Final Day in Yellowstone

NOTE: This is the 6^th of a multi-part series chronicling my family's two week vacation in the summer of 2010.

For links to the entire series, click here.

As dawn broke at the end of our second night in Yellowstone, I regretted having only planned for two full days at the park. We'd experienced quite a lot since arriving the afternoon two days earlier, but we now realized we would leave the 2.2 million acre park with many of its wonders still unknown to us. Still, we looked forward to what we'd discover as we made our way to the western gate.

We roused the girls and packed our reliable Blazer once again. Today, Old Faithful was first on our list of things to do. We arrived around 9:20 am local time, only 20 minutes before the geyser's next predicted eruption. Once again our Lord was scouting our path, because we had no idea what time to expect the spout to spew when we left Lewis Lake. Once we found a parking place and made it to the ranger station, it was only a short walk and minutes to spare before the tower of water and steam was expelled from the most famous of Yellowstone's geysers.

Because it was still relatively early, the wooden walk encircling the famous geyser wasn't too crowded. When we spotted the sign pointing us in the direction of Observation Point, we couldn't resist the one mile round trip hike. Since we still had another hike planned that morning, the girls stayed behind in the lobby of the Lodge where they located an electrical outlet and seized the opportunity to charge their cell phones.

My wife and I headed down the trail to the overlook. The trail brochure we obtained at the ranger station placed this trail in the strenuous category, but that's a little misleading. Though it's a relatively steep climb of 160 feet in a short distance, the trail is good and the walk wasn't so tough I'd consider it a strenuous hike.

The overlook wasn't particularly impressive compared to what we'd already seen in the park. It more or less provided a different vantage point to view Old Faithful's eruption. But we were glad we made the climb and decided to take the long way back rather than simply retrace our steps.

The trail to Solitary Geyser added an extra half mile to our unplanned hike, but was an easy walk through the forest that led us past several other geysers and thermal features. By the time we arrived back at the lodge, our daughters' phones were charged and they were ready to move on.

Our planned hike that day was a 2.5 mile hike to Mystic Falls, a moderately strenuous hike according to our brochure. We had a little trouble locating the trail because our map showed the trail head began at the boardwalk behind Biscuit Basin. But the entire Biscuit Basin attraction was closed due to construction and the alternate trail head wasn't clearly marked along the highway. Once we realized we had passed the trail head, we studied our map more closely and realized we could access the Mystic Falls trail from the Daisy Geyser trail head on the highway. We backtracked and found the alternate entrance we'd use to access the back country of Yellowstone.

The trail to the falls offered a different kind of scenery due to the scars inflicted by a 1988 conflagration. Charred bits of logs remain scattered along the trail, giving evidence of the fire that scorched the landscape. But interspersed along the trail were gaps in the the young and surviving evergreens that offered still spectacular views of the valley through which flowed the Little Firehole River. Then we came to the falls and were aptly rewarded for the 1.6 miles we'd walked to find them.

From where we parked, the trek in to Mystic Falls covered about 1.3 miles. About half that distance down the trail, we came to a fork. A sign posted there pointed west and told us we were 0.7 miles from our destination. Beside the arrow pointing north, it said 0.7 miles to the Biscuit Basin Overlook and 1.7 miles to Mystic Falls. We followed our plan and took the westward path, but not knowing what lay on the upper trail had me intrigued.

At the base of the 70 foot falls, a mountain towered above us. From where we stood, it appeared the alternate trail back ascended about 70 feet and skirted the face.To satisfy my curiosity, I led my family through the switchbacks that climbed the steep slope of the Little Firehole River. But the trail passed by what I'd thought was the route and continued to up toward the soft, white clouds above. And it climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more.

Each time we thought we'd reached the top only to find the ascent continued, the girls wondered aloud if we'd bitten off more than we could chew. They'd convinced themselves I had gotten us lost. I knew we weren't lost, but as we climbed the steep mountain face, wondering how they would handle the inevitable descent weighed heavily on my mind.

