Final Yellowstone Day (Until Next Time!)
Day 6
This morning we had oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast. I’m really liking our little camp stove we got. It makes “playing house” in the woods fun.
About 8:30 AM we headed out, men and kids in the cruck, and women following in the Williams-mobile. We drove a few minutes down the road to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to see Upper Falls. On the way there we saw about six bison grazing, a prong horn, and two elk. Wow! The wildlife is just all over!
A few steps out of the car we looked down over the upper falls. It was large and impressive, and a rainbow amid the mist at the base of the waterfall was the icing on the cake.
After consulting the map, we drove to Artist Point to look at Lower Falls. As we walked the short trail to the viewpoint, Debbie was snapping pictures of the canyon. It was beautiful. The way some of the rock rose up, tapering at the top reminded me of Thunder Mountain at Disneyland. A few steps further she stopped again, “Oh this view is definitely better. I didn’t know there was a waterfall there.” I began to laugh as she backed up to take her photo, nearly colliding with another sightseer. “Excuse us, we’re new here.” I told him, still laughing. I reminded her that, until very recently, I didn’t realize we were in Wyoming, so she shouldn’t shouldn’t feel badly.
Artist Point was so breathtaking. I can certainly imagine artists lingering there trying to capture the majesty of the view. Wow! God is good at what he does.
On the five or so minute drive to the Brink of the Upper Falls, we saw another bull elk grazing on grass near enough to the road to see the velvet on the antlers as we slowly drove past.
A short walk, and a few sets of stairs downward, and we were standing, as advertised, at the brink of the falls. Initially, I wasn’t sure I needed that view. What would I be able to see from so close up, I wondered. What I saw was the width of the river as it comes around the bend, the massive amount of water cascading over the falls. It was more water flow than Molten Falls or Multnomah Falls back home. From this vantage point you can also see the mist rising up past the moss clinging to the rock opposite the falls, and up into the tree line where shafts of sunshine stream through the trees illuminated it. Also notable for this stop was the excellent facilities with flush toilets and running water to wash.
So far our morning has been very pleasant. Easy walks to gorgeous views, and empty parking lots with no lines for toilets. Yay for Yellowstone in the morning.
On our way to the next stop, we had to stop for our first time for a bison on the road. I feel like this is a classic Yellowstone experience, and I am glad to have had it. A ranger vehicle with flashing lights herded it off the road. The bison was off the road in just a few moments, so it didn’t slow down our day, and we got a close-up video of him, as we drove past.
Next we drove to Norris Geyser Basin, which we had decided not to do yesterday because there was a huge overflow parking line. We arrived two hours earlier than yesterday and it is a weekday instead of the weekend, so we figured it would be less crowded. Nevertheless, we parked in the overflow parking and hiked a trail to the parking lot.
There were a ton of geysers, fumerals, and bubbling springs. The boardwalk made most of the trail easy walking, though much of it was directly exposed to the sun. We chose a medium length loop that offered slightly more shade. Next time, I would bring a parasol.
The Steamboat Geyser enticingly shot water in minor eruptions six to ten feet up a few times while we stood there watching. Big clouds of steam poured out, billowing up into the sky. The allure of this particular geyser is that it erupts intermittently (between 3 days and 50 years a sign informed us) and when it does, it is the tallest geyser in the world with heights about 300 feet.
It didn’t have a major eruption while we were there, but it was cool to imagine what it would be like if it did. Our favorite geyser that we saw today was Veteran’s Geyser which sounded like the breathing of a huge mythical beast, and had playful diagonal sprays of water.
After the hike in the sun, I felt like I had earned a stamp for our passport. We got stamps on stickers that we can add later, as our passports were inconveniently located in the overflow parking lot. (Which I was fine parking in, incidentally, when we read the “park at your own risk” sign in the main parking lot remembering how Ranger Fey had told us that when there is a major eruption the spray chrysalises on the cars and becomes rock!) While we were at the little shop, Bryan and I surprised Desmond by getting him a little bison stuffie. He was very grateful and named him Bona the Bison as we walked back to our cars.
