July 4

I woke up at 645 this morning to a domestic dispute. The people two tents down ere having a nice, “Fuck you. No, fuck you,” kind of argument…with a crying baby in their tent. Great. More incentive to get up and out!

Today, I headed over to Canyon Country, where the Yellowstone River flows through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. On my way I stopped to take some pictures of the landscape…I could definitely live here. I went to Canyon Village to have breakfast and plan my day.

I decided to take the South Rim trail to Lily Pond to Clear Lake, then back to the Wapiti trailhead, which is about 6 miles round-trip. Since I had a nice case of “driver’s arm” from the previous day, I decided to wear the height of hiking fashion—a tank top, with a long-sleeved shirt over it, with the un-burnt arm out of the sleeve (to even it up☺). The one-shoulder look arrives in the camping scene—you’ll see it at REI and Cabelas soon. It was sexy, believe me.

One the way to the Wapiti Trailhead, I stopped at the brink of the Upper Falls. Truly awesome—not only the height but the sheer volume of water. Wonder if anyone has hucked it or the Lower Falls? With so much mist, it was hard to see if there were any rocks in the landing area. I think the Upper is about 100 vertical feet and the Lower is about 300 vertical feet.
So I headed out. There were a lot of ups and downs, but pretty soon, I arrived at the Upper Falls lookouts. Such a better angle than the overlook on the other side. Even better, with a rainbow as a bonus. Then more ups and downs…I was wondering what the overall elevation gain was, especially due to what came next: the Lower Falls and Uncle Tom’s trail.
Forget what I said about all of the stairs yesterday at Mammoth. They were child’s play. Uncle Tom’s is ¼ mile of sloping switchbacks followed by 330 steep metal stairs. They go basically vertical down 500 feet to the base of the falls with very few small landings. It takes 5 minutes to get down and 20 to get back up. But the views were worth it, both the falls and down the colorful canyon. The river’s blue is so pretty against the reds, pinks, oranges and yellows of the canyon. Again, Tallulah has NOTHING on this—but I think my Zumba classes and walking/jogging have paid off.

After climbing back up Uncle Tom’s my legs were shot for a while. I had to trick myself into pounding up the next few hills After Uncle Tom’s comes Artist’s Point, which is a beautiful view back up the canyon toward the Lower falls…but far enough away to get perspective on the size and including the canyon walls. And MAN the crowds were out in force! Artist’s Point is accessible by car, so that’s where everyone goes. I was happy to snap off some pictures and get out. I can’t stand crowds.

After AP, I headed out on a backcountry trail toward Ribbon Lake. More beautiful views of the canyon and river as it heads down to Yellowstone Lake. Then, I cut back away from the rim toward Lily Pad Pond, which had its eponymous plant life, and was cool, green and in a forested area. From there, I went through a surreal alien landscape with lots of thermal features.

It amazes me how much animal poop is around the thermal vents. Beyond wintertime, I would think they’d stay away…there is nothing to eat there, they’re hot, and they stink. But nonetheless! I saw the same around the geyser basins.

After the barren landscape, I went into another forested area towards Clear Lake. It was a gorgeous clear blue, thus the name. It seemed like a private oasis, although for almost the only time on the trip, I saw other people. An Italian family was actually letting their kid swim in the lake, which was a little scary, because there was thermal bubbling on parts of the edge. Never know when they’ll be an underwater hot spring to roast you. There was also a fallen tree in the late that was completely white, I guess bleached from years of exposure to the chemicals.

After Clear Lake, I didn’t see another soul until I got back to the trailhead. There was a lone bison to keep me company in a vast valley, but he stayed a safe distance from me. I could look in all directions and see nothing but vibrant green grass, sagebrush, flowers and mountains, acres and acres. It was absolutely amazing—a rare incidence of true silence, away from any human or machine noise.

After a couple of miles, I was back at the Wapiti trailhead, feeling glad to be back to the car. My feet were hurting a bit, having not worn my boots in a while, but I’ll live. I sat in my car for a while, examining my options for the rest of the day—it was only 230p or so.

I decided to head on down past Yellowstone Lake to Riddle Lake. Just because of the name, really. I thought I’d do the short hike there, but after 40 or so miles, I got skunked. The trail was closed due to thermal activity. But on my drive back up to Old Faithful Basin, I got to cross the Continental Divide three times, and see Lake Isa, which falls off both sides—one side drains into the Pacific Basin, the other drains into the Atlantic.

At Old Faithful’s complex, I went to the Old Faithful Inn, which is a 100+ year old National Historic site. The entire hotel is made of logs. But on the inside, a lot of the logs that were used were not circular. They were knotted and twisted and contorted, which made for some beautiful stair railings, columns and balestraudes. The lobby is magnificent…4 stories of pure beauty. I got some great pictures of the rays of light coming in from the windows of all of the stories. The stone fireplace was massive—not as wide as the Grove Park in, but definitely big enough to stand in. And the chimney is one of the main supports of the lobby roof.

After learning that the next eruption of Old Faithful was in about an hour, I headed over to the cafeteria to have dinner. Ugh—remind me not to go to the cafeteria again. My stomach felt like erupting after their meatloaf. Then I headed outside to the massive stone porch to wait for Old Faithful, which after about 15 minutes in the evening sun, didn’t disappoint. There were hundreds of people watching the geyser spout to about 100 feet. I learned that after shorter eruptions, it takes less time for it to recover—about an hour—than for longer eruptions (we’re talking 4 minutes), which happen about every 90 minutes. Evidently the rangers can tell from watching each one when the next one will probably happen.

I was pretty tired and dirty, so I headed back to the car, to get my stuff and fingd a shower. It looked like the Old Faithful Inn had public showers, so I went in and spent the best $3.40 of my life. On the second floor, hidden away, was the nicest NPS bathroom I’ve ever seen. 50’s style octagonal black and white tile floors, marble countertops and showers, Kohler fixtures. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I spent an eternity in there, even doing a little laundry (thank god for Dri-Fit), before emerging cleaner than clean. I can’t explain the bliss.

When I went back out to my car, it was about to storm. I crawled into the back onto may air mattress and sleeping bag and collapsed, reading for a while. I figured out that if you park in the hotel lot, which is free, you can just boondock. Cheaper than the $14 to camp! It got down to about 40 degrees, but I was snug. I love the HHR for camping!