Yellowstone, Day 2

NOTE: This is the 5^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.

The time had finally arrived! On this day, we'd make our first hike at Yellowstone. Though our teenage daughters weren't so enthused as my wife and I, our experience at the park was about to enter the next phase. But first, we needed to take care of a few things.

I had promised the girls they could begin the day with a shower, and we needed to wash some clothes. So we headed north to Grant Village, the nearest developed area to our camp site, where we could take advantage of the coin-operated showers and laundry. We passed a couple of hours here as I became ever more anxious to hit the trails. Finally, around 11:00, our chores were finished and we could head out.

The day before, during our semi-sprint to locate a place to pass the night, we had passed numerous interesting attractions in the park. One of these was Mud Volcano, located between Canyon Village and Lake Yellowstone. Our daughters weren't crazy about the idea of spending a lot of time here when the pungent odor of sulfur assaulted their sense of smell. Still, thermal features such as this were new to us so my wife and I were determined to get a closer look.

The wooden boardwalk constructed to allow visitors to work their way up and around the numerous stinking cauldrons here made the walking pretty easy. The warning signs telling us to stay on the walkway explained the dangers of falling through what might be a thin crust concealing more superheated pits just beneath the surface. Illustrations informed us of the potential for a terrible scalding death if one were to stray from the wooden planks and fall through the fragile covering of the hidden subsurface cauldrons.

By the time we left Mud Volcano, hunger pains were informing us it was past lunchtime. Not far north, but beyond the stench of sulfur, we found a crowded picnic area on the bank of the Yellowstone River. God again was looking out for us. As we pulled in, another vehicle pulled out and left us with a vacant slot. We climbed out and noticed all the picnic tables were occupied, but the outdoor diners at a nearby table soon headed for their vehicle as well.

As I busied myself preparing lunch for our crew, we were treated to yet another experience we'll likely never encounter outside the boundaries of Yellowstone. A huge bison lumbered across the highway, oblivious to the passing motorists who swerved and slammed on their brakes to avoid a collision. The gigantic beast galloped right onto the picnic grounds situated on a narrow strip of land bounded on one side by the highway and the other by the river.

Tourists began nervously standing up, apparently preparing to bolt if the animal charged. My wife and 17-year-old broke out their cameras and snapped some photos of the mass of hide and muscle on hooves when he halted his advance. Their window of opportunity didn't stay open long as the beast became agitated when he realized he'd trapped himself among the crowd of two-legged creatures occupying this practical isthmus. They retreated when the bison began dancing, swinging his head and stepping side-to-side. Then as suddenly as he entered our peaceful picnic area, he withdrew to the seclusion offered by the trees across the highway.

Once lunch was over, we hit the road for the trailhead where we would leave the highway and enter Yellowstone's back country for the first time. We had chosen for our first hike the Lost Lake Trail in the Tower Area. This is a 4 mile hike with the trailhead located directly behind Roosevelt Lodge. The trail is well-marked and easy to follow. According to the brochure we'd picked up at the ranger station, this would be a moderately difficult hike. It began with a series of switchbacks climbing roughly 300 feet up a fairly steep forested mountain side. Once we reached the top, the most difficult part of the hike was behind us.

When the trail leveled off, it joined the horse trail leading to the Roosevelt Corral and Tower Campground. We veered to the right here and continued through the forest until we emerged on the banks of Lost Lake, a small body of water nestled in a small mountain valley. The trail continued along the length of the lake and then meandered through the bottom of the valley until we reached the Petrified Tree parking area.

Though the description accompanying our trail map said this trail offered opportunity to spot black bear and other wildlife, we'd yet to spot any at this point. That would soon change but it wouldn't be bison, elk, and bears we'd see on this hike. Instead, smaller animals not shown in the girls' checklists would cross our path.

From the Petrified Tree parking area, the trail took a short but steep climb to a high meadow. As we ascended above the crowded parking lot, we spotted a badger running across the pavement below. Crossing the meadow offered beautiful vistas of the valley below. When we began the descent in the final stage of our hike, we were surprised by a red fox that came trotting down the hillside not 20 feet from us and paying us not the least bit of attention. We didn't get a picture of the fox because we weren't expecting him and didn't have the camera set correctly to shoot a quick picture. This experience taught us to always be prepared with your camera in Yellowstone.

Farther down the mountain, as the terrain transitioned from meadow to forest, a groundhog came running toward us as we approached a large pile of fallen trees. Wondering what possessed the animal to approach rather than retreat, we brought out the camera to photograph the curious spectator. That's when we noticed her babies moving about inside the tangle of trees atop which she lay watching. Her maternal instincts were stronger than her fear of humans and offered us an excellent photo opportunity.

