Today (June 30) we packed up our campsite in Glacier and headed south toward Rapid City, SD. We drove pretty much all day until we got to a KOA in Hardin, MT, in the Crow Native American Reservation. We ate a quick supper at a place called Taco John's. It's a west coast version of Taco Bell. The power was out at the campsite when we got there due to a storm, so we played UNO for a while and Kate continued her utter domination. Why does she always get a Wild Card when I'm about to win? We'll never know, but she's up 22-12 now, and there's little hope of my coming back. That's about it for today, ergo the title "Nothing Special".
Tomorrow we'll arrive in Rapid City and spend some time at the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. We're planning on being at Mt. Rushmore on July 3rd for fireworks which should be good. Don't know if Uncle John has internet so it may be a few days before I can post again. Hopefully I'l have some better stuff for you to view than today's soon.
~Andy
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Iceberg Straight Ahead!
After worship and a quick supper last night (June 28), we went back down to Fishercap Lake to see if we could spot a moose. We decided to walk to the other end of the lake to get a better view of an area where we thought a moose was likely to show up. Of course, as soon as we got to the end of the lake, a moose appeared all the way at the other end where we were to begin with. So, we started walking back toward the moose, who seemed pretty content to eat the willows on the bank. We think it was an adolescent bull moose, because he had a little bell hanging down from his neck. No antlers yet, but we’re 75% sure it was a bull. As we were waling toward the moose, he made his way into the water and started eating the plants off the bottom. The rangers told us that moose were excellent swimmers and could even dive up to 20 feet to the bottom to get vegetation. This lake is pretty shallow so he just had to stick his head down in the water, but it was still cool to watch. He kept coming closer and closer to us, and we got to see him up close. Apparently, we were standing where he wanted to go up the bank into the forest, so he stopped and rose up a bit on his hind legs. It wasn’t overly aggressive, but we got the message and moved off the bank into the woods and sure enough he moved right where we were into the woods. So the two times we’ve been scared of animals on this trip haven’t been by bear or mountain lion, it’s been buffalo and moose.
We woke up Monday and decided to go on one of the most popular hikes at Glacier National Park. It’s a 10 mile round trip hike up to Iceberg Lake. I know what you’re thinking: 10 miles Wow! It wasn’t that bad, although we were pretty worthless for the rest of the day. The hike was ranger led, so a ranger led us through the trail and stopped occasionally to talk about flowers or the geology of the park. It was very interesting. We met a couple our age from the Chapel Hill area on the hike, as well as a couples from Virginia and Tennessee that knew a lot of the same places that I have lived. A young boy named Dwight who was going to be a junior next year in high school attached himself to me about halfway to the lake and he was on my hip pretty much the rest of the hike. I gave him half of my sandwich at lunch and he followed us all the way down the mountain, too. He was a good kid and was pretty knowledgeable of the terrain, since he was from Canada and only about 2 hours away.
Back to the hike. The hike starts close to where we were camping and climbs 1,100 feet of 5 miles to Iceberg Lake. The start was pretty intense, but after that, it was a pretty gradual climb. We saw a lot of mountain wildflowers and even where a black bear had climbed up a tree. The only wildlife we saw were some mountain goats from pretty far away, but we could still see them with the naked eye, so we counted mountain goats in our animals seen list. There were a lot of areas the ranger showed us that were avalanche areas. It was easy to see where the trees had been knocked over. The flower below is a glacial lily. It only bloomed the higher you got. Kate got some great shots of it and a lot of other flowers. I’ll try to get pics of those posted later.
We got to the lake after about 4 hours of hiking. The trail was still covered by snow in several spots so we had to hike through snow for quite a bit of the last mile of the trail. The weather was gorgeous. It was about 78 or so and perfect. It was funny to me to be hiking over snow covered fields while wearing shorts and a t-shirt. When we got to the lake, it was amazing. It’s called Iceberg Lake because it has ice on it most of the year. It even has icebergs floating in it. It’s in a natural amphitheater that the glaciers carved out during the ice ages. The pictures of it don’t do it justice. It’s another one of those sites around here that you have to see for yourself. It took us about 4 and a half hours to get to the lake, but only 2 hours to get back down. We hiked down with a couple from Abingdon, VA and we were both setting blistering paces down the mountain. It was a really fun hike, but we were glad for it to be over, too. We had a little huckleberry ice cream to reward ourselves for a 10 mile hike.
