Day 3: Yellowstone

We woke up fairly early with busy plans for the day. We had discussed the hiking plans for the trips and I had picked out two hikes that were fairly low elevation change and about five miles round trip that would be enjoyable for all three of us: Fairy Falls and Lonestar Geyser. This morning was the Fairy Falls hike.

In preparation for the trip and to facilitate our camping goals for the coming years we had invested in a new 60 quart cooler Blue cooler. Even though we were no longer camping on the trip, we still brought the cooler and filled it with milk, juices, yogurts, lunch meat, and more with the intention of being able to eat breakfasts and lunches on the go, rather than waste time and money going to restaurants every day.

And for the most part, every morning except two we ate breakfast in our rooms and we had a few lunches out of the tailgate of my truck. Today was one of those days and it helped us get out to the trailhead quicker.

Fairy Falls Trail

We made it to the parking area for Fairy Falls before it could become too crowded and while the temperatures were still fairly mild (we had mostly 80F degree days during the trip).

The trail is located on the south side of the Middle Geyser Basin and the first mile of the trail crosses the Firehole River before passing alongside the basin.

We of course took the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook spur trail and admire this enormous hot spring that is the largest in the United States and third largest in the world. I consider it one of the most impressive natural wonders in the park, and one to admire from both the boardwalk and the overlook.

Following the spur trail back to the main trail we continued onward to the junction behind the geyser basin where the Fairy Falls trail begins in proper. There the trail enters a forest of young lodgepole pines that have filled in the forest after the 1988 fires devastated this area of the park.

The numerous dead trees that lie along the path are a reminder of that fire but also show that the park is now in a much healthier condition than when the 1988 fires exploded throughout the park. Fires must happen occasionally to burn away some of the excess fuel and the park service and forest service learned from that fire to better manage the forests and ensure that ocassional smaller fires can burn without turning into a conflagration.

As we arrived at the falls and saw some of the fallen timber that lay near the cliff edge over which Fairy Falls pours, I thought of what the scene might have looked like prior to 1988 without these stark reminders. It was a beautiful nonetheless and a really enjoyable first hike of the trip. The falls was taller than I expected and the mist created rainbows against the back cliff wall. And my son happily traversed the enormous tree trunks to test his balance and cross the creek that led from the falls.

After enjoying some time at the falls we started back. I had considered extending the hike to Imperial Geyser and onward beyond that (because the backcountry of Yellowstone beckons to me for a future adventure), but the mosquitoes were saying otherwise.

We did apply mosquito repellant, but apparently not enough. Or the mosquitoes were resistant. Whatever it was they were eating us alive as the temperatures rose and we made our way back through the forest.

Along the way we saw two rangers pass, one with a shotgun. My wife joked that we “hadn’t seen anything bigger than chipmunks” and they laughed, but we realized they were probably looking for a bear or bison along the path.

When we got to the fork where Fairy Falls trail begins we saw that the rangers had closed the trail due to bear activity. Apparently a grizzly was meandering along the trail and although we missed it, the rangers felt it was a bit too risky to keep the trail open. So we were lucky to get there while the trail was still open, but either lucky or unlucky to miss the grizzly 🙂

Once we got back to the car we sprayed more repellant on and vowed not to leave the car without it. Then drove south to the Upper Geyser Basin.

Old Faithful Inn

It was now close to lunch time and we made our traditional stop at Old Faithful Inn to have buffet lunch in the dining room. Every trip we’ve made to Yellowstone we have had lunch there and this trip could be no different.

After lunch we made our way down to the ice ream shop for our traditional ice cream at Old Faithful Inn. And of the scoops one must be huckleberry (because you can never have too much).

After enjoying a seat in the balcony and admiring the lodge that defines the standard for every national park lodge, we made our way out to the Upper Geyser Basin to await the eruption of Old Faithful.

Upper Geyser Basin

Shelley got a front row bench for Old Faithful (which would erupt in about 45 minutes) while Evan and I walked around the basin to check out the hot springs and any other geysers that might erupt while we were there.

The Upper Geyser Basin was unfortunately much more crowded and the people on the boardwalks were the ruder type of day visitor that wake up late, never hike beyond the boardwalks, and won’t share the pathways. After a while Evan and I were a bit disappointed with dealing with them and he suggested just walking right into them.

At any rate, we made our way around to the back side of the basin where crowds were a little thinner but the people were no less obnoxiously full of themselves and were still crowding every hot spring for their instagram photos. Fortunately most of these types of people would be leaving the park in a matter of hours.

We made our way back to Shelley and took our seats right at the front of the crowd. It felt good to have such a prime view in front of the same people that wouldn’t budge for us earlier.

Old Faithful is always a great show and something to enjoy when visiting Yellowstone. We’re all lucky to enjoy natural wonders such as these.

We decided to drive back north and visit Norris Geyser Basin before heading back to our cabin to rest. When we got to Norris we found a long line of cars and decided to make a stop there later when there were fewer people.

We proceeded onward back to Canyon Village where we bought more mosquito repellant and then headed to our cabin before dinner.

After considering our options for dinner (because there was no way we were eating at the crappy Canyon cafeteria again), we decided to drive down to the Lake area where there was a fast service restaurant called Wylie’s Canteen.

Hayden Valley and Lake Yellowstone

The drive down was amusingly slow. Amusing because of the constant animals that were along he route.

First there was another black bear and then some herds of bison on both sides of the road. And on the road.

Then we entered a crowd that was using scopes to view a very distant pack of wolves. Evan and I were able to look through a spotting scope and see a black wolf far in the distance. Much too far for my camera, unfortunately. But cool to see nonetheless.

We were making pathetic time and we were a little worried the restaurant would be closed by the time we arrived. But inevitably we got there and had a decent hamburger dinner.

On the way back we saw some trumpeter swans on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. They were being a bit nasty to the geese that were sharing the lake shore, snapping at them and pushing them out of the way 🙂

It was cool to see swans because the aren’t common where we live. But the sure are mean birds.

We started north and enjoyed more bison before noticing a crowd around a ranger vehicle. We decided to check it out.

The rangers said that there were wolves in the area but they were no longer visible to the crowd. Evan and I were about to leave, but Evan convinced me to ascend a hill instead of walking back to the car. Watching him run up the hill so eagerly I could hardly refuse.

Once at the top w saw a small family looking out at a distant area and an animal moving and pouncing amid the vegetation. They said it appeared to them to be a wolf.

With my zoom lens extended to the full 300mm I was able to capture a couple photos and it was indeed a gray wolf! My first on camera.

I realize these are blurry photos from such a distance, but even people living and working in Yellowstone rarely ever see a wolf. We were able to identify it was a wolf based on the tail which is narrower than a coyote. Which I’ll show you in a later blog post.

Evan and I were excited and happy to have seen this wolf and I credited him with pushing me to go up that hill and not just walk back to the car. It was a fun and rewarding end to the day.

Yellowstone is a place that requires some effort and patience and isn’t a place to rush through. This is exactly why.