Jellystone. . .wait you mean Yellowstone?

Yellowstone NP Entrance

I learned all about Yellowstone when I was very young. Mostly from Smokey the Bear. However, I have forever laughed every time my mother would refer to it as Jellystone. I would chuckle and then correct her. It became even more entertaining as I started to become very outdoorsy. I have always dreamed of going to this national park.

Yellowstone National Park is Americas First National Park.

I can only try to express how massive this place truly is. I can tell you that in all the parks we visited, this was the most touristy, the most time we spent in a car, and yet the most unique. For those of you who have no clue where or what Yellowstone is all about let me fill you in. Yellowstone is located in WY, and borders Montana, and parts of Idaho. I remind you, it's massive.

The Fishing Cone in Yellowstone Lake

We arrived late the first night after finishing up a presentation in Cody, WY. We finally arrived at the entrance to the park. As we drove through the next 45 minutes I waited in anticipation of when I was about to get a wiff of the god awful smell everyone had prepared me for. It wasn't long before the air came through the vents of the car and I blamed it on Becca. Just kidding. Ahhh Yes, the god awful smell of Sulfur. Yellowstone is essentially an active volcano. There are active geysers all throughout the park. As a child I was always fascinated by volcanoes, and with Hawaii being so far away this was the next best thing.

I could go into depth with all the things I learned while I was here but I will spare you the boring side of it. I will start with day one. We looked at our map and realized this park was massive, good thing we had 4 days. We spent the first day driving around only half of the park.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Our first stop was West Thumb Geyser Basin before the famous and well known Old Faithful. This place was beautiful. On our drive from camp to here we could see steam pouring into the air. I was so excited to see these things up close and personal. Walking down the boardwalks that were installed there were some deep massive holes in the ground filled with what was crystal clear water. Extremely hot water, the smelt awful. Well worth every bit of it though.

Old faithful was the next stop. Many friends said "don't bother" "it's a waste of time" "nothing to exciting." Well, I was kind of a tourist on a time crunch and may never have this opportunity again. We checked the timing for the next eruption of Old Faithful. 11:00am. We sat patiently and waited. With front row seats to the show I was so excited to see what mother nature had to offer. Finally, a few minutes late it starts to bubble, and then before you know it the crowd was cheering and the water shot a couple hundred feet into the air with incredible force.

Before eruption

During eruption.

After all the excitement we took a jaunt around this portion of the park and had seen such beautiful and scary hot geysers all over. Not to mention bones of wildlife whom did not read the signs that said "do not walk, EXTREMELY HOT." YIKES! I am pretty sure I saw the carcass of a buffalo in one.

Prismatic Spring

As we were headed back to the car we stopped in to the gift shop to get our usual post cards, and spotted some action of a geyser that very rarely erupts and can not be predicted. The Bee Hive. Lucky enough we got to see it. In search for our post cards we found one with the most beautiful geyser on the front. The Prismatic Spring. We asked the gentleman working there where it was. He pointed us in the direction. We got in the car and continued north.

The Prismatic spring was spectacular. Many people were swimming in the river that the hot spring poured warm water into, enjoying a warm river instead of a freezing cold one. The colors were that of a rainbow, the water radiated steam right off it and high into the air. We very much indeed wanted to hike to the top of where ever it was that the photo on our postcard was taken, so the next day we found out how to get there and got some amazing photos of the beautiful vibrant colors it gave off from above.


We spent hours driving around the entire park in search to see it all. We saw waterfalls, Bison, the mud pots, rivers, wildlife, it was just amazing.

We had 2 days left and it was going to rain. We had looked at our maps over and over again to find a good long hike, possibly a loop hike. There really wasn't any. Most would consist of a car spot, which we didn't have. So we searched to see about doing an overnight somewhere. We found this one loop around a lake. 26 miles long. We went to the ranger station and asked about the difficulty of this hike, and if it's doable in a day by an avid hiker, or if they would recommend an overnight.

Back at our campsite we weighed our options. We said screw it, we will wake up early hike literally all day and sleep back in our campsite and have an entire extra day to do something else. So we packed for a long day hike, checked the weather. The weather was looking questionable. So we packed all gear necessary in case of any weather we may run into.

        
We started our 26 mile day hike, early, and everything was soaking wet from the night before. The moment i stepped out of the car, the mosquito's were horrendous. I sprayed myself down with more bug spray than ever. I covered all parts of my skin to make sure they couldn't get to me.

Easy start to a long day.

Off we went it took about 3 miles until we hit the lake. It would be the next 23 miles that would change my mind on hiking long distances for little to no outcome ever again. This was my first really long hike in a place unfamiliar to me. A place that I knew what to expect and had done my research on. Here is where my thoughts went wild. In all my days hiking in the Whites, I have never once thought about what to do or how to react if I run into a black bear. I didn't need to, I just knew what to do and what to expect from a black bear. Here in Yellowstone, nearly every 100 feet or so, I would see bear prints on the trees, they looked ferocious, and they were at least 6-7ft up. Which means, they were not what I am used to. Grizzly bears were on my mind. How do I react, well I know what I am supposed to do, but am I going to do it all right? Will we be able to get the bear spray out in time? Spray it exactly the way we are supposed to, down at the ground and not directly at it? They scare you about how dangerous these animals can be, that it made me more nervous. Every time I saw something odd on the ground in front of me I wondered if it would be fresh bear scat, if so, do I turn around like they tell you too? But, what if we are 15 miles in and run into fresh bear scat? The car is so far away. I really have nothing to say, should I still be talking to Becca? Should I whistle? The anxiety was there for sure, but that wasn't the worst of it.

