Day 79 - Yellowstone Midway And West

Our first stop this morning was to the Midway Geyser basin, site of the famous Grand Prismatic, the largest hot spring in the world. I had remembered this place from our drive in for its bright orange drainage channels falling into the nearby river. The morning was foggy and the pools were too misty to see the depth of the major pools, but the setting was dramatic.

A few miles up the road we saw a huge Bison (correct name for a Buffalo) on a side road. We drove in, only a few feet from the mean-looking Bison, enjoying the uniqueness of this animal, before driving through the Great Fountain geyser basin and back out to the main road. A few miles later we came across a herd of hundreds of Bison as they were grazing and crossing the road. As we passed slowly a Bison snorted at me or maybe at the biker crossing in the other lane.

Arriving in West Yellowstone, a town just outside the west gate, we had a Mexican lunch and then drove north through Montana to Earthquake Lake, a lake formed by a landslide from a 1959 7.3 Richter scale earthquake that took 20 campers lives. Trees had already began to grow on the massive landslide hill, an example of the natural processes-- earthquakes, floods, et. -- that formed this great western mountain scenery over the millennia. The trees in the lake and the landslide in the distance can be seen in the picture below. And a reinactment of the effect of 100-mile per hour winds after a landslide.

We drove back through pretty Montana and Idaho countryside before settling into our hotel room for a relaxing quiet evening.

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Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park. A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view. Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site. Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint. And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...

Day 67 - Badlands

Badlands means very difficult and dangerous to travel through-- Badlands lived up to this name. I began my eight mile loop hike by climbing up a steep canyon side to the mesa wall on top. From here I travelled east towards the popular window, door and notch trails via a wet, muddy and slippery Medicine Root trail that left me covered in mud up to my knees. Of the popular trails the notch was my favorite because it involved a wooden ladder climb and then a hill scramble past crumbling rock up to a six foot "notch" step that required a almost-rock climbing move to ascend. The views up at the top cliff were sensational. Even more fun, two girls from New York-driving to Portland and a young couple saw me up there and followed the path up-- with a bit of my help at the notch. I love helping people get a bit beyond their comfort zone. We all enjoyed the view then descended safely to find that this notch was not actually the trail but a side canyon-- haha. I then hiked ...

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