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Downs and Ups

16 Wednesday Nov 2016

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We had finished our hike up Mount Washburn and back, ate our picnic lunch, and it was time to explore more of Yellowstone National Park.

There is one thing that all the amazing photos of national parks don’t show you; they are very, very crowded, especially during the summer months! We stopped at Tower Fall, and due to the amount of people there, I couldn’t get a good view or a picture of the falls. I saw some steps going down, and I thought they would lead to the bottom of the falls. So I started walking down. Ed and the girls are always up for exploring, so they followed me down. We kept going down and there were a lot of switchbacks going back and forth and back and forth. You know what that means, right? When you go down, you must come back up. Eventually.

At the bottom of the trail was the Yellowstone River. A big, beautiful river. But no waterfall to be seen. The river curved in such a way that the steep bluffs hid the water falls from us.

river-1

river-2

After looking at the river, it was time to go back up the trail. Ed and the girls bounded ahead of me. I always keep in mind that Aesop’s tale about the tortoise and the hare; slow and steady wins the race. Well, I never win any races, but slow and steady will get me to the top of a mountain, or a bluff, or whatever I’m climbing. The day had gotten quite warm, and remember, we had already walked 3 miles up to the top of Mount Washburn and back down again that morning. By the time I reached the top of this trail, I was hot, tired, red-faced (literally) and a little cranky. I had to go search for my family in the gift shop, and I was not happy about going into a crowded and hot gift shop feeling the way I felt!

All I can say is thank goodness for my mini-van with air-conditioning! I was soon back to my pleasant self after cooling off.

But the day was not over yet! Why yes, that seems like enough exploring for just one day, doesn’t it?

On our way back to our cabin, we spotted our first bison in Yellowstone! We had been wondering where the bison were hiding, since it’s not easy for them to hide.

bison-1

For this section of our trip, we stayed in Canyon Village and we explored the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, which I will share more about tomorrow. Yes, more hiking was involved! I was a very tired mother….

Keep up with our road trip:

The Great American Road Trip: Badlands National Park
Leaving the Badlands and Entering Wind Cave National Park
Not National Parks: Mount Rushmore and Devil’s Tower
Driving Through Wyoming
Struggling Upward: Climbing Mount Washburn

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Struggling Upwards

15 Tuesday Nov 2016

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After seeing bear scat on the trail to the natural bridge in Yellowstone, we decided to rent some bear spray for our morning hike up Mount Washburn. Bears scare me, and for good reason. We looked into buying bear spray at the park, but it was $50, and renting it was much more reasonable. All four of us watched a video about how to use bear spray, and Ed and I practiced pulling the trigger with an empty can of bear spray.

chipmunk

Not a bear, but a chipmunk

And we were off to climb Mount Washburn! It is one of the more popular trails in Yellowstone, but since we got an early start, there weren’t that many people on the trail yet. We were basically going to climb three miles up at about a 10 percent incline, and then come back down. Ed and the girls, of course, were faster than I was. Even with all my training for the 2 day breast cancer walk, and working out at the gym, I still felt woefully out of shape. However, I think because I had been exercising, when we rested after a steep climb I recovered faster, and walking on the treadmill at an incline strengthened my ankles, so I felt strong as I was climbing.

halfway-up

We ran into another group stopped at a logical resting place, and started chatting with them. One of the fun things about being a tourist is meeting new people from different places, although if I remember correctly, they were also from Illinois! The daughter was working at Yellowstone for the summer, so her family came to visit her and she was showing them around. She took the picture up above.

At the top of Mount Washburn is a fire lookout tower. We got warm while we were climbing, but then at the top the wind was blowing and it was really cold!

10000-feet

Before we headed back down the mountain we warmed up inside the lookout tower and used the bathroom. (I was so happy there was one up there!) We saw some bighorn sheep in the distance, and also a little yellow-bellied marmot. We spent some time looking at them through our binoculars.

at-the-top

I love how you can see part of the trail in this picture!

On the way down the mountain, we ran into a number of people walking up the mountain. The day was getting warmer, the path was getting busier, and I was glad that we had started so early that morning! Unfortunately for me, however, we still had a lot of time to explore Yellowstone. I’ll tell you what we did next tomorrow.

Keep up with our road trip:

The Great American Road Trip: Badlands National Park
Leaving the Badlands and Entering Wind Cave National Park
Not National Parks: Mount Rushmore and Devil’s Tower
Driving Through Wyoming

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