We came back to camp and crashed pretty hard. I took a pretty long nap and Kate worked in her journal. Around 5:30 we went to take some long overdue showers. I really enjoy showering a lot more when I can only get one every 4 or 5 days. After showers we ate a quick supper then went back down to Fishercap Lake to see if we could find the elusive bull moose that we know is there but haven’t seen yet. We got down there but no bull moose. The same cow from the other day was there, but no bull. There were a lot of people, so we didn’t stick around long. We did see a porcupine, though, which we weren’t expecting to see on the trip so that was good. We came back to camp and played a little UNO. Kate is thoroughly destroying me now. She’s opened up her lead to 16-11 and I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up. After some writing we called it a night.
~Andy
We woke up Monday and decided to go on one of the most popular hikes at Glacier National Park. It’s a 10 mile round trip hike up to Iceberg Lake. I know what you’re thinking: 10 miles Wow! It wasn’t that bad, although we were pretty worthless for the rest of the day. The hike was ranger led, so a ranger led us through the trail and stopped occasionally to talk about flowers or the geology of the park. It was very interesting. We met a couple our age from the Chapel Hill area on the hike, as well as a couples from Virginia and Tennessee that knew a lot of the same places that I have lived. A young boy named Dwight who was going to be a junior next year in high school attached himself to me about halfway to the lake and he was on my hip pretty much the rest of the hike. I gave him half of my sandwich at lunch and he followed us all the way down the mountain, too. He was a good kid and was pretty knowledgeable of the terrain, since he was from Canada and only about 2 hours away.
Back to the hike. The hike starts close to where we were camping and climbs 1,100 feet of 5 miles to Iceberg Lake. The start was pretty intense, but after that, it was a pretty gradual climb. We saw a lot of mountain wildflowers and even where a black bear had climbed up a tree. The only wildlife we saw were some mountain goats from pretty far away, but we could still see them with the naked eye, so we counted mountain goats in our animals seen list. There were a lot of areas the ranger showed us that were avalanche areas. It was easy to see where the trees had been knocked over. The flower below is a glacial lily. It only bloomed the higher you got. Kate got some great shots of it and a lot of other flowers. I’ll try to get pics of those posted later.
We got to the lake after about 4 hours of hiking. The trail was still covered by snow in several spots so we had to hike through snow for quite a bit of the last mile of the trail. The weather was gorgeous. It was about 78 or so and perfect. It was funny to me to be hiking over snow covered fields while wearing shorts and a t-shirt. When we got to the lake, it was amazing. It’s called Iceberg Lake because it has ice on it most of the year. It even has icebergs floating in it. It’s in a natural amphitheater that the glaciers carved out during the ice ages. The pictures of it don’t do it justice. It’s another one of those sites around here that you have to see for yourself. It took us about 4 and a half hours to get to the lake, but only 2 hours to get back down. We hiked down with a couple from Abingdon, VA and we were both setting blistering paces down the mountain. It was a really fun hike, but we were glad for it to be over, too. We had a little huckleberry ice cream to reward ourselves for a 10 mile hike.
We came back to camp and crashed pretty hard. I took a pretty long nap and Kate worked in her journal. Around 5:30 we went to take some long overdue showers. I really enjoy showering a lot more when I can only get one every 4 or 5 days. After showers we ate a quick supper then went back down to Fishercap Lake to see if we could find the elusive bull moose that we know is there but haven’t seen yet. We got down there but no bull moose. The same cow from the other day was there, but no bull. There were a lot of people, so we didn’t stick around long. We did see a porcupine, though, which we weren’t expecting to see on the trip so that was good. We came back to camp and played a little UNO. Kate is thoroughly destroying me now. She’s opened up her lead to 16-11 and I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up. After some writing we called it a night.
~Andy
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Canada...Eh?
