Yellowstone-The Hikes (06-27-12)

Yellowstone has a huge diversity of hikes available, and we’ve been trying to get to the ones we think have the most “bang for our buck” first.  Two of the trails we want to hike are closed due to Grizzly activity, but they should open soon.

When we first got to Yellowstone, the weather was not the best.  In fact, the first night we had freezing rain and a little snow, and it was cold the next day, but we still decided to hike to Avalanche Peak. We ended up hiking a good portion of the trail in the snow, but we were protected from the fierce wind by all the trees.  Once we got near the ridge however, that changed.

Once we were out in the open, we could feel the wind, and suddenly our jackets weren’t heavy enough.  We stopped right where I took this picture and watched a bunch of kids sledding down the slopes.  Then, instead of heading up to the ridge, we turned tail and ran.

The weather soon improved, although we’ve discovered that they never seem to forecast enough wind. It seems to always blow pretty hard in the afternoon. Anyway, one of our next  hikes took us along the ridge of a canyon, overlooking the Yellowstone River. We walked past two enormous waterfalls, and saw an osprey sitting on a nest.

At one point in the hike we descended Uncle Tom’s Trail, which turned out to be a set of stairs- 328 steps in all- down to a bottoms up view of the lower falls.  Down was fine, coming back up, at an elevation of 8000 feet, was a little slower!The views were great most of the way on that hike, although I was somewhat disappointed that we didn’t see any Bald Eagles.  I have actually seen 3 of them since we’ve been here, but they travel so far so fast, it’s been impossible to get a picture.

One of our favorite hikes was the Clear lake/Ribbon Lake hike.  That’s the hike where we saw the Elk on the trail.  It was about 6 miles or so, with not much elevation gain, but the scenery changed frequently, keeping our interest. We had views of the river for a while, then we walked through a huge meadow, and several times we came to clearings that had steam vents, mud pots and small geysers to watch.

Clear Lake was beautiful and looked very inviting, but around here, you never know if the water is safe or not.  The next lake we came upon proved that point!

Sour Lake looks very inviting as well, but the acidity of the water is similar to battery acid. There are micro-organisms in the water that consume the sulfur, creating sulfuric acid. 

To get ideas for which hikes to choose, we have spoken to several rangers, seeking their opinions.  The Washburn Peak trail was one that a ranger recommended to us.  She said it’s common to see bighorn sheep and sometimes grizzlies, but we saw neither. The day we hiked it the wind was howling and I think all the animals were hunkered down.

Once we reached the peak, the views of the surrounding mountains, including Grand Teton, were unbeatable.  The picture would probably have come out better if I had been outside to take it but it was so cold and windy, I took it from inside the observation tower.

We had an elevation gain of about 1900 ft, but the entire trail was essentially a dirt road, which made it seem easier.  Sort of. This trail was a first for me.  It’s the first time I have hiked to an elevation over 10,000 feet.  I felt like I accomplished something until we met another couple at the top.  He is 78 and she is 76.  We chatted with them all the way down the hill. Hiking 6.5 miles, at 10,000 feet at age 78? Now that’s an accomplishment!