Yellowstone National Park

On Monday (7/28), I took a day off and wandered around Jackson, Wyoming. Tuesday I spent doing a couple more hikes in the Grand Tetons and finally spent some time relaxing at my campsite.

Wednesday morning I woke up early to head into Yellowstone National Park in hopes of securing a good campsite. Unfortunately, I ran into tons of traffic after entering the park due to road construction. By the time I arrived at the Canyon Village campsite, there were no sites available. I quickly made my way to the campgrounds at Norris and luckily found one of the last few sites available. It was a gorgeous campground nestled in a valley with a small creek weandering down the middle. It was already mid-afternoon by the time I pitched camp and settled in, so I decided to head to Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern section of Yellowstone. Mammoth Hot Springs has some amazing rock and sulfur deposit formations atop a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley. I spent a couple hours exploring the area and then found a small cafe where I could grab a bite to eat. Finding food a night has become an issue for me since I try to stay out and explore until the sun sets, but I am finding that most establishments close their doors at sunset (about 9pm).

On Thursday I woke up early to try to catch an eruption of Old Faithful at sunrise. Unfortunately I missed the 6:30am spouting, but old reliable went off again around 8am. I spent the rest of the day exploring the hundreds of geysers, hot springs, and rock formations that surround Old Faithful. I got to see some amazing eruptions and some of the most beautiful natural colors I could have ever imagined. In the afternoon I was hanging around Castle Geyser waiting for its eruption and I met a couple of girls who were working at one of the lodges in the area. It turns out the girls were from Turkey (Istanbul and near Ephesus) and were quite impressed that I had previously visited their country. We ended up hanging out and exploring some more of the geysers and hot springs as the sunset.

As the sun rose Friday morning I made my way to Lamar Valley in the northeast part of the Yellowstone. I was heading out there in hopes of spotting some bears and wolves that are known to roam the area. On my way out I spotted a large bull moose with some gorgeous antlers. When I arrived in the Lamar Valley, several other people had beaten me there and set up large telescopes for viewing the wildlife. The contingent included Bill Wengeler, a summer Ranger in the park and high school teacher in Santa Monica, who I ended up chatting with for several hours as we peaked through his telescope and saw 4 wolves, several bald eagles, and lots of Pronghorn antelope. Around 11am I left the Lamar Valley and went to the Canyon area where I grabbed a quick lunch and then drove up South Rim Drive to the top of Lower Falls and Uncle Tom's Trail. After hiking down over 500 feet towards the canyon's bottom, Uncle Tom's Trail provided me with a spectacular view of the Lower Falls and Yellowstone River. I then made my way to Artist Point and reached one of the most photographed places in all of Yellowstone. From Artist Point I had a view of the Lower Falls and the incredible painted walls of the canyon in both directions. The day before I had missed one of the "must see" geysers near Old Faithful, so I quickly made my way to Fountain Geyser and made it just in time to see the tail end of the eruption. From there, I visited Biscuit Basin where I made the short hike to Mystic Falls. To cap the day off, I returned to the Old Faithful area and met up with the two Turkish girls I met the night before (Ipek and Mŭge), Ipek's boyfriend, and another Turkish guy who was working in the area. We had dinner and then hiked up to a viewpoint that gave us a great view of Old Faithful. We watched the famous geyser erupt and then enjoyed a brilliant sunset.

Saturday morning I packed up my tent and drove to the parking lot for Fairy Falls. I broke out the Mongoose mountain bike and after a short ride, found myself at the trailhead to Fairy Falls where bikes were not allowed. The short 1.75 mile hike was incredible peaceful that early and I only saw a few other visitors. Fairy Falls throws water off a cliff over 200 feet hight into a small pool surrounded by bright white and purple flowers. In the distance several hot sulfur springs could be seen constantely spouting steam producing an eerie fog that enveloped a large part of the valley. After the hike, I said my goodbye to Yellowstone and exited the West entrance of the park and jumped on the 191 towards Big Sky, Montana.