Today we woke up and headed to a magical land. A land that flows with syrup and snow. The land of Canada. Glacier shares a border with Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park. We got to the border and got questioned by the Canadian customs agent, which was a little intimidating. I found myself stuttering and sweating a bit even though I obviously had nothing to hide. I guess I would never make a good secret agent. He was very nice and did give me a "Have a nice day eh" when he let us through. We went into the Alberta Province and found our way to the Waterton Village area. Canada looks a lot like Northern Montana. Weird huh?
Our first stop was the Prince of Wales Hotel. It is perched on a hill overlooking a lake and has a breathtaking view from the lobby. It is very British and would be great to stay in, although we assume it's pretty expensive.
We walked around some of the little shops and ate lunch at Zum's. I had a delicious cheeseburger, which is my first in 2 weeks, believe it or not. After lunch, we walked around a bit more then saw a Royal Mounted Police Station that we had to get a photo of. Unfortunately there were no Mounties readily avaialble for a photo, so we had to settle for the sign.
The best part of Canada was the fact the the American dollar is strong right now, so it was like getting a 20% discount everywhere you went. Pretty cool!
We headed back into the States and got grilled again by the customs agent. I liked the Canadian guy better, but I missed my homeland while I was gone. We headed into town to do a little blogging and that's where you find me right now. Tonight we are going to go to worship at 6:00pm and then back to Fishercap Lake for some more moose hunting. hopefully we'll be able to squeeze a shower in somewhere along the line. It's been a while for us. I probably won't post again until South Dakota in a couple of days. Until then.
~Andy
Our first stop was the Prince of Wales Hotel. It is perched on a hill overlooking a lake and has a breathtaking view from the lobby. It is very British and would be great to stay in, although we assume it's pretty expensive.
We walked around some of the little shops and ate lunch at Zum's. I had a delicious cheeseburger, which is my first in 2 weeks, believe it or not. After lunch, we walked around a bit more then saw a Royal Mounted Police Station that we had to get a photo of. Unfortunately there were no Mounties readily avaialble for a photo, so we had to settle for the sign.
The best part of Canada was the fact the the American dollar is strong right now, so it was like getting a 20% discount everywhere you went. Pretty cool!
We headed back into the States and got grilled again by the customs agent. I liked the Canadian guy better, but I missed my homeland while I was gone. We headed into town to do a little blogging and that's where you find me right now. Tonight we are going to go to worship at 6:00pm and then back to Fishercap Lake for some more moose hunting. hopefully we'll be able to squeeze a shower in somewhere along the line. It's been a while for us. I probably won't post again until South Dakota in a couple of days. Until then.
~Andy
Yeeehawww!
Today (June 27) started with our big activity for Glacier: horseback riding through the back country. We got to the corral around 8:00am and got underway around 8:30. My horse's name was Scar and Kate's was Snip. This was my first time on a horse, but I never really felt scared. I figured the horse didn't want to fall off the side of a cliff just as much as I didn't want to. You're not supposed to let the horses eat along the trail, because there are several plants that are poisonous to horses along the trail. My horse, Scar, wanted to eat about every 5th step, so I was constantly kicking and pulling him away from whatever delicacies lay on the trail. We rode for about 2 hours then took a break, which was good for my greenhorn legs, then rode back to the corral. The horses were Western neck reigned for you experienced horse folk, but you didn't really have to steer them. They had done the trail so many times that they just followed the leader automatically. Kind of like a horse cruise control. The trail was pretty rocky and steep in places and it did make me feel a little like The Man from Snowy River a couple of times. I had a lot of fun and wouldn't mind riding some more later on. Saddle up Rusty!
After horseback riding, we went back, walking very gingerly, to eat lunch and grab a quick nap. We then met a ranger for a nature walk around the area to Fishercap Lake. The ranger had been workign in the park for 15 summers and spent his winters in Indianapolis as a college biology professor. Needless to say he was very knowledgeable. I never know wildflowers could be that interesting. He knew every plant, flower and animal in the forest and could tell you everything about them. It was a good walk and we learned a lot. Some of the wildflowers we saw are below. I'm not going to label them, but Kate has them all in her visual journal. her journal is quite amazing by the way, so you should ask her to take a look at it if you get the chance. She's very talented, but we all know that already.
