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?