Surprise Visitor!

We decided to spend a 3^rd day at Yellowstone!   Our plan was to see the Rainbow Geyser because we missed it on Thursday.   We were eating breakfast.  Pat was in the pantry pouring her java when she looked out the window and saw a MOOSE!   She screamed for Beth and the moose looked directly at her in the window.   Beth came running, looked and then ran to get her phone to call her sister, Peg.

“Peg there’s a moose in the yard!  It’s going around the back near the porch!” The moose just stopped and stared at both of us.  It could hear us.

Peg shouted, “Beth, Beth, stop screaming and get away from the windows!  It might charge at you through the window!” 

Both of us moved away so it wouldn’t see us.  We watched the moose munch the leaves on the trees next to the house for a short time before it traipsed on down the hill.  

That was an experience we will never forget!

After breakfast we packed the car for the trip to the park.  The ride was slower today because of traffic.  We noticed a lot of cars pulled over to the side of road.  This we have come to know means animal sightings.   We were curious.  We pulled over and parked when we could.   We ran with the camera in hand to see a large herd of elk!  They were bathing and grazing across the river and didn’t seem phased with the crowd of bystanders.

We headed straight for the Midway Geyser Basin to see the Rainbow Geyser.  We were not disappointed.  It was awesome.  The bacteria mats were so colorful.   We were told that we could see the geyser better from the lookout at Biscuit Basin so we drove there to see it.

We walked over by the river to the trail and looked at the map to see how the trail went.  (We learned from our mistake yesterday.)  We both figured we could do this trail easily.  We walked around the wide boardwalk to get on the trail and noticed two Rangers waving at people to go away.  We looked to see what they were waving for. There in the center of the boardwalk were two very large bison, a bull with very long horns and a female.  The male seemed a little agitated.   They were both lying down but the male was blowing dust from his nostrils.  We kept our eyes on the two and found the trail.  The trail was about a mile, no problem we thought….but soon we realized that this was going to be a lot tougher than we thought.    The heat, the height, (Pat was really getting uncomfortable with the height) and the mosquitoes made this trail a real challenge!  We both decided that this was just too much for today.   We descended but didn’t forget to look for the two bison again.   This time they were both standing and walking around and walked over the boardwalk.  The male was following the female.  We watched and waited.  We just hoped they didn’t turn and run toward us.  They ambled farther away from us so we darted out of the park. “Phew!”

With all of the excitement, we decided to call it a day but not before we had one more ice cream from down town and headed for our home away from home, Big Sky.

After a short drive we saw another group of cars and people.  We slowed down  and asked what they were looking at.  “An eagle,” a woman shouted.  There high in the tree was a large eagle.  Cool to see and certainly a lot less intimidating.

We arrived home to await some more visitors.  These ones were expected and very welcome!  Pat Chalmers (a colleague from school )and company  were traveling across the country and arrived in Montana this morning.  They planned on spending the night with us before they journeyed to Yellowstone.  We had a great day with them and talked till late in the evening, actually it was early morn. 

Tomorrow we head home to Natick and Ashland.  We both feel so lucky to have had this vacation.  The sights we saw were indescribable.   We can’t thank Beth’s sister Peg enough for letting us use her home.    God’s beautiful country is right out there to see.  Everyone should be so lucky to have the opportunities we had.   

Hansel and Gretel forgot to drop the breadcrumbs!

Hansel and Gretel forgot to drop the breadcrumbs!

Once again we left for Yellowstone. Our first stop today was at Norris Geyser Basin.  It was spectacular.  The view from above was mesmerizing but after going through the Museum of the National Park Ranger we saw a sight no one would believe.  The ground below looked like desert with pools of hot colorful springs.  We walked around a very assessable boardwalk seeing bigger and better paintpots and mudholes with every step.  We saw a massive geyser called the pinwheel that had spokes of different colors caused by all the iron and sulfur.  It was very beautiful but not too sweet smelling.