Our plan next was to find a picnic spot. We kept our eyes peeled for wildlife on our way to a picnic site. We saw a sign for Grizzly Lake trail. We were tempted to turn off, based on our previous experience at Moose pond, and Buffalo Paddock. But weren’t sure that a trail is where we wanted to see a grizzly. And besides, we were hungry.
We found a nice little shaded picnic table, at Beaver Lake instead. We cooled off, and enjoyed quite the spread. There were sandwiches, left over pizza, Pringles, grapes and Bryan used his pocket knife to cut up an Ambrosia apple. Jamey took the kids to explore and they played a bit in the creek.
Our next stop was Mammoth Springs. We had separated into the Williams in their car and the Schmidts in ours. When they pulled off into a small, full parking lot, we decided to park at the next one and join them. We ended up going quite a few parking lots down before finding a spot. Now to find our friends.
We looked at the map, kept scanning the road for their car, and walked the boardwalk past Liberty Cap towards where they must have parked. The white terrace walls (which I later learned is called a travertine) were very striking. We walked steadily across the boardwalk in the sun, and up some stairs until we saw Jamey. He let us know the girls were over warm and would be sitting this one out. Desmond chimed in that he, too, was over warm. That’s fair, Buddy. We went a little ways, decided to split up again and meet later at the visitor center down the road a little walk from here. Jamey walked upwards to see what there was to see. We circled back, and took a shade break to drink some water. Desmond started singing his inspirational hiking song “never gonna break my stride… never gonna slow me down, oh no, I’ve got to keep on moving.” We ended up getting some pics of the terraces, and turning in the direction of the buildings across the road in the valley below. Right about now we were all needing something cold. So we do what Schmidts do when we are hot while traveling: we found a place that sells ice cream.
Desmond chose an ice cream flavor called Stuck in a Rut which was vanilla ice cream with caramel ice cream and caramel chunks. Bryan got Buffalo Chips, which was chocolate with Snickers pieces. They generously packed the ice cream into large cups. As far as I can tell, this is the best thing about this area of the park. I contented myself with filling my water bottle repeatedly and getting an ice water.
We walked over to the visitor’s center and sat in the shade of the building to wait for the Williams. Desmond spotted two elk across the way that had had the same idea and were resting in the shade of a nearby building.
When Desmond had finished his ice cream, Bryan walked back to get the car, and Desmond and I entered the visitor center to get our stamps for this area. This visitor center ended up having some really cool exhibits inside. There were touchscreen consuls to show where the different animals could be sighted in the park, as well as a room filled with taxidermy examples of most all of the animals. The building also had Wi-Fi, so I quickly posted one picture to Facebook, just for fun.
Leaving this area we took a scenic drive back to our campsite. We finally found the long construction waits we have been expecting all along. I used the time to get mostly caught up writing blog entries so they will be ready next time we have Wi-Fi.
Up on the hills we had cell service for a moment and I sent a couple of texts to my grandparents to let them know about the blog, and that we are enjoying our trip.
Desmond happily played Civilizations on his iPad, but got to feeling a little queasy after too long on a screen coupled with the windy roads. He put his screen down and began looking at the clouds, picking out shapes in them. We took a brief stop, and as he stepped out he said “That fresh mountain air is just great.” I joined him looking out over the view and said “It’s just big, huh?” “The word I would use is ‘vast’” he replied. I love this boy. It has been nice to have him in our car this afternoon.
Desmond was really grateful that we had pulled off and taken a break to help him feel better. In order to thank us, he chose to spend his own money when we stopped at the the store to buy us beef jerky as a treat. He was so sweet, telling us how he appreciated us and asked that we would take a picture with our jerky together as a family.
We made our plans for dinner, each choosing something different that sounded tasty to us. So we got to cooking once we got back to camp. Hot dogs, chicken, and chicken and rice were prepared. And the Williams’ curry shared. It was all delicious, and I know, because I had some of each. 😄
After dinner Bryan showed Desmond how to use a hatchet to split wood into kindling. We plan to re-set up our tent and relax. We have a big driving day tomorrow on our way toward Glacier National Park.
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