The snow I talked about in my last post seems to have doused both the wildfires that were burning in the park. One had been burning for three weeks but was only 16 acres, the other had burned for a little over a week and was over 2500 acres. Both were started by lightening strikes. The fire danger is now down to low. It had been at high since July.

Tuesday the 22nd we took a couple of co-workers on a hike up Mt Washburn. Our normal hiking buddies couldn't go with us. It's the most popular hike in the park and is about seven and a half miles long, round trip. The hike starts at a pull out at Dunraven Pass, at an elevation of a little less than 9900 feet and climbs up the old fire tower access road to the tower at 10,243 feet. There is another trail up the other side of the mountain that follows the new access road to the tower.

The tower on the top of the peak in the picture below was our goal.

 

The photo below was taken near the beginning of the hike. It shows the Hayden Valley and the thermal features at Mud Volcano.

Farther up the trail we came across what we think is a Grouse. If you think it is some other kind of bird, let us know. We haven't found a description in our Audubon book that exactly matches the bird we saw but Grouse seems to come closest.

 

The photo below shows the trail as it leads up to the fire tower, along the spine of Mt. Washburn. Beyond is the Hayden Valley and Yellowstone Lake. At the bottom of the photo you can see the trail just below the tower. The trail actually spirals up to the tower by circling the peak one and a half times. 

One of our hikers has a fear of heights, so she had some trouble crossing the saddle-backs that have drop off on both sides of the trail in that photo, but she made it by staying in the middle of the trail and concentrating on her feet. After a rest and bite to eat in the tower, the three women took the trail down the other side of the mountain while I hiked down the original trail to the truck. I drove around to the other side to pick them up and they were just getting down to the trailhead as I drove up to the parking area. While they were hiking down they came across a herd of big horn sheep.

 

Our calves were very sore for the next couple of days, since we hadn't been hiking much recently due to our sinus infections.

I got an extra day off this week, so Monday the 28th I went hiking with a coworker from last year and her husband, who had come for a visit on the way to the Grand Tetons. We did a short hike down Uncle Tom's trail. The only picture I took was of our friends that I went hiking with. It turns out they both grew up near where I grew up and at about the same time.

 

On Tuesday the 29th Penny and I went with six of our coworkers on a hike to Riddle Lake. Riddle Lake is a few miles south of Yellowstone Lake, near Grant Campground. The trail doesn't open until July, because the lake is a breeding ground for trumpeter swans. It is also an area that has many grizzly bears.

 

We didn't see any grizzly bears but we did see a mating pair of swans with one young swan. We also saw an eagle, in a tree, across the lake.

 

Wednesday we made what we hope is our last trip to Costco, in Bozeman.