Day 5: Leaving Yellowstone and some 50th Birthday celebrations!
GUESS WHAT today is? Anyone wanna guess? It’s my 50th Birthday! Omg 50! When did that happen? I will say, I feel better than ever! In some ways I feel like I’ve been asleep for the last 30 years and I’m finally awake now! So, I greet 50 with a “bring it on” attitude. I’m here to give my 50th decade a run for it’s money and am determined to conquer many self doubts and personal demons in this decade!
This morning we grabbed a coffee, filled up our water bottles (they have the best filing stations around the park) and hit the road. Along the road there are a ton of pull-offs, all with interesting names. Our first stop was Roaring Mountain (where the mountain smoked with many thermal vents), then onto Clearwater Springs and Frying Pan Springs (both springs which had hot, steamy bubbly ground waters). Most of the side stops have wooden plank pathways, to ensure you don’t fall into the boiling earth below.
The main attraction, as we make our way through Yellowstone today is Norris Geyser Basin, which includes the Big Basin and Porcelain Basin hikes. If you choose to see it all, it’s a little over 3 miles, but if you are short on time you can also do smaller little loops too. We decided to do all the loops and it was worth every step. You will see some of the bluest blues and so many shades of green; a true feast for the eyes!!
Side Note: While parking the car there was a large raven chattering about and I love ravens so I went over to take a video of it. It was hopping from car rooftop to rooftop. Well, while I was videoing, Ken realized there was another raven INSIDE the persons car. They had left their sun roof open and it went in looking for snacks!
Park Reminder: Hide all food containers in your car, roll your windows up and lock your car. Animals are smart and they know what food containers look like and will get into your car anyway they can. Bears especially!! There are signs all over Yellowstone reminding people to be “Bear Aware” and to hide your food.
Then back on the Grand Loop Road and headed towards the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is probably one of the most colorful Springs and when photographed from above (FYI, this is a no drone zone) you can see just how grand it is, however from our ground level view, it’s not as noticeable, but still spectacular. We saw bison hoof prints in the mud along the wooden path, it’s hard to imagine them walking through there. Maybe this is where they go for a mani pedi spa day, haha!
After inhaling our fill of stinky vapors, we made our way back to the car and headed to our next stop, The Continental Divide, at 8262 feet in elevation. This is a section of the CDT which is a trail that is part of any thru-hikers Triple Crown (Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), Continental Divide (CDT), and the Appalachian Trail (AT)). I bend the knee to any Triple Crown thru-hiker. I haven’t even attempted a weekend section overnight backpacking trip…yet…so I can’t imagine their journey of 5+ MONTHS of thru-hiking. We tried to find the trail, but without a Garmin it was a bit tough to figure out where the trailhead was.
We picked up a few souvenirs at Grant Village, and I bought a new patch for my backpack. Some beef jerky too; the perfect road snack after a day of hiking.
Onward to The Grand Tetons National Park, the next stop in our National Parks tour and for more birthday celebrations! We saw a large herd of bison once we exited Yellowstone and one even walked by the car. You never realize how big they are until you see them up close. The size of a VW bug!!
We had a fabulous dinner at The Spur, which included my favorite fried Brussel sprouts and something new I’ve never tried; pumpkin pesto over roasted cauliflower! Wow! For the birthday dessert, it was an apple blossom. It hit the spot!
Thank you all for your birthday wishes! I feel extra extra special, it’s been nice to take you all along with us! ❤️
Things we missed this time in Yellowstone:
1. Next time we come, we have to hike to Lewis Falls. We hit a bit of a time crunch at the end of our day, and passed this beautiful water spot.
2. Up near Mammoth Hot Springs (between Mammoth and Gardiner) is the Boiling River, which was closed this year, due to Covid (as it draws big crowds). This is a section of river where a hot spring feeds into and you can safely sit in a spa like thermal spring.
3. Find and actually day hike a portion of The Continental Divide.
One thing we talked about was how fun it would be to take a few friends on a trip to Yellowstone. People who’ve never been and do a tour of all the “must sees”, and avoid the “don’t bothers”. A trip of little expectations, but loads of fun! We would come back in a hot second! We managed to navigate quite easily, even during this pandemic, so I imagine off-season, we could make this happen.
I spoke to a Park Docent today and he felt it might snow tonight in the higher elevations. I was quite surprised since it’s the end of August and the weather today was mostly in the mid-70’s. He said the temps tonight will dip into the 20’s and with the moisture in the air, it could happen. He mentioned there was one year where it snowed everyday some where in the park, for the entire year. I asked him when Winter hits Yellowstone, and he said September! I think we came at the perfect time.
Until tomorrow…
Byrds On A Wire 