Hey, Bear!

Woody is convinced that she saved all of our lives during the second half of our Taggart Lake hike.  I'll let you be the judge.

When we decided to take the hike to Taggart Lake, Woody asked the ranger if we needed bear spray.  Her answer was "No.  It is a