This Labor Day weekend, Chris, Janice, Ben (from our bible study), and I journeyed to Yellowstone for some hiking, camping, and sight-seeing. We started our National Park experience with a 10 mile hike to Heart Lake. About 1 mile from the trail head, into the hike, I (Allison) had developed a crucial, multi-layer deep, raw skin, extremely painful blister. It was so bad that I couldn't bear to wear my shoes, so I hiked for about 8 miles or so BARE-FOOTED!! I did wear Janice's shoes for a mile or two on the return-half of the hike. It wasn't' too bad, but it made for an uncomfortable weekend of hiking and even walking.....I had to wear my Crocs for the rest of the weekend! After an anticipated return to the trail head, we drank up some water and then headed to Old Faithful!!! We walked around waiting for the predictable geyser to blow, and actually missed the eruption while we were in the bathroom cleaning the dust off of us, from the bone-dry trail. So then we decided to have dinner in the Old Faithful cafeteria, along with a hungry squirrel (who was running around in the dining room throughout our dinner), to pass the time before the next eruption. Once we were through with dinner, then we watched Old Faithful blow! It wasn't the biggest eruption ever, but still awe-inspiring. After Old Faithful we headed to our campsite at Madison. We got there a little later than planned, and set up our tent in the dark. Soon after, we hit the sack. It was quite warm Saturday night, we all slept pretty-much outside of our sleeping bags. We were unlucky enough to be placed beside a tent with small children, who weren't aware of people around them....needless to say it was a long night!!!
Sunday morning, we woke up to a beautiful and slightly cooler day. We cooked some oatmeal and got ready for our day of exploring. Among our stops this day were Firehole Canyon, the Artist Paintpots (not quite as good as expected), Grand Prismatic Spring and Fairy Falls (which we hiked about 5 miles to get to--in Crocs, remember), Norris Geyser Basin, Great Fountain Geyser-which shot up about 200 feet in the air, just as we were pulling up!!! After exploring these natural wonders, we headed to West Yellowstone for dinner at Eino's (Chris' favorite place where you get to cook your own meal!) and ice cream at Mooseberry's (another of Chris' favs). The play we planned to see was closed for the season, so we went to the Imax theater to see a film about Yellowstone. After the film, we headed back to the campsite for smores and a campfire, then we got ready for a colder night. It was forecasted to possibly snow that night....but we just got some rain. We were all cozy in our mummy sleeping bags though!!!
Monday morning we awoke to a brisk, fall-forecasting, day. We layered on the clothes that day!! We packed up our campsite, after our breakfast of oatmeal, and headed out from Madison. Then we went up to Mammoth Hot Springs, and then to the Boiling River. This boiling river (of 130 degree water) pours into the Gardner River (probably about 55 degrees---which is really, really cold for us NC folks!). But this combination creates a uniquely-delightful experience. We hopped into this river, which was at the cold part at first, and headed to wear the HOT water pours in. You can't even touch the hot water for more than a couple of seconds or you would be badly burned!! You have to find just the right spot, which combines the two waters at the perfect temperature. There was a cave and then a pool that we relaxed in for a while; it was like a bubbling hot tub!! Then we had to walk upstream to the entrance to get our towels and other clothes..in the brisk air, it was quite a task!!! On our way back down into the park from this water-experience, we passed back through Mammoth. In the middle of the old army barracks there were about 20 or so cow elk and one really big bull elk!! See the picture below! After stopping for a quick picture, we headed on to Mount Washburn and Tower Falls. We were going to hike up to the control tower at Mt Washburn, but with the chilly air and overcast skies, we decided to head to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We awed at the huge falls and then decided to warm up by hiking to Artist Point-overlooking the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone- and then through the back-country to some secret mud pots and hot springs. We saw some huge moose tracks back there and then Chris and Ben decided to try and follow where they though this moose went. Janice and I lost them for a while. Then to save time, we headed off trail (heading to where Chris thought the car was), not knowing if a bear was going to greet us along the way! (I was a little scared at this point). But, to no suprise, Chris of course brought us out right at the road at the entrance to where the car was parked!!! That ended our adventure in Yellowstone. So then we headed back through Jackson, stopping to eat at the ever-so-good Bubba's Bar-B-Q, to get home to Pinedale. All in all it was a fun-packed weekend!!! We were all pooped, but we had an awesome time!
Chris overlooking a boiling mud pot.
Ben, Janice, Me and Chris at Fairy Falls.
Grilling our food at Eino's. (They give you your food raw and then you cook it yourself at their indoor grills to your liking). It is a really cool place; the bar/sitting area is covered in dollar bills signed by people from all over and random articles of people's signed clothing. We left our mark with a dollar bill.
The lone bull elk among the host of cow elk(not seen in the pic) in the middle of Mammoth.
Lower Falls at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
At the middle of our first hike, the 10-mile one, to start our trip. I (Allison) had tried to bandage up my feet and put my shoes on, but it only lasted for about 5 feet with the shoes on.
Chris and I, with dirty, sun-burned faces, waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.
Chris with Grand Prismatic in the background.