The trail dropped off the mountain behind the Tower Junction ranger station. It emptied right into a lot crowded with small buildings, vehicles, and equipment. Here things were a little confusing because all trail markings ceased to exist once we entered this compound. But only a little confusing because we were in sight of the cabins situated adjacent to Roosevelt Lodge, where we'd embarked upon our hike. Though not certain we were on "the" trail, we made our way back to the vehicle with no trouble at all from here. Our first Yellowstone Hike was complete!

There was still plenty of daylight left, so we decided to drive the loop around the northern part of the park. We still had blessings to receive before the day would wane.

Soon after we passed Tower Junction, the road began climbing. On the left, a mountain rose above us and on the right, an expansive meadow on the floor the valley floor. The car in front of us slowed then stopped, with a long line of vehicles parked in front of it. Both lanes of traffic were blocked as people piled out of vehicles and rushed to peer into the valley below. The object that so fascinated visitors causing them to abandon their vehicles practically before they were fully stopped was far below in the valley--a black bear.

From our parking spot in the middle of the highway, through the trees along the edge of the road, the bear appeared to be thrashing around at the bottom of the long, steep slope that separated us. From outside the vehicle, a less-obstructed view showed us exactly why the bear seemed engaged in some sort of seizure-like dance. His thrashing about was occurring as he tore what appeared to be a small deer to pieces. We were observing a Yellowstone bear devouring a meal!

The bear was so far from us, our not-too-fancy camera wasn't able to get a great shot. But the black spot in the middle of the picture above is the first bear we saw in Yellowstone. This is when we learned that a bear sighting was a really big deal, even in Yellowstone. No other wildlife stopped traffic like that!

Finally, a ranger forced his way in between the cars parked on the highway and motioned to everyone to get moving. We obliged and proceeded toward Mammoth Hot Springs in the northwest corner of the park. It didn't take long before we were stopped again to photograph an awesome example of the abundant wildlife in Yellowstone.

This time, we'd halt for a monstrous bull elk. This creature dwarfed the one that so impressed us our first day in the park. He grazed only yards from the side of the road and never seemed to notice the crowd gathered to add his to their collection of photos. We didn't linger long here and moved on to see what other wonders lay in upper regions of Yellowstone.

Before we reached Mammoth Hot Springs, we stopped once more. Not for wildlife this time, but for another beautiful waterfall alongside the highway. By now, waterfalls were like buffalo to our teenage daughters. They were no longer impressed by either because we'd seen so many in our short visit. But my wife and I were still awed by these marvelous creations sculpted by the hands of our Maker. So she and I made our way to the overlook to take pictures and admire yet another beautiful gift from God.

We left there and made it to the white mountain formed by Mammoth Hot Springs before we stopped. We parked in the lot at the base of the mountain, not realizing how much of a hike it would be to tour the site. Not so far in miles, but from the bottom it wasn't obvious the boardwalk through the site climbed all the way to the top on a meandering, but often steep course. We began our ascent without realizing we'd take more than an hour viewing and photographing the beautiful pools and falls formed by another of Yellowstone's thermal features.

It wasn't until we made it almost all the way to the top that we discovered a road and parking area that would have allowed us to avoid the trek and still see the same beautiful vistas. But the walk through the thermal formations was a lot more rewarding than would have been a drive to the top, and a lot better for us too.

When we finished here, we were nearly as distant from our campsite as was possible and still remain inside the park. It was getting late so we decided to finish our loop and head back. We headed south to Norris where we turned east. According to our map, the road between Norris and Old Faithful was under construction and we could have expected long delays if we'd taken this route. So viewing Yellowstone's most famous feature would have to wait until the next day.

It was a pretty long drive, but we once we made it to Canyon we were back in now familiar territory. Driving through a large open area alongside the Yellowstone River, we were no longer amazed at the numerous bison we saw in the distance. But this drive would offer us another treat that evening, the opportunity to view our first grizzly.

Once again we were alerted to the presence of a bear by the crowd gathered to look. This time though, we pulled into a real parking area alongside the road. Scanning the distant hillside, we saw nothing but more buffalo and a herd of elk. On our side of the river, only bison grazed. We asked a fellow visitor what everyone was looking at and he explained exactly where on the opposite slope to look to see the bear.

The grizzly bear was maybe a mile distant, so a picture wasn't possible. But my family and I were able to view him through binoculars as ambled along the grassy slope above the river. Though we wished we could photograph it, we left thanking the Lord for the opportunity to see the magnificent creature and our daughters checked one more thing off their wildlife list.

We finished the drive to Lewis Lake, made supper, and settled in for the night. Our second day at Yellowstone was a long one, but God had truly blessed us with the opportunity to see so much of its beauty and so many of its inhabitants. We drifted off to sleep, wondering what wonders we'd experience on our last day in the park.