Friday, September 10, 2010

Bozeman, MT

Have you ever had one of those days when you look back and marvel at how much you had done?? Especially when there are always those other days when you wonder how the day is over so quickly?




Well, today was one of those epic days for us!



After our longest hike, so far, the day before, we awoke to find that it was still cold and raining outside… Awesome. Apparently we were not meant to see Grand Teton in all its glory.



Undeterred, we set out for another hike! This time we decided to hike the comparatively easy 8 mile round trip trail to Bearpaw Lake. The rain was supposed to continue until about noon, but it was already starting to break as we pulled into the trailhead parking lot. Megs got some sweet rainbow pics…





But it was only a short reprieve. It wasn’t raining that hard but everything along the trail was damp from the overnight rain. And, to make our day even tougher, there were huge puddles all over the majority of the trail. At some points the trail resembled more of a tiny lake or river than a path…



So, of course, in our dodging back and forth we managed to get soaked once again by way of the underbrush. We still stopped to enjoy some great views across String Lake and Leigh Lake though…







Further along, we came upon an interesting area. A large swath of forest was charred and dead from an apparent forest fire some number of years ago. This, in and of itself, was not all that surprising since we had just learned that, in recent years, the parks have taken a much different approach to fires. Rather than trying to put out fires immediately, they recognize that forest fires are a natural part of the life cycle of forests. So now, if a fire starts, normally from lightning strikes, it is left to its own devices unless the flames start to threaten park buildings.



But what made this particular sight interesting was that only one side of the trail was scorched forest while the other side of the trail seemed to be a perfectly untouched green forest…



We weren’t able to ask a ranger about it afterwards. But either it started to rain or snow just as the fire reached a mile long stretch of hiking trail, or the fire was pushed back from the trail in an attempt to save the stretch of trees along the lake shore… Guess we’ll never know.



Shortly thereafter we reached Bearpaw Lake. The fog and clouds decided to be nice to us and lift a bit so we could take some pictures!!





It continued to clear up a bit on our trip back, but we never were able to get a clear view of the mountains…









Grand Tetons is pretty awesome though. Actually reminded me of hiking in Maine, only on a much, umm, grander scale… Even with the poor conditions, we still really enjoyed both of the trails we hiked. I can only imagine how much cooler they would be in clear weather! Any fans of hiking should definitely check out the park. It would be really fun to go out on some of the long trails and do some backcountry camping along the way… Next time.



This time, however, we said goodbye to the Tetons and headed north back into Yellowstone National Park. After all, we only saw 2/3 of the park on our long tour a couple days before!! Speaking of which, during our travels through Yellowstone, we passed by a particular area multiple times. All the sign said was, Mud Volcano. But really, that’s all it needed to say. I was hooked. We had to check that out! It is going to be so cool!!



Yeah, that’s a pool of bubbling mud… Apparently the mud volcano blew itself to smithereens a long time ago. Not sure it should still get to falsely advertise then... Isn’t there a law against that??



The rest of the area was pretty active though…





Then we figured we should at least check out this “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”. We both expected it to be pretty typical. But in fact, it was amazing!!!









Wow. Now that’s a canyon! And it also solves the age old riddle of why the park is called Yellowstone…



With the light beginning to fade, we made our way around the top of the park towards Mammoth Hot Springs, the final area we had yet to visit. I gave the Grand Tetons a lot of credit earlier, but Yellowstone has some pretty spectacular landscapes as well…













Made it to Mammoth in time to see the hot springs area, but figured we should check in to the campground first. Full. Well, crap. I guess we have to head 8 more miles to the next one…



Full. Damn.



12 more miles to the next one?? Full. Of course it is. Two days earlier we basically have a campground to ourselves and now we can’t find a space at all!



Obviously we have lost all sense of time and failed to realize that it was a Friday evening…



Blah. Plan D. Head 2 hours north to Bozeman, MT and the closest Walmart on our upcoming route through Montana…



And so we said goodbye to Yellowstone as well. And around 11pm, after a day of hiking in the Grand Tetons, sightseeing in Yellowstone, and many hours of driving through beautiful wilderness, we rolled into the Walmart parking lot. We made our usual exploratory mission into the store, but then wasted no time crawling into bed…



Our plan for the next day? A long drive through Montana… To Glacier National Park!!

1 comment:

  1. Bozeman is where Shawn lives! Great pics, I loved it there!

    ReplyDelete