Anything to keep the squiters' away!

The mosquito's kept at it, so  bad that they started to finally bite right through my marmot rain jacket. It was muggy, and damp, so wearing a rain jacket was not all to comfortable. We trekked through this large open field where I thought for sure in the distance I would see some form of wild life. I was wrong. But, I did question my pace as we walked through, for the sake of lightning.

At the lake we quickly ate a snack and continued on because the mosquito's were so bad. This was a no stop kind of day. Kind of like black fly season in New Hampshire. As we trekked along we lost the trail to a meadow of wet, tall, muddy grass. This was not the trail we hoped, we back tracked and decided to just walk along the lake until we met back up with the trail. It worked. Back into the woods we went shortly after hitting the lake. We thought as we trekked along we would have views from the lakes edge the majority of the way, boy were we wrong.

Shoshone Lake

After another 4 miles we were in the heart of the woods, nothing to see, no pretty flowers, no other hikers. It was just us and our minds. We had said we would hike in a little and turn back if the trail conditions were not so great after all that rain. Well, after the first run in at the lake it wasn't so bad for the next 7 miles.. It was all up and down hill from there.

Geyser Basin Foot Trail

We just kept walking and walking. We saw nothing and more of nothing. Finally, coming onto mile 10, I thought, we are getting closer to the end. Then, straight up hill we went, the heat of the day was finally there. I still had my rain jacket on to prevent biting. I was sweating and was so uncomfortable. I took my jacket off finally, and with every 10 steps had to stop to spray myself down again to keep those damn mosquito's away.

Once to the top of this brutal climb, we trekked through scarce wooded area, up along a riverbank. I feared here is where we may spot bear scat. I kept on high alert as I was leading. I would keep my head up and look to my right, then look to my left, and walk a few more steps. My ears were well aware of every noise made in the woods. Preparing for what could happen out here in the wilderness.

In the middle of these very thick wooded forest, we popped out for only a few tenths of a mile but to a beautiful hidden gem. It was a spot full of geysers, and mud pots. It was very unique because we had no idea that is what we would encounter out in the middle of the woods.

Bear Claw Scratches

Finally coming out of the woods we came to where the trail crossed the river we had been paralleling for quite some time now. It was shrubs, something I'd imagine a bear would be hanging out in. Eating the blueberries off the shrubs along the river bank. These shrubs were just about at our eye level. I stopped and looked at Becca and said here is where we start talking. "This is where I would imagine a grizzly to be." I said in a very loud calm voice. She replied "So lets just keep having a conversation, just in case."

As we approached the water crossing through the bushes, it was very high, and was not just a crossing. This was a wade. We took our boots and socks off and waded across almost waist deep. We continued on.

Many miles later, we anticipated what would be the last crossing before what I like to call "Home Stretch" of a hike. Exhausted, hot, and bit by too many mosquito's and have nothing to look at it, here it was. The largest crossing I had ever crossed. This wasn't a river.. We practically had to swim across the lake. Why the ranger never told us about this, I am not sure. But, we got across, it was brutally cold, I changed my socks once at the other side, ate my lunch, went to the bathroom, and packed up and was ready to call it a day.

That orange dot, is where we swam across from.

From here we had about 8 miles back to the car. The sun started to shine for a while, we started to get minimal views of how far we had traveled around the lake. I spotted a Bald Eagle in a tree, and then it began. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Ok! ENOUGH already.... Either stay uphill or just go down and walk along the edge of the lake. It didn't stop for the next 5 miles back to the exact spot we came out at the lake in the start. Then it was a flat 3 miles back to the car.

Bald Eagle

Once back at the lake and knowing we just had 3 miles left, I looked up and realized we were about to get poured on. I quickly threw on all my rain gear, and we walked incredibly fast. While the thunder roared and rain coming down in buckets. It was wild. I knew though we had to cross that field I feared crossing on the way in, during this storm.. It ended up being fine and we finally made it out and back to the car.

Lets just say, I always thought I wanted to Thru hike the AT, this day made me realize, I'm not sure it would be enjoyable to endure that every other day or for many days on a 6 month hike. I enjoy the hike, for the feeling of accomplishment, not just to walk 26 miles in the woods just because. Yes, I felt accomplished for hiking 26 full miles in cruddy weather, but I would not choose to do that again unless I absolutely had too.

Overall, Yellowstone was amazing. I had a blast and can't wait to go back. It was a very large National Park and had so much to see and do.

The finish of our 26 mile hike!

Hike Safe & Keep on Trekking