A Place Strange and Wonderful
Trip Start
Jul 09, 2010
1
9
13
Trip End
Aug 08, 2010
Where I stayed
Lewis Lake Campground
Canyon Lodge Cabin
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Thursday, July 29, 2010
On our second day in the park, we debated whether the poor condition of our feet from prior boot use would allow for a hike. We decided no, but then saw a hike listing that was too good to pass up. The Avalanche Mountain hike took us from around 8,000 feet to 10,566 in 2 miles. Scenery went from densely forested spruce/fir/pine to mostly dead whitebark pine with a grass and flower covered understory, to wind-tattered (subalpine?) fir and snowfields, and then above tree line. One of my favorite parts of hiking is seeing the scenery change in this way. It was a beautiful day with some clouds, little wind at the summit and clear views in every direction. We stayed at the top a while and marveled. There was even a little pika there to greet us. The pika is a threatened alpine rodent like a chinchilla or hamster found above tree-line that makes a high-pitched squeak. They are cute. The views were spectacular and yes, worth the awful blisters we both had on our heels afterward.
After the hike, we drove north from Yellowstone Lake and up into the more prairie-like section of the park, following the Yellowstone River and counting the number of states represented in the traffic jam we encountered due to construction. I think 23 was the final count. Lots of Recovery Act money going into the parks for infrastructure this summer, it is good to see. We stayed overnight at a Canyon Village cabin maintained by Xanterra. They are a big private company that deals with hospitality in the western Parks. The little room was basic but neat and clean, and the dinner we ate at the lodge (both had a bison dish) was impressive.
We put in a long last day in the park, determining that the benefit of another night in the park was limited since we would have the leave early the next day anyway. We explored the Canyon area, taking in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which has rocks of the color for which the Park is named. Our last stop was Mammoth Hot Springs, which was, even after all the other park thermal features, very impressive. A series of springs flows out of a hillside forming multi-layered terraces as the minerals in the water drop out of solution. Just incredible, and nothing else like it in the world. We headed out of the Park not long before sunset, stopping to get a photo of Brian entering Montana. The state has been a life-long fascination of his, and it was a big milestone for him to finally arrive. And Montana does not disappoint. Valley walls filled with formations, giving way to forested slopes and snow-topped mountains. And lots of open farmland in the valleys between. A thunderstorm passed as we drove through the mountain valleys and we saw a full double rainbow.
