West Trip Day 17: Jen's B-Day & Rim Hike

Wednesday, June 30

Today was Jen’s 38th birthday. I felt a little bad that we wouldn’t be able to do anything truly special to celebrate. Both Beth and I gave her a card at breakfast.

Our activity of the day was a 5 mile hike around the upper and lower falls on a section of the South Rim Trail of the Yellowstone River. This is the same area we visited the other day, but on the other side of the river. Today’s hike was going to give us a better look into the falls and then take us through a hot springs area, and then loop back around to the parking lot.

We drove to Chitenden Bridge to begin the hike and started on a trail that followed the edge of the Yellowstone River valley. This kind of hiking always makes Beth nervous so we warned the kids about staying on the trail because the drop-offs plummeted hundreds of feet straight down with no guard rails of any kind. Every corner gave a spectacular view of the river valley and the falls.

There was almost always a rainbow to be seen when the sun peeked out.

Jen wanted to hike an area called Uncle Tom’s point. This was a staircase was 328 steps down into the valley which provided a great view of the falls.. Before you started there was a sign warning you of the difficulty of the stairway and the expressions of the people coming back up verified this.

The view at the bottom didn't disappoint. It was the best view of the Lower Falls. A large rainbow shone off of the mist from the falls.

The way down was not too difficult, but the way up was a serious quad and lung burner.

When we all reached the top, we all took a much needed rest. I was a little worried that we had used so much energy in the early part of our hike.

The next section of the hike led to Artist’s Point which was very active with tourists. This point was one chosen by a famous artist named Thomas Moran whose painting from this point is in the Smithsonian. His work was so well received in its time that it was said that it had a significant influence on Roosevelt’s decision to make Yellowstone a National Park. It was easy to see why he chose this point.

I also finally understood why they called this area Yellowstone. This canyon had a lot of examples of very colorful rock, especially the unusual yellow rock in the background.

We took a short snack and drink break before taking on the major part of the hike. Ground squirrels scurried around us looking for a free snack.

As we continued on the trail, the crowds of tourist disappeared and it became us and the backcountry of Yellowstone. We hiked by some older German sisters that wore vests with names of places all over the world they had visited together. An early part of the hike took us through a hot springs area. The kids pinched their noses at the sulfurous smells. The area gave me the feel of what the end of the world might look like, lacking any life.

At one point we reached Lilly Pad Lake. Lilly said this was the best lake in the world. She claimed it was much better than Jenny Lake. Next we reached Clear Lake which looked tempting to take a dip in, but the bubbling gases in the center told you that it was not safe. The reason this lake was so clear was because of the high temperature and acidity that kills most everything.

The German ladies caught up to us and I noticed that one of them had scrapes on her cheek. She confessed that she had fallen because she wasn't watching where she was stepping. She assured me that she was fine, so we hiked on.

We hiked through a grassy meadow and came to a split in the trail with no marking. Luckily Beth's hiking book told us to take the fork to the left.

As we hiked over a hill we saw several bison grazing to the left and right of the trail ahead of us.

We had no choice put to go between them. As we did the bison to our left continued moving toward us. The adults nervously encouraged everyone to hike a bit faster to get by them. I asked Mikah for her hiking stick so I would have something to defend us.

Whew! We made it past them.

Finally, we hiked up to another ridge and discovered more bison. This time the bison were laying ON the hiking trail. This time we were going to have to go around them or otherwise turn around and do the hike the other way. The adults and kids hiked quickly and silently so as not to disturb these large and unpredictable animals. We had been warned many times about the speed (30 mph) and size of these animals (1 ton). They are the largest land mammal in North America and can run three times the speed of an Olympic sprinter. I didn't even mess around taking pictures this time. I held one of the aluminum hiking sticks in my hand and tried hard to think what I would do if one came at us. I just wanted to keep everyone safe and was glad when we were past them.

In case you doubt the danger of buffalo.

As we reached safety, we could again see the German ladies on the same path and walking straight down it toward the bison! When the first bison rose to subtly tell the ladies to get off his path, they smartly veered off the trail as we did. The bison still stood and stared them down until they were out their range.

As we hiked further, two dads and about 10 boys hiked toward us in the opposite direction. One of the dad was pushing a double stroller. Their t-shirts were all blue with something like "The Millers 2010 Reunion...Doin' It Together" I warned them of the bison ahead, but they continued on. About 5 minutes later in the parking lot, I saw that the group had returned. Good choice. I didn't want the Millers to be gored together.

This was an awesome way to end our last full day in Yellowstone!