The ranger said that Fishercap Lake is a good place to see moose, which is one of the animals we really want to see more of, so we decided to come back later on. We walked back to the camp store for a little huckleberry ice cream, which is the local flavor of Montana. We also found some downed trees along the way that beavers had been working on so I decided to have a snack myself.
After our snack, we went back down to the lake to see if we could find some moose, but were unsuccessful. We weren't about to give up though. We went back to camp and ate supper, then headed back down to the lake moose hunting. We waited patiently for about an hour when we saw a mother moose and her twin calves come out of the woods to feed on the willows. The pics were too small to post, but they were worth the wait!
Tomorrow we are going into Canada, which will be my first international trip, so I'm pretty excited. We have our passports at the ready, and I'll let you know how the magical land of Canada is tomorrow!
~Andy
After horseback riding, we went back, walking very gingerly, to eat lunch and grab a quick nap. We then met a ranger for a nature walk around the area to Fishercap Lake. The ranger had been workign in the park for 15 summers and spent his winters in Indianapolis as a college biology professor. Needless to say he was very knowledgeable. I never know wildflowers could be that interesting. He knew every plant, flower and animal in the forest and could tell you everything about them. It was a good walk and we learned a lot. Some of the wildflowers we saw are below. I'm not going to label them, but Kate has them all in her visual journal. her journal is quite amazing by the way, so you should ask her to take a look at it if you get the chance. She's very talented, but we all know that already.
The ranger said that Fishercap Lake is a good place to see moose, which is one of the animals we really want to see more of, so we decided to come back later on. We walked back to the camp store for a little huckleberry ice cream, which is the local flavor of Montana. We also found some downed trees along the way that beavers had been working on so I decided to have a snack myself.
After our snack, we went back down to the lake to see if we could find some moose, but were unsuccessful. We weren't about to give up though. We went back to camp and ate supper, then headed back down to the lake moose hunting. We waited patiently for about an hour when we saw a mother moose and her twin calves come out of the woods to feed on the willows. The pics were too small to post, but they were worth the wait!
Tomorrow we are going into Canada, which will be my first international trip, so I'm pretty excited. We have our passports at the ready, and I'll let you know how the magical land of Canada is tomorrow!
~Andy
Laundry and Sheep
Our first full day at Glacier National Park was pretty much a day to get caught up and take a breath. We slept late then had a nice breakfast. We headed into the town of St. Mary to do a little souvenir shopping and do some laundry. We found a little shop that had the internet, so I did some blogging. We bought some t-shirts and ate a little pie from a local cafe. Next was laundry, which we were badly in need of doing. We got that done then headed up to one of the hot spots in Glacier.
There is one road that goes across Glacier called the Going to the Sun Road. It goes up into the mountains and is incredibly scenic. It had just opened up today. Avalanches had washed away parts of the road and they just finished repairs. We took off up the road, and I do mean up. It is a narrow two lane road with no guardrails. Kate started out driving, but I took over pretty quickly. There are some great views of St. Mary's Lake and Jackson Glacier on the way up to Logan Pass.
As we headed up to Logan Pass, we saw more and more snow piled up along the side of the road. When we finally got up there, it was freezing and very windy. There were people skiing on the side of the mountain. They hike up to the top and ski down. It sounds pretty tiring to me. I think I'll stick with a ski lift. The snow was piled up high enough to cover the car. What season is it? Isn't it summer?
There is a visitor's center at Logan Pass where you can stop to use the restroom and admire the views, so we pulled in. We weren't expecting to be greeted by 3 bighorned sheep. They were patrooling the parking lot for food that people had left and a couple fo them rammed horns together in a disagreement. It was way cool!
After that, we headed back down to the campsite and bedded down for the evening. Horseback riding tomorrow!
~Andy
There is one road that goes across Glacier called the Going to the Sun Road. It goes up into the mountains and is incredibly scenic. It had just opened up today. Avalanches had washed away parts of the road and they just finished repairs. We took off up the road, and I do mean up. It is a narrow two lane road with no guardrails. Kate started out driving, but I took over pretty quickly. There are some great views of St. Mary's Lake and Jackson Glacier on the way up to Logan Pass.
