| (Yellowstone Trip - June 9 to June 24, 2000 - Part 9) | |
| Sunday,
June 18, 2000
We slept in late on a brilliant sunny
day and sauntered over to the Ham store to get ready for the day’s main
activity – hiking Mt. Washburn. We first ate a big breakfast, and then
got some film and sandwiches, and went over to the visitor’s center to
meet ‘Ballpark’ Frank and Cathy. After discussing logistics, we drove to
Dunraven Pass and were lucky to find a parking place for one car, then
over to the Chittendon Road lot to start, so that we could do the hike
on both sides of the mountain. Going up the Chittendon Road, a gravel road,
close to the edge of the mountainside, had some advantages: wildflowers
and a clear path to the top. However, there’s not much shade, and, well,
the mountain looked intimidating. Okay, it IS intimidating.
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| Without Frank’s slow, steady pace and frequent stops, we might have turned back! But it was a glorious, glorious day for a hike up a big mountain with lots of spectacular views. On the way up, we saw lots of wildflowers: paintbrush, lupine, and something that looked like fireworks. |  |
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Further up the ridge, we saw the silhouette of a buck elk with a large rack in velvet. He came charging over the hill, followed shortly by a female and a smaller (perhaps a yearling) elk. They paused to graze a minute, and then start running back over the ridge and out of sight. Nothing we observed was chasing them, but they sure were moving! |
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| At the last switchback, we saw some bighorn ewes, just sitting in the sun and wind. Doesn't it just make you want to yodel! | |
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We reached the top and were greeting by howling winds and spectacular views. We stopped for a while at the shelter (actually a three story building), ate some lunch, and overheard phone conversations as people made their Father’s Day calls from the pay phone. "…Guess where I’m calling from….it’s a 10,000 foot mountain in Yellowstone Park…." |
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Going down the other side of the mountain looked a little precarious because of the lingering snow. John was certainly up to the task! Carol wasn't so sure - that's a lot of snow! |
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| Turned out not to be as daunting as it first appeared, and we were soon on our way and enjoying more inspiring views. |  |
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| Time flew as we hiked down, spurred by great company and conversation. Yea Cathy! She had pulled off a great birthday surprise for Frank the day before (Saturday) – a two hour plane ride all over the park! It was fun to hear them describe that adventure! |  |
| Here's a nice view of the road over Dunraven Pass. | |
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| After returning to Canyon, we followed Frank & Cathy to Lake cafeteria for dinner and more conversation. After dessert (Moose Tracks, what else?), we did some scoping and hunting for Griz, but not finding much, except a coyote scrounging for leftovers at the Buffalo Ford picnic area. | |
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| He trotted up by the car to give us a closer look. |  |
| We caught up
with Frank at the "south overlook" and scoped and talked, and scoped and
talked until dark. We didn’t see very much – one coyote, some elk
swimming the river – but when the road traffic died down, all of God’s
creatures joined in a loud chorus – birds, frogs, and, most appropriately,
loons!
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