8/27/14

Monday was Christmas in Yellowstone. There's a story about the history or why August 25th was designated Christmas in Yellowstone years ago, but I suspect it was mostly because few people are in Yellowstone on December 25th, when the temperature is well below zero. At any rate, we had a potluck dinner, with the company supplying the turkey and ham. After dinner we had a white elephant gift exchange.

Earlier in the afternoon four elk took a stroll through the campground. One of them found a tent in the B loop they decided needed thrashing. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get over there soon enough to get pictures of it stomping and chewing on the tent. It finally gave up, when the tent refused to collapse. The tent owners must have been touring the park at the time, since they were nowhere to be found around the campground.

Tuesday we went on a five mile hike with our hiking buddy coworkers. This time we hiked the north rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, which is one of our favorite locations in the park. We had never made this hike on our previous trips to the park and we also found some side hikes that we didn't know existed.

When we got there, there was quite a bit of fog, but that didn't completely obscure the beauty of the canyon. I just wish photographs did it more justice than they do.

 

Along the way we found some interesting trees (or remnants of trees).

The trail wound along the north rim of the canyon, through heavily forested areas and up to the various lookouts that most visitors limit themselves to.

 

There were also some interesting flowers along the way.

 

We also saw the osprey that are nesting on a pinnacle in the canyon. I wouldn't want him hanging on to my arm with those talons.

 

Here is the hiking crew standing on the rim of the canyon.

A park ranger was kind enough to take a photo of the four of us while we rested at one of the viewpoints.

 

As the fog lifted we were able to see farther up the canyon.

The rock formations in and around the canyon are incredible.

  

The photo below is looking down into the osprey nest, from one of the viewpoints. It appears that this one is making a meal of a fish that it caught on the Yellowstone River.

This is the first glimpse of the lower falls from anywhere along the trail.

 

As you hike a little further you get to Lookout Point, where the entire waterfall comes into view along with the river, both upstream and down.

 

Near the bottom of the photo above, just to the left of center, is a dark, triangular spot between the trees, kind of pointing at the falls. Going around the left side of the dark spot, you should be able to see a boardwalk. We decided to take this little side trip, since none of us had ever gone there. The walk down was easy and the view at the bottom was spectacular, but the walk back up took us a while. The trail down there is called Red Rock Trail.

  

 

This is the view of the falls you get once you are at the bottom of the trail.

Below is a look up at the Lookout Point, where you start the walk down Red Rock Trail.

 

The photo below shows the namesake of the trail.

Here's Penny contemplating the climb up another section of the trail as we make our way back up to the top. 

 

This is another of the family of osprey, associated with the one shown eating the fish. This one is standing on a rock above the nest, apparently complaining to the other one about not sharing the fish.

 

While we were down on Red Rock Trail, the fog seemed to have completely burned off, allowing a better view across the canyon. The next photo is of Uncle Tom's Trail, on the south rim of the canyon. There are 350 some steps on that stairway, leading down the face of the south rim of the canyon. That is another hike we want to take, but not today.

 

 A little further up the trail, you get your first glimpse of the upper falls. A waterfall about 1/3 the height of the lower falls, but beautiful in its own right.

Before you actually get to the upper falls, the trail takes you past another, smaller water fall which is on a tributary of the Yellowstone River.

 

Although we had chosen not to take the trail to the brink of the lower falls, since we had just taken the hike down Red Rock Trail, the hike to the brink of the upper falls is much easier and we decided to take that hike. Below is a photo looking upstream on the Yellowstone River, just above the brink of the upper falls.

This one is looking straight down the waterfall.

Just as we were about to leave, the sun came out from behind the clouds and we were able to get a picture of a rainbow in the mist of the falls.

 

After five hours of hiking, our final destination is in sight, the Chittenden Bridge. Our truck is parked just to the left of this bridge. With all the side hikes and stops for photos we made, it's no wonder why it took us five hours to hike less than five miles.

 

Wednesday we hiked the Norris Geyser basin in the morning. Not surprisingly it was foggy this morning too. We like to get there before the crowds (actually, we'd like the crowds to go away completely), so we start out early. We got there between 7:30 and 8 and were about the first people there that morning. Because of the fog it was difficult to see the thermal features, but we could see enough to make the trip worthwhile.

We did see a herd of bison walking through the area and got some good pictures. It was interesting how they emerged from the fog in the south, walked right past us and disappeared into the fog on the north.

As time went on, the fog burned off and we were able to get a better view of the features.

 

Back near the beginning of the boardwalk we could see Steamboat Geyser was having one of its small eruptions.

Steamboat Geyser, when it has a major eruption, has the largest eruption of any geyser in the world and it can be heard and felt at Norris Campground more than a mile away. The last major eruption was July 31, 2013.

 

Here's all of us standing on one of the viewing platforms around Steamboat Geyser.

Our hiking buddies had to get back to the campground, because they had to go to work in the afternoon, but before we left I got a photo of the first sight we would have seen at the beginning of the hike, if there had been no fog. We'll have to go back there again.

 

After lunch and a nap, Penny and I decided to go out for an afternoon hike. We went to Observation Point above Old Faithful Geyser. Observation Point is on a 200 foot hill to the north of Old Faithful Geyser, requiring about a 1 mile hike to get there.

 

For once our timing was right and we got to the top such that we had 15 minutes to sit on a rock, relax and watch some little furry critters before Old Faithful erupted.

  

 

Then came the eruption. Not the biggest or longest ever recorded, but a nice two minute eruption never the less.

 

On the walk down the trail I came across a plant whose identity I'm not sure of, but I think it's Canada Thistle. It has beautiful purple flowers.

 

Maybe if it were fully open I'd be able to be sure of what it is.

After the eruption we drove back home but stopped at a pullout and took some pictures of a beautiful sunset.