As we headed up to Logan Pass, we saw more and more snow piled up along the side of the road. When we finally got up there, it was freezing and very windy. There were people skiing on the side of the mountain. They hike up to the top and ski down. It sounds pretty tiring to me. I think I'll stick with a ski lift. The snow was piled up high enough to cover the car. What season is it? Isn't it summer?
There is a visitor's center at Logan Pass where you can stop to use the restroom and admire the views, so we pulled in. We weren't expecting to be greeted by 3 bighorned sheep. They were patrooling the parking lot for food that people had left and a couple fo them rammed horns together in a disagreement. It was way cool!
After that, we headed back down to the campsite and bedded down for the evening. Horseback riding tomorrow!
~Andy
Ribs...That's Why I'm Doing This
Not many of you will understand the title of this blog. If you do, then great, if not, then you're probably not as big of a Will Ferrell fan as I am, but that's certainly OK too!
We started day 10 of our trip in Yellowstone by getting up and preparing to go horseback riding through the park. What we didn't realize was that you had to book far in advance to do this, so we were turned away. We decided to do a long ride in Glacier to make up for it. On the way, we did see a bull elk with a pretty good size rack. He still had velvet on his antlers.
With the change in plans, we decided to go back down to see all the thermal features in teh Old Faithful area, or the Lower Geyser Basin. This is the most crowded part of the park, since it centers around Old Faithful. It's cool to see all the geysers and such, but all the people make it a little but annoying. Below are several pics from the area. I'm not going to title each one, but we can talk later if you're interested.
We went back up to the Tower-Roosevelt area of the park (NW area) to eat supper at the Roosevelt Lodge. Teddy Roosevelt took several trips to the park and this lodge was named for him. (I do beleive the Teddy commissioned the world's first national park, Yellowstone, as well, but you may need to check my facts.) The lodge is a great place, and specializes in BBQ ribs, so we had to give those a try. Kate had ribs and I had a sampler platter of ribs, bbq chicken and fried chicken. IT was all very good and I would reccommend it to anyone. Don't worry though, Granny Linker's fried chicken is still the champion.
The Roosevelt area is great for animal viewing as well, so we headed down to the Lamar River Valley to see if we could spot some wolves. We got into a little traffic jam on the way down there, but who am I to tell a 1,500 pound buffalo to get out of the road. He was missing his tail, though, which was a little weird. I guess something ate it.
We got down to the valley and drove until we spotted a bunch of cars. People line up every night to get a good look at the wolves. As we were pulling into a parking spot, we got a glimpse of a black wolf as it hid in the sagebrush. We waited for it to vome out for an hour, but it snuck around us somehow and we missed. While we were waiting, a large bull bison took offense to our standing where he wanted to be so he started snorting and pawing at the ground. We back off to the car pretty quickly and he calmed down. It was a little scary though.
We drove back to the campsite with wolves on our mind. We decided to get up early and go back to the Lamar Valley to see if we could see some. Kate was a little more enthusiastic about getting up at 5:15am than I was, but it is the best time to see them. We got there and weren't disappointed. We saw a gray wolf munching on a buffalo carcass. It was pretty far away, but a nice person let us use their spotting scope, which is apparently a must have in the park. We decided to drive down the road a little further and we saw one closer with our bare eyes. It was the same black one from last night and it was really cool to be able to see it in detail. Kate saw another one on the way back but I didn't catch it. I'm usually the driver and she's the spotter. We make a pretty good team.
We went back to the Roosevelt Lodge and ate breakfast then headed back to camp and packed up. Because we were at the north end of the park, we could make it to Glacier in one day, so we headed north to Montana. Below is a pic of our Yellowstone campsite.
We arrived in Glacier National Park around 8:00pm and drove around until we decided where we were going to camp. The wind was blowing at 35 mph with 50mph gusts. The campsite we wanted only had one spot left so wee were lucky to get it. We ate PB & J sandwhiches as we set up camp and called it a night.
The weather has been great all trip. Yellowstone was perfect and Glacier is windy but still not too cold. More on Glacier next time.
We started day 10 of our trip in Yellowstone by getting up and preparing to go horseback riding through the park. What we didn't realize was that you had to book far in advance to do this, so we were turned away. We decided to do a long ride in Glacier to make up for it. On the way, we did see a bull elk with a pretty good size rack. He still had velvet on his antlers.
