Day 80 - Yellowstone Canyon and Tower

Our day began with a long easterly drive through Yellowstone park, past a herd of Bison in the river, past the geyser basins and to Canyon. We had an evening reservation for a stagecoach ride through the sagebrush and a cowboy cookout with all the fixins but no camping reservations, so we drove to a first come first serve campsite in Tower, near the stagecoach ride, while calling for a reservation at a campsite south near Yellowstone lake. Yellowstone has 2000 campsites but we ended up with one of only three left, calming our homeless fears.

We then toured the Canyon area, site of the immensely colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and her two waterfalls. The view from Artist Point was almost spiritual-- your soul was lifted by the calm coloring and elegant 300 foot waterfall beyond. Just lovely. Lanny, Landon and I then hiked down Uncle Toms trail to a powerful view of the large falls, then the full group hiked to the rainbow-filled brink at the top of the smaller falls. A final stop at Inspiration point ended our fun tour of this small but great canyon, a bonus to any Yellowstone trip.

Steve had talked about the stagecoach ride through the sagebrush and cowboy cookout with all the fixins so much that my expectations were frankly low, since I'm not one for touristy things. But the ride and cookout were fantastic. The setting of the Lamar Valley, the powerful horses charging through Bison herds on the wagon trail, the great western singer setting the cowboy mood and the juicy steaks made for the most enjoyable evening. Afterwards, as the sun was setting, we drove south to our campsite, set up our tents and went to sleep, satisfied.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 172 - JMT Mount Whitney

Our day began in silence, at 315am in pursuit of the summit. We walked carefully, looking for slick, sandy rocks and icy sections--not wanting to fall. Hiking along a cliff edge in total darkness was thrilling, vividly black and white. By 5am, we had reached the three mile marker and the turnoff up to Whitney summit. We removed the heavy items from our bags and set off towards the summit sunrise. The trail was spectacular, a special creation of this nation, winding from one side of the mountain to the other, going down and around one side before coming up to another, creating anticipation with each turn. Looking back, the sloping ridges caught the early sunset delicately. As we hiked along the two mile upper trail, the views east would open up for the narrowest of moments. This opening was my favorite. 14,000 foot cathedrals of nature thrusted towards the heavens at each turn. The summit was almost in sight, the highest peak in the lower 48 states nearly at...

Day 52 - Mesa Verde

The Anasazi first settled on the mesa tops of Mesa Verde in 500 AD, then moved into the cliff dwellings this park is famous for in 1100 AD, then mysteriously abandoned the area entirely in 1300 AD. Like the other tourists, I was interested in seeing the cliff dwellings! Unfortunately many sites are closed in Colorado until Memorial Day, so I wasn't able to go into the two largest dwellings, Cliff Palace or Long House, settling instead for Balcony House. Balcony House is a small cliff dwelling built in a defensive posture on an inaccessible cliff. You have to climb a 30 foot ladder to enter the dwelling and then you have to crawl through a 3 foot wide hole and up more ladders to exit. Adventure and history are a nice combo. The ranger taught us about building techniques, spiritual structures and customs, and theories about the Anasazi culture and disappearance (draught or war). Pics. After the guided tour of Balcony House, I did self-guided tours of a historical museum,...

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