Mt Washburn and More
For the bulk of the summer, it’s been hot and dry out here, very hot, and very dry. The past week we’ve had rain nearly every day, it’s been absolutely fantastic. Just a great feeling, it reminds us a bit of Michigan, having a long, gray day full of rain. There’s a definite physical relief to getting a bit of moisture, but there’s also an almost emotional relief, like an evening on the couch with a good book and your favorite drink after weeks of nonstop work. With the rain, we’ve spent a bit more time inside, had a few fishing plans squashed, done some pointless driving to hikes that were stormed out, but we have found more time to sit on the couch and read.
Right after our last update, we packed up the car with the dogs and some fishing gear, and took both pups out for their first long Montana fishing afternoon. We fully expect them to be awful fishing dogs, splashing in the water ahead, or running off, but they managed to stay with us, and stay calm. Here’s Brennan and Gus fishing a small stream near West Yellowstone. We took them to bigger water, between the lakes on the Madison. They behaved very well the whole afternoon. It just would have been a bit nicer had they not found that skunk.
The next weekend (July 28th) we decided to do some hiking in the park. Our first destination was Mt Washburn, where we were hoping for a fairly clear day, to be able to see the crater of the super volcano that is the basis for the bulk of Yellowstone’s features. We got up early, ate bagels on the run, and struck out for a 50 mile drive into the park. Once at the trailhead we found we were quite possibly the first folks at this rather busy trail, and set into a brisk pace towards the summit. Near the top, we finally found some of the wildlife we’d been hoping to find. A flock of Bighorn Sheep were sunning themselves on the side of the summit.
The seemed utterly unphased by us, as I’m sure they see many tourists. Being the first up however, they seemed to still be pretty sleepy, and tolerated our shutter clicking with exceptional patience.
There were some babies. Boy, baby sheep sure are cute.
Ewe and Lamb.
Here’s the summit sign. This mountain is named after the survey general of the Montana Territories, who led one of the first “official” expeditions into the area of the park. From this summit he was able to confirm reports of a giant lake (Yellowstone), and the extensive thermal features of the park, which up until that point had been considered little more than mountain folklore.
Here’s a portion of the amazing view. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is clearly visibly running horizontally across the middle of the frame. Yellowstone lake is a little hazy (did we mention rain?) in the upper left corner.
Here’s Rachel scouring the surrounding mountains for bears.
On our way down the mountain, it became clear that we picked the right time of day to start our hike, as the trail was clogged with many large parties panting their way up the trail. When we got back to the parking lot that had been essentially empty for our arrival, we found a bustling pack of tourists driving in circles looking for somewhere to park. It felt like a shopping mall with woefully inadequate parking. We hopped in the Subaru and headed to a nearby picnic area for lunch, where we were entertained by a Least Chipmunk acrobatically climbing up plant stems to get at tasty seed pods.
We decided to make another quick hike into Monument Geyser Basin. Which is a basin without a boardwalk that requires a mile long steep hike to reach. The hike does a good job of keeping folks away, as most visitors to Yellowstone prefer to view the park from behind auto glass. Here’s a view of the nearby Gibbon Meadows from about half way up the trail.
Monument is filled with large towers that spit mostly steam, but little bits of water. I’m still not positive on my classification of thermal features, but I’m pretty sure these are fumeroles. As the steam carries minerals out of the earth, they collect and create these amazing cones.
Another fumerole.
Brennan enjoys the basin, as they have it to themselves for a good half an hour. It’s amazing, even when the park is full, and I do mean full, there are still places where you can put in a half an hour to an hour hike, and be entirely alone in a vast and wonderous wilderness.
We have more pictures up on our flickr account. Many more sheep, and a few more landscapes.