With the change in plans, we decided to go back down to see all the thermal features in teh Old Faithful area, or the Lower Geyser Basin. This is the most crowded part of the park, since it centers around Old Faithful. It's cool to see all the geysers and such, but all the people make it a little but annoying. Below are several pics from the area. I'm not going to title each one, but we can talk later if you're interested.
We went back up to the Tower-Roosevelt area of the park (NW area) to eat supper at the Roosevelt Lodge. Teddy Roosevelt took several trips to the park and this lodge was named for him. (I do beleive the Teddy commissioned the world's first national park, Yellowstone, as well, but you may need to check my facts.) The lodge is a great place, and specializes in BBQ ribs, so we had to give those a try. Kate had ribs and I had a sampler platter of ribs, bbq chicken and fried chicken. IT was all very good and I would reccommend it to anyone. Don't worry though, Granny Linker's fried chicken is still the champion.
The Roosevelt area is great for animal viewing as well, so we headed down to the Lamar River Valley to see if we could spot some wolves. We got into a little traffic jam on the way down there, but who am I to tell a 1,500 pound buffalo to get out of the road. He was missing his tail, though, which was a little weird. I guess something ate it.
We got down to the valley and drove until we spotted a bunch of cars. People line up every night to get a good look at the wolves. As we were pulling into a parking spot, we got a glimpse of a black wolf as it hid in the sagebrush. We waited for it to vome out for an hour, but it snuck around us somehow and we missed. While we were waiting, a large bull bison took offense to our standing where he wanted to be so he started snorting and pawing at the ground. We back off to the car pretty quickly and he calmed down. It was a little scary though.
We drove back to the campsite with wolves on our mind. We decided to get up early and go back to the Lamar Valley to see if we could see some. Kate was a little more enthusiastic about getting up at 5:15am than I was, but it is the best time to see them. We got there and weren't disappointed. We saw a gray wolf munching on a buffalo carcass. It was pretty far away, but a nice person let us use their spotting scope, which is apparently a must have in the park. We decided to drive down the road a little further and we saw one closer with our bare eyes. It was the same black one from last night and it was really cool to be able to see it in detail. Kate saw another one on the way back but I didn't catch it. I'm usually the driver and she's the spotter. We make a pretty good team.
We went back to the Roosevelt Lodge and ate breakfast then headed back to camp and packed up. Because we were at the north end of the park, we could make it to Glacier in one day, so we headed north to Montana. Below is a pic of our Yellowstone campsite.
We arrived in Glacier National Park around 8:00pm and drove around until we decided where we were going to camp. The wind was blowing at 35 mph with 50mph gusts. The campsite we wanted only had one spot left so wee were lucky to get it. We ate PB & J sandwhiches as we set up camp and called it a night.
The weather has been great all trip. Yellowstone was perfect and Glacier is windy but still not too cold. More on Glacier next time.
Friday, June 26, 2009
A Beary Good Day
Today (June 23) was a very busy day that started with a trip toward Tower Falls. Not long after we were on the road, we saw a big traffic jam. We grabbed our binoculars and took off and were very happy to see a black bear with a cub. The cub was playing, then decided to take a nap. It was very cute. Hard to see in the photo. Look for the black dot.
We made it to Tower Falls and were treated to a glorious view of the falls. What is it about waterfalls that is so mesmerizing?
The next stop on our trip was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. In order to get there we had to go over the Washburn Mountain range and go through Dunraven Pass, which is a hot spot for bears. We were up pretty high and there was still a lot of snow on the ground. As we were driving, a car was frantically waving at us to stop. Why you ask...There was a black bear on the side of the road. Kate could have touched it had she wanted to. Way cool!
We were still on a pretty good high when we came upon another groud of cars pulled off the side fo the road, so wew dashed to the top of the hill to see what was there. At the bottom of the ridge, less than 100 yards away was a grizzly bear! He was digging for roots and grubs, and we watched him for a long while. It's not too common to see one that close (and maybe not taht safe either), so it was awesome!
