National Park Road Trip - Day 6

Thursday, August 7, 2008:

We started the day off with a home cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon - yay for camp stoves! After we ate and got ready, we set off to hike to Fairy Falls. Manda chose this hike because it ended at waterfalls and didn't climb in altitude significantly - I very much appreciated that! The trail started off in the middle geyser basin, and it started off extremely warm, as there was no shade. We brought tons of water, so we were fine, but it was definitely hot.

Within the first mile, we ran right into a giant bull elk! He was almost close enough to touch. We obviously didn't touch him, but we were able to get some decent photos. He must have been used to humans, as he just kept eating. Only once did he stop to look at us, and that's when he heard the bear bell on the hiking stick. Otherwise, he didn't seem to mind our presence at all! Pretty dang amazing to be that close!

We then continued on the hike, and eventually entered a somewhat more shaded part of the trail. The terrain was quite odd - lots of windblown or burned trees, a mountain on one side, some woods on the other. I described it as not ugly, but not beautiful either. Just different I guess.

After about 2.6 miles, we came upon the falls, and they were beautiful. Quite tall, and we were able to walk right up to the pool into which they fell. The cool mist and spray felt fantastic after the hot hike, and we sat on a log and had a snack and some water. We took tons of pictures, and eventually started back on our way. As we neared the end, we ran into the elk again! This time, he was on the trail, and eventually caused a traffic jam of people, as none of us wanted to cross right next to him. I'm sure he probably would have left us alone, but you never know. Regardless, we got more great pictures, and he eventually moved back into the woods/prairie area, allowing us to proceed. We made it back to the car, where we had some gatorade; all in all a successful, 5+ mile hike! Not too shabby.

Since it was only 3:00 at this point, we decided to drive the northern loop of the park. We were going to do it on Friday, but we decided we would just head for home on Friday instead, as we had some time now. Plus, I figured we would wind up in bear country right around dusk, which is one of the times they are active, and Manda desperately wanted to see a bear. So, off we went on the northern loop!

First up was Mammoth Hot Springs. We didn't spend a ton of time there, as it was super hot, and the heat affects Manda's MS. We did the little drive and took a few pics though. It was a really cool area. Basically, what's happening is that the mountain is turning itself inside out - all the quartz (I think that's right) is being poured out in the hot water from the underground springs, and it creates terraces of stone - almost all white. Absolutely stunning! There are tons of springs (hence the name), but again, it was too hot to really go check them out. Plus, to me anyway, all the springs started to blur together!

We also saw Undine falls and tons of mountain scenery along this stretch - sort of reminded me of the badlands at times. Quite unique, and it made me realize that every part of the park really is different. I guess it makes sense to divide it into regions like they do!

As we left Mammoth Hot Springs, we decided to take a little side road called the Blacktail Plateau or something. The book mentioned that we might see wildlife there, so we gave it a shot. Unfortunately, we didn't know that the road would be 6 miles long and would entail basic off road driving. I don't know how they can allow that road to be open! I couldn't really drive above 12 miles per hour the entire time, and there were some white knuckles by the end! And, despite enduring that, the only animal we saw was some deer lying in the prairie. Crazy! Oh well. Good thing we had B's car!

We then were approaching the eastern entrance road, and we decided to take it for a while (which means we left the loop) because it runs along Lamar Valley, a big place for grizzly bear spottings. A woman told us to go to the ranger station and use the scopes...well, we drove through the whole valley and never discovered any scopes and didn't see any bears either. Tons of buffalo, and tons of tourists lined up along the valley watching, but no bears. Many of the tourists had binoculars, so maybe they could see bears, who knows? We still don't know what that lady was talking about re: the ranger station with scopes, but whatever. At this point, we were tired, so we decided to exit the valley and rejoin the loop, heading south for our campground. It also seemed like Manda had sort of given up on bears, and I felt badly about that.

The entire next part of the drive was quite stressful, as it was at a high elevation and the roads were quite narrow and winding. I had to pay close attention, as other cars kept crossing the center line. Also, at many points, there was no guard rail between us and the side of the mountain - wtf? Scary! I did fine however, and we cruised along.

Suddenly, as we went around a curve, I noticed a big traffic jam (sidenote: big traffic jams in the park usually mean wildlife spottings). I figured it was probably just another elk/deer/buffalo, all old hat to us by then (sad, but true), but I looked off into the distance anyway. And then, it happened - I saw a grizzly bear loping down the side of the hill. I said to Manda, I see a bear, I swear to God! She said, stop, and I said, well, I can't really, as the parking area is full. And then she she, and I quote, "just drop me off and pick me up later." Now, I'm thinking, "jigga what? how does she think I'm going to do that? There's not exactly a turnaround point or anything, and it's getting dark and cold. No way in hell am I going to just leave her here." So, I just pulled off the road the best I could and put my hazards on. We got out of the car and were promptly told by a park ranger to move the car. I told Manda to go see the bear, and as the ranger moved on, I stayed with the car, just in case. She spotted it and was able to get a picture, but only of its back, as it was moving down the hill through a little ravine. Regardless, she saw her bear! I went to find her, and then another park ranger came and told us all to move our cars. This time I figured we better listen, and we moved along. Manda was giddy, and I was really happy that we finally found her bear! Yay!!!

After that sighting, we contined back toward Grant Village on some more crazy roads. I actually had dreams about driving off the side of the mountain - crazy! Anyway, as we drove through Lake Country (by Yellowstone Lake), we saw a full rainbow over the lake. Absolutely amazing. I didn't stop for a picture, as there were no convenient pullouts and it was getting darker, but it was still beautiful. I'm not sure I've ever seen a full rainbow to be honest, and it was fantastic. The sun was also setting, and that was beautiful too.

We then continued on and noticed that the car in front of us had stopped. This time I looked out, and I swear to God, we saw three more bears! This time it was a mom and two cubs crossing the road. I'm pretty sure they were black bears, not grizzlies, but it was dusk and they were moving, so I definitely could be wrong. So, Manda got to see FOUR bears, and three pretty close up! Yay! I took the picture as I was driving (they were on my side of the road by then), so it's not the best, but you can tell they are bears.

After that, it was pretty smooth sailing back to camp. We were both exhausted, so we skipped cooking and the fire, ate some snacks, and went to bed. All in all, it was another fantastic day...until we noticed the car making a terrible noise. Stay tuned!