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Yellowstone, northern loop
The main road through Yellowstone runs in a figure 8, and the bit that gets closed for the season first is the east side of the upper loop. Dunraven pass is at nearly 9000 feet, and while the road itself doesn't feel steep, the whole area is high enough that I'm sure snow comes early and leaves late. It's quite beautiful, though, with the falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It's the part with fewer thermal features, and therefore there are more hiking possibilities. It's definitely my favorite part of the park!
On our awesome tour guide's direction (thank you, Holly!) we started with the lower rim of the falls. There was this shortish trail (Uncle Tom's Trail) we could take from the parking lot to the bottom of the falls, and as it really wasn't very far, we decided to try it. There was a warning sign that people with heart issues and people not accustomed to strenuous exercise at 8000 feet maybe shouldn't try it. But we've been living at nearly 5000 feet, and figured we could do it. And actually, everyone was just fine. I would add that if you are afraid of heights, um, maybe you shouldn't try this one! "Uncle Tom," whoever he was, originally led tours down here on rope ladders. They've since built see-through metal stairs. Just...don't look down too much, and you'll be fine.
From a ways away, here are the falls and the whole valley.
There are other, just interesting things to see in this place, like these basalt columns that totally look like giant mushrooms to me:
Or the lovely blue of this geyser basin. It's not just a reflection of the sky; a little ways over was one as green as grass.
You can't go to Wyoming without seeing one of these guys (strangely, the ones in Grand Teton travel in groups, but all the Yellowstone ones seem to be on their own):
I guess this is a lodgepole pine that's been twisted by the wind, but it totally looks like a unicorn horn, doesn't it? Here is the tree:
And here is the "unicorn" (aka narwhal) horn in Vienna:
I wish the nice weather would go on and on, but alas, the weather forecast is for gross stuff coming our way as of tomorrow. So the next post about Idaho and environs might be more about what you can see in the populated valley than what you can see up in the mountains. Hopefully there is something interesting in that as well!
On our awesome tour guide's direction (thank you, Holly!) we started with the lower rim of the falls. There was this shortish trail (Uncle Tom's Trail) we could take from the parking lot to the bottom of the falls, and as it really wasn't very far, we decided to try it. There was a warning sign that people with heart issues and people not accustomed to strenuous exercise at 8000 feet maybe shouldn't try it. But we've been living at nearly 5000 feet, and figured we could do it. And actually, everyone was just fine. I would add that if you are afraid of heights, um, maybe you shouldn't try this one! "Uncle Tom," whoever he was, originally led tours down here on rope ladders. They've since built see-through metal stairs. Just...don't look down too much, and you'll be fine.
From a ways away, here are the falls and the whole valley.
There are other, just interesting things to see in this place, like these basalt columns that totally look like giant mushrooms to me:
Or the lovely blue of this geyser basin. It's not just a reflection of the sky; a little ways over was one as green as grass.
You can't go to Wyoming without seeing one of these guys (strangely, the ones in Grand Teton travel in groups, but all the Yellowstone ones seem to be on their own):
I guess this is a lodgepole pine that's been twisted by the wind, but it totally looks like a unicorn horn, doesn't it? Here is the tree:
And here is the "unicorn" (aka narwhal) horn in Vienna:
I wish the nice weather would go on and on, but alas, the weather forecast is for gross stuff coming our way as of tomorrow. So the next post about Idaho and environs might be more about what you can see in the populated valley than what you can see up in the mountains. Hopefully there is something interesting in that as well!
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