| (Yellowstone Trip - June 9 to June 24, 2000 - Part 2) | |
| Sunday,
June 11, 2000
We rose early, but did not shine! (Still moving a little slow). We gathered some energy and drove down to Moose and the Chapel of the Transfiguration for an inspiring Pentecost service in beautiful surroundings. (Yes, Charles, we did eventually get to go inside, and after the service got a shot of the window - but not nearly as spectacular as your picture is!) It is only open in the summer as an outreach of the Episcopal church in Jackson. A few of the locals were there, providing the basics for the service, in addition to fellow tourists. We were very thankful to be able to worship in this wonderful setting! |
 |
 |
We returned to Signal Mountain, packed up, and headed north (saw the same moose as last night again at the Jackson Dam). After a stop at Flagg Ranch for a "serious" breakfast, we’re in Yellowstone! We’re surprised at the extent of the fire damage in the south end of the park, and when we went by West Thumb in the brilliant sunshine, we recalled last year when the lake was frozen and snow was falling. We stopped by Old Faithful and felt just a little stupid holding our Loon flag for the web cam! |
| We decided
that Fairy Falls would be a good "get acclimated" hike. On the way, we
detour through Fountain Lake Drive hoping to see Great Fountain Geyser
erupt, but only find our old friend White Dome excited to see us.
In the process of looking for the Fairy Falls trailhead, we did a quick turn through the Midway Geyser Basin. Grand Prismatic, Excelsior, Turquoise Pool, etc. were spectacular with the sun bringing out all their colors, especially the many shades of blue. How different from last year when we visited in the rain!
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Trying to figure out the Fairy Falls trail from our hiking books left us confused and frustrated. But after a couple of false starts, we finally set out hiking from the north side down the old Fountain Flats Road, past the Sentinel Meadows trailhead, to the section of the Fairy Falls trail that follows Fairy Creek. Just beyond Ojo Caliente Spring, we met some |
| hikers – one group had hiked all the way along the dirt road, missing the turn to the falls altogether! Another group gave us some directions and false hope that the trail would improve once we left the road - it did not! The trail, where discernable, was flat and boring, except for some Sandhill cranes. In addition, were fighting a stiff wind in our face the whole way. |  |
 |
We passed a
small thermal area, and cranes notice all the bison in the distant field.
We pressed on, past a swampy spot where you have to walk on logs for about
a football field's length. We get to the point where we can see the falls
beyond the swamp and are close enough to get a picture. We take a water
and snack break, after which we decided "This is close enough!" and did
an about-face toward the parking lot!
|
| The return trek went much more quickly with the wind at our backs … until that large herd of bison that were w-a-a-a-a-y off in the distant field were now crossing the trail in front of us! After one wave of about 50 bison went on by, we made some forward progress, but were soon stopped again by a great mass of black beasts. They crossed the stream in groups of 40 to 50, until the last group crossed and just parked! So we waited … and waited. With thermal features and more bison to our right, and an un-fordable stream to our left, we had no other option. | |
 |
Fifteen minutes passed -- we were getting annoyed, but so was a young male who made some snorting sounds in our direction. So we kept our distance and waited some more. There were lots of mamas with babies in this group, so we really didn't want to upset anyone. |
 |
|
| After waiting
for over an hour, we were able to explore the stream and find a shallow
area that provided an alternate route. The herd finally moved enough away
from the stream to where we could skirt its edge to "daylight." As we were
moving on out, we looked up, and low and behold another wave was coming
toward the stream! "I'm not stopping now!" we both declared, and scurried
on by before they came across. Tired, hungry, thirsty, and "dogs barking,"
we reach the car – not the easy warm-up hike we planned!
Finally on our way up to Mammoth Hotel, our destination for the night's lodging and FOOD!!! Just below the turn to Firehole Canyon Drive, traffic was stopped by a large bull bison on the road – and animal-lover Carol shouts "Hit him!!!!" (I really was kidding, honest!!!!) |
|
| <==To Index Page | |
| <==To Home Page | |
| <== Back to Part 1 | |
