, we drove to the first major stop, Mammoth Springs. As we turned into the area, we noticed a nice green median between the lanes with two lifelike statues of elk, except they weren't statues at all, they were just very, very still real elk. Immediately to the right was the rest of the small herd. resting on the green grass in the shade of some trees, and in the company of picnic tables. There was a male with a rack larger than I've seen on elk elsewhere, and a calf ambling about.

Beyond the elk stood Mammoth Springs. It is essentially a large mass of calcite deposits from the water which seeps continually over them. It creates complex patterns of travertine ridges holding shallow pools of steaming water. There are no real geysers in this area, just this massive rock created by the spring. We explored the face of the springs by a short trail, then returned to the car for a drive around a loop to explore the upper terraces area. Having become thoroughly familiar with a landscape that is echoed throughout the park, of dead standing trees, yellow and pure white stone, and steaming water, we continued south into the park.

As we continued south we passed several lesser geological features, including the Roaring Mountain, a belching and gurgling hole in a hillside, our fist acquaintance with a fumarole. Swinging right towards Madison, we came to the Artist's Paint Pots. Paint pots are my favorite thing about active areas like Yellowstone. Acidic vats of liquid rock that plop and gurgle, I could watch them for hours, but we didn't have that kind of time. Back in the car we headed to the Fountain Paint pot Trail. It also features a fumarole that opened during a not too long ago earthquake, and several geysers. The land is alive here. All along the roads are small geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. The smell isn't pleasant, but it's not as bad as you might think.

After the paint pots, we took the Fire hole Lake drive, and stopped to view Fire hole Falls. As we passed Great Fountain Geyser, one of the somewhat predictable, and large geysers, we saw that it might erupt soon, so we decided to stop and wait for it. This geyser erupts only twice a day (on average) and we were lucky to only have to wait 20 minutes for it. Old Faithful is by far NOT the largest geyser in the park, and this one far outstrips it. It sends up huge amounts of water, spreads massive clouds of sulfur smelling steam into the crowd. It died down somewhat after about 20 minutes, and we took that as our cue to move on. It was late afternoon at this point, but we still had a lot on our plate.

Our next stop was the Midway Geyser Basin. This consists primarily of two large features. The first is Excelsior Geyser. Though now it is mostly a hot spring, there was a time when it erupted hugely. It is the size of maybe a fishing pond, and is a rocky Mediterranean coastline in miniature. The edges are steep, dark and craggy, the water a perfect blue. The other feature is the more famous Grand Prismatic Spring, the perfect example of a hot spring, clear blue at the center, surrounded by rings of vivid color, ending with a broad red outer ring. The colors define regions where different bacteria thrive in the range of water temperatures, and lend their color to the rocks.

As we were heading back to the car, from the Grand Prismatic Spring, we approached the wooden bridge that crosses the trout filled stream between the springs and the parking lot. As we neared the bridge we noticed, a bird of prey flying towards the stream. It's distinctive black and white markings gave it away as an Osprey, the first we had ever seen. Suddenly the bird bent his wings, and was momentarily motionless over the water, almost beyond believability. Then, the spell was broken and he dived down to the stream, shearing the top of the water with his talons, but he came up empty handed. He then circled a little farther down stream, and repeated the show, this time disappearing behind the trees as he dropped. When he rose, he gripped a trout, its head in one claw, it's tail in the other, the body of the fish making a bright shining U in the afternoon sun. I was hoping he would land nearby to eat, but he instead flew far away, out of sight over a nearby hill.

At this point, we were loosing light fast, but we still wanted to see one more thing: Mystic Falls, off the Upper Geyser Basin Loop. This loop has several smaller geysers, though we didn't have the time to pause and look at them, as we headed towards the back of the loop, and the spur that led to the falls. The area was beautiful. a stream to our left, and across the stream, an area of high canopy forest, with grassy undergrowth, then a steep wall. to our right was another steep rise, forming a narrow valley. We were at this point power hiking. I was totally out of breath due to the altitude, but we pushed on, anxious to get to the falls, and back out before dark, in this, prime grizzly country. Fortunately, the trail was not too long, perhaps a mile, or less, and we finally reached the falls. a broad rush of water dropping probably 30 or 40 feet, from one level of the valley floor to another. We went only far enough to overlook the falls, then headed quickly back to the car. Finally, done with our activities for the day, we were ready to head for the Old Faithful Inn