Yellowstone Pictures, Gallery 17

These are all from the great summer of 2001 excursion, August 22.
We did the "upper loop", some views of the lower canyon, Wraith Falls, lunch and an exciting hike at Mammoth.


Bison Outside Cabin, Canyon, YellowstoneThat morning we were treated to a bison wandering among the cabins at Canyon.



The Canyon near Tower, YellowstoneA view of the canyon west of Tower Junction.  This is the overlook at Overhanging Cliff, where according to the wonderful book Death in Yellowstone, at least three people have fallen to their deaths here in seperate incidents, trying to get that good picture.  I didn't climb over the retaining wall, I figured this view was plenty good enough.



Overhanging Cliff, YellowstoneThe Overhanging Cliff.  It's made from columnar basalt, a type of lava.



Wraith Falls, YellowstoneFarther west from Tower Junction, almost to Mammoth, is Wraith Falls, at the end of  a short trail.  Kind of more like a water slide than a fall.  I thought mom was going to fall in the gully of the creek here when she was taking a picture of some fireweed flowers, but she didn't.



Rose Hips, YellowstoneWe made it to Mammoth Hot Springs.  We were looking around at the signs and things at a trail head, and there were big warning signs about an aggressive bear in the area.  There were also signs telling about trails that were closed because of fire.  We had no map with us.  My sister saw a sign that said "Beaver Ponds Loop", maybe 0.8 or 0.5 mile or some other very small number.  She wanted to go, insisted it was just a short hike that she had read about (after all the sign did say 0. whatever it was miles).  I remembered reading about it being a somewhat longer hike, but the aggressive bear and fires made it sound pretty exciting, better than another few hours in the gift shops, so we went.  I think the sign meant that the beaver ponds loop trail started in 0. whatever miles.  It turns out it is a five mile loop trail.  So, not only were we afraid of the bear, we got to worry that we were lost too after the first mile or so.  I did think at times that we were lost, had maybe taken a wrong turn onto a closed due to fire trail, but not seriously lost, I mean we went by a big ugly cell tower, and could see the Old Gardiner Road down below, and the town of Gardiner in the distance, it wasn't like we would be lost forever.  I was just worried we would never see the beaver ponds, or be eaten by the bear.  It was kind of steep climbing at places, and hot and dry (we had no water) and I was hiking in sandals because of the huge blister I got the first day.  We did finally make it to the beaver ponds.  There were some rose bushes with rose hips on them there.



Beaver Activity, Beaver Ponds Trail, YellowstoneThere were several ponds.  Some were mostly overgrown with cattails. Some were open but kind of scummy looking, and some had clear water.  This tree looked like a beaver had been chewing on it.



Beaver Ponds, YellowstoneThe beaver ponds, with a kind of recent looking beaver dam.  Never did see the actual beavers.



Aspen, Beaver Ponds Trail, YellowstoneA quaking aspen tree along the trail, all shining in the sun.  They are such a pretty tree, with the white bark and the way the leaves flutter in the breeze.  They are also a favorite food of the beaver.



Ruins, Beaver Ponds Trail,  Yellowstone.We found some sort of ruins of some sort of log structure along the trail, but couldn't really tell what it had been.

Soon we made it back to the Mammoth Hotel, and drank lots of water.  I talked to a lady who had been on the trail ahead of us at the water fountain.  She thought they were lost for a while too, so I didn't feel so bad.  Then we ate lunch and explored the hot springs at Mammoth.


copyright Chris Johnson
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