We finally made it down to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (not the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Different canyons). Our first stop was Artist Point, where you can view the Lower Falls and the canyon from a distance.
We then hiked down the Southern Rim of the canyon which was pretty strenuous, but the views are worth the work. We ate lunch with a view of the falls. Next we went to the brink of the Upper Falls where the water goes over the falls. It was neat to watch the water go over the falls from above. Next we hiked to the Brink of the Lower Falls, the taller fo the falls. The path drops 600 feet and is pretty steep on the way down, which stinks for the walk back. It was good exercise and a great view.
After the canyon, we headed down to the mud volcano area. It's a thermal activity area with some pretty cool features. It smelled incredibly bad, so much that I got a little nauseous. The sulfur coming up from teh ground smells like the worst rotten eggs ever, but the sites are very cool.
After the Mud Volcano, we traveled down to the Lake Yellowstoen area and had a quick ice cream snack on teh lake. I had Moose Tracks which I thought was very appropriate. We sat in teh historic Yellowstone Hotel for a while, which used to be teh cream of the crop of hotels, but has gone downhill a bit in my opinion.
We decided to go down to Grant Village, which is still on the lake, to eat supper at the Grant Village Lake restaurant. They had a decent buffet for the price (everything is kind of expensive here. After supper, we rode through the Hayden Valley in hopes of seeing soem wildlie. We saw a blad eagle, whcih was cool enough, but he was fighting a hawk. We think the hawk may have had a nest in the area. The eagle ending up flying away, but I don't think his heart was in the fight.
Today was a really good day, and at the pace we're covering the park, we probably won't stay there entire week we had planned. Tomorrow is the Lamar Valley and hopefully some wolf sightings. Until then.
~Andy
We made it to Tower Falls and were treated to a glorious view of the falls. What is it about waterfalls that is so mesmerizing?
The next stop on our trip was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. In order to get there we had to go over the Washburn Mountain range and go through Dunraven Pass, which is a hot spot for bears. We were up pretty high and there was still a lot of snow on the ground. As we were driving, a car was frantically waving at us to stop. Why you ask...There was a black bear on the side of the road. Kate could have touched it had she wanted to. Way cool!
We were still on a pretty good high when we came upon another groud of cars pulled off the side fo the road, so wew dashed to the top of the hill to see what was there. At the bottom of the ridge, less than 100 yards away was a grizzly bear! He was digging for roots and grubs, and we watched him for a long while. It's not too common to see one that close (and maybe not taht safe either), so it was awesome!
We finally made it down to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (not the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Different canyons). Our first stop was Artist Point, where you can view the Lower Falls and the canyon from a distance.
We then hiked down the Southern Rim of the canyon which was pretty strenuous, but the views are worth the work. We ate lunch with a view of the falls. Next we went to the brink of the Upper Falls where the water goes over the falls. It was neat to watch the water go over the falls from above. Next we hiked to the Brink of the Lower Falls, the taller fo the falls. The path drops 600 feet and is pretty steep on the way down, which stinks for the walk back. It was good exercise and a great view.
After the canyon, we headed down to the mud volcano area. It's a thermal activity area with some pretty cool features. It smelled incredibly bad, so much that I got a little nauseous. The sulfur coming up from teh ground smells like the worst rotten eggs ever, but the sites are very cool.
After the Mud Volcano, we traveled down to the Lake Yellowstoen area and had a quick ice cream snack on teh lake. I had Moose Tracks which I thought was very appropriate. We sat in teh historic Yellowstone Hotel for a while, which used to be teh cream of the crop of hotels, but has gone downhill a bit in my opinion.
We decided to go down to Grant Village, which is still on the lake, to eat supper at the Grant Village Lake restaurant. They had a decent buffet for the price (everything is kind of expensive here. After supper, we rode through the Hayden Valley in hopes of seeing soem wildlie. We saw a blad eagle, whcih was cool enough, but he was fighting a hawk. We think the hawk may have had a nest in the area. The eagle ending up flying away, but I don't think his heart was in the fight.
Today was a really good day, and at the pace we're covering the park, we probably won't stay there entire week we had planned. Tomorrow is the Lamar Valley and hopefully some wolf sightings. Until then.
~Andy
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