Next , we drove to Canyon Village.  Here we stopped for lunch and a little browsing through some shops.  After the rest we followed signage to the falls.  There were lots of choices to make so it was a bit confusing.   We stopped and went to a lookout.  From the lookout we could see the falls surrounded by multicolored rock.  This is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We went around the rim, and to the lower falls and kept going to another trail.  We got lost in conversation and didn’t pay attention to the details of our trail.  We were just amazed at the sights and sounds of the falls.  We even saw a rainbow showing off over the raging falls.   We hiked back to what we thought was the beginning of our trail and we couldn’t locate the car!  Beth kept hitting the locating buzzer, but nothing!   We looked at the trail map at the entrance and ventured back to where we had been, looking for another possible route but to no avail.   Panic was starting to setting in…..

We asked some people if they new another route out, but no one could help.  We looked at the trail map again trying to see if there was something we missed but again nothing. 

A couple traveling with an older gentleman approached and Beth asked if either of them were boy scouts?  One man answered, “Yes!”  She explained our dilemma.  The younger man, (Sean) gave us some directions and we began to follow them.   As we walked, we found a path, and thought that must be the one we missed, but it only brought us down into a lower falls. Not to a parking lot!  So …we hiked back up in search for the car once more.    PANIC!!!!    Neither of us could recall the details of where we were before, and nothing looked familiar.   Suddenly we spotted a ranger in his vehicle.  We flagged him down, and tried to explain where we were when we parked and what we could see from that vantage point.  He thought he knew where we parked the car but said he needed to check on something and would be right back.  We waited a short time, and he did come back with two possible suggestions, but unfortunately he couldn’t take us there, as he had to go to a call. One suggestion was to travel the car road, and the other was to follow trail next to where had come from. Now, we really were panicky.

Another trail???   We weren’t too sure about that….. and where was the road going to take us?  Pat was praying to St. Anthony as a car approached us.  It was Sean our boy scout and his wife Deb, and the older man.  Deb shouted, “ Hop in we will take you to the other parking lot. “  We both happily climbed in, (What is it that we tell our kids, “Don’t talk to strangers and never get into their cars?”)  and within minutes Sean and team had us back to our car parked at the Brink of the Upper Falls!  Lots of thanks and sighs of relief!

We drove away to the Grand View.   Another spectacular sight!  We watched the water wind down into the valley.   But what was this?  Another trail that led way, way down into the valley?  Should we attempt it?  Why not?  If it were too much for us we decided we would climb back up.  We were pleasantly surprised to find the trail paved, albeit, narrow and windy.  We went down, down, into the valley and came to several sets of stairs open to the canyon on both sides.  It was a bit too scary for Pat.  She sat on the steps as Beth went to the bottom and returned.  As we ascended we wondered just how far we had traversed?  Beth went the whole 500 ft down and Beth says, “Pat went about 450 feet.”  Either way it was quite a workout.

Around 7pm. we decided to call it a day and treated ourselves to some yummy ice cream.   Two very tired travelers are anxious to hit the sack tonight.  What will tomorrow bring?

Geysers and Bison and Bears! Oh My!

Geysers and Bison and Bears!  Oh My!

We left for Yellowstone at 8:30 this morning.   Beth’s friends left too. They headed out before us and went a different path because they needed to get to Salt Lake City by Saturday.

We had map in hand and headed toward the West Entrance of Yellowstone.   We followed the map for a bit and got to Madison.  Here is where we saw the Lower Geyser Basin and the Biscuit Basin.  Upper Geyser and West Thumb.  We saw every available geyser at each site.  The parking lots were full of visitors, and the boardwalks made the trekking around each stop easy.   

After our first geyser site we saw lots of cars pulled over.   We did the same and found a herd of lazy bison, resting while their calves were grazing.   We didn’t get close, but just as we pulled back out to the road, I saw two women next to some trees, and right behind the trees, I noticed a very large mound that turned out to be an enormous bison!  We sure hope that the women realized it before the bison spotted them!