When we reached the overlook, it was past the time we had planned to be on the highway. Our daughters were tired and somewhat agitated, ready to be back in the air conditioned Blazer and on our way. But we were still hundreds of feet above the basin floor where our vehicle was parked. In fact, we could see the Blazer from the overlook. And it appeared far enough away, the girls wondered if we could reach it by dark.

To top it off, our location on the trail was off our map. The only trail at the overlook other than the one we'd followed to get here looked to go the wrong way, apparently the same direction from which we'd come. Luckily though, a group of scouts were resting at the overlook. Their guide had been there before and knew the trail. He assured us the trail was the correct one and only deceptively appeared to lead the wrong way. We headed down.

The trail was steep and narrow, but not nearly as difficult to navigate as I'd worried it would be. Though we proceeded slowly, we made good time and had no trouble on the way down. We were back in our Blazer by 4:00 PM and on our way, headed to the west gate. We thought our adventures in the park were over, but we were wrong.

We'd learned early in our visit that wildlife could appear practically anywhere, at any time. Bison were especially common, so spotting them had ceased to impress us as it had that first day. Even close encounters had been so common that we didn't even reach for the camera now when the huge brown beasts appeared. But that would change on our way to the exit.

As we approached a herd spread across both sides of the road, we slowed to avoid ramming any that might cross. But sighting them failed to stir our enthusiasm, until we spotted the baby bison playing close to the edge of the highway. We'd seen plenty of young buffalo in the past two days, but only from afar. None had been close enough to get a really good picture. But as we drew close, the two buffalo calves crossed the road in front of us to give us a great shot.

Once again, our falling behind schedule had proved divine intervention as God used it to bless us with more impressive sightings of his creation. The calves had even seemed to draw our hike-weary teenage daughters out of their somber moods. We had been so blessed to this point, we were certain our limit of Yellowstone experience had been reached. But we'd be greatly blessed once again before we'd cross the boundary and exit the park.

About halfway between Madison and the west gate, the highway runs parallel beside the Madison River. Traveling west, the river was on our left. On the opposite bank, the terrain was relatively flat and the trees of the forest reached almost to the water's edge. The river, these trees, and the steep slope of a mountain formed a small clearing in the shape of a triangle. Directly across the river from this clearing, we encountered a parking lot on the highway. Traffic was at a standstill.

Once again, traffic on both sides of the highway had come to a halt. The east bound and west bound shoulders were lined with parked cars. One westbound pickup had even turned across the opposing lane of traffic and parked perpendicular to the edge of the roadway, completely blocking the east bound lane. A huge crowd of people who had abandoned their vehicles was gathered on the south side of the highway peering across the river with cameras, binoculars, and spotting scopes. Our time at Yellowstone told us this most likely meant a bear sighting. And our instinct was proven right when we spotted the golden glow of the grizzly gleaming in the afternoon sun.

Though we'd seen a distant grizzly the day before, this was truly a blessing from above. The Madison River was about 40 yards wide here, providing a barrier that offered an opportunity to leave our vehicle and get some really great pictures of an animal we didn't want to get too close to. We stayed for quite a spell as the beast ambled to and fro along the riverbank before moving west along the base of the rocky mountain and out of sight.

What a way to close out a visit to Yellowstone! This up close encounter with the king of the beasts that reside in this 2.2 million acre wilderness gave us a spectacular ending to a spectacular trip!

There is no doubt in my mind the hand of God was guiding us throughout our visit. When one considers arriving at any of these spots a few minutes earlier or a few minutes later would have prevented us from seeing these majestic animals, mere coincidence offers too weak an explanation for the unplanned delays that placed us in just the right place at the exact moment in time to witness these beautiful beasts.

As we exited through the west gate, I thanked God for the opportunity to visit His vast work of art we know as Yellowstone National Park.