We headed for Rainbow Geyser because the woman at the visitor center told us not to miss it.  She said we would get a better vantage point if we went two miles beyond the site to the overlook point.   We parked and tried to find it but after a mile and a half walk down a dirt path we decided that we weren’t going the right way.  Oh well we got some exercise.

Later on we did find the right place purely by accident, but decided to save that venture for another day because we had no water, we were tired and getting hungry.

We headed for Old Faithful.   Took a lunch break and waited.  The geyser stood by its name and erupts every 90 minutes.  We watched as it started with a few bursts, and seconds later higher ones and still higher…  130 ft. in all!  After two minutes the whole show was done!

Next, we went to the Visitor Center General Store for a few mementos and finished the day by heading south to West Thumb.  There were lots of colorful geyser pools and the bluest lake, Yellowstone Lake.

Finally we were done for the day and headed out of the park toward Big Sky!  We saw another group of cars pulled over.  This time it was a grizzly foraging for food.  Quite a sight!   

We arrived at our Big Sky abode close to 9:30.  We downloaded our amazing pics and just thought about how lucky we both are!

Can’t wait for tomorrow…. think we’re going to venture a little earlier and head for the Canyon Village.

Hoofing it!

Hoofing it!
 

Where in the world are Pat and Beth?  Yesterday we tried locating the house address on the GPS and it couldn’t find the town of BIG SKY.  This morning I tried to change the time zone on my computer and it said, can’t determine location???  I do know we are somewhere is God’s beautiful country!  I’m really sorry that technology can’t see it.

We rested very nicely last night and are trying to not get lost in this enormous house, lots of rooms and hallways. Looks like there is going to be a ski access soon out the back.  The trees are cleared and there are some red flags posted.  What a great place to live if you are a skier.  

Beth's friends are still with us.  This morning we all went downtown to the Visitor's Center.  A wonderful young lady gave us lots of advice and suggestions for today and for the remainder of our trip. :]

Today we decided to go slow and short!  First we went to Elkhorn Trailhead.  It was located inside a campground.  Lots of red cliffs in the background of a quick moving river.  The trail was a rough-hewn path.  All was fine until the path that went sideways.

Pat managed to do it with a hand from Frank.  But two seconds later, we found out that it was the end of that trail!  (Thank God!)   We went on the trail along the river.  Very pretty but not challenging enough for some in our group, so we split up.  Beth and I took the low road and found lots of bear scat, but no bears!  We all met back at the car and decided our tummies needed some sustenance.

After we ate we went to another trail called Ousal Falls.  It was absolutely beautiful.  A wide cleared trail, made this a real easy feat.  It wound around and brought us up to a view of the falls. The rock formations and rushing falls were spectacular!  

I would say for our first  day of trekking we did pretty good. We are looking forward to visiting 

Yellowstone tomorrow.  We have a planned route and hope to set out early for a full day.

Pat and Bob got to Beth's at 5:30 a.m. to start our adventure.  No problems with our flight... in fact, it was Ferris Bueller's day traveling.  We were in Denver for 15 minutes when Pat spotted a flight heading to Bozeman.  
"Bozeman?  Are  you kiddin' me?  I think they said Bozeman.  Beth, go over there and find out if we can get on that plane."  (So off I trot.  Who says no to Pat?)

We got on the plane!

We got to Bozeman, and it is beautiful!  So green and so blue.  We are staying at a big house in Big Sky.  Our friends, Jodie, Frank, and Mat joined us at 5:00.  We enjoyed a cocktail hour of almonds, Wheat Thins, and red wine.  :)  

It is now 9:00, and the sun is just setting.  We're still planning tomorrow's agenda.  The only thing we have planned is coffee!!

Getting Ready

Heading out tomorrow morn. Should arrive in Big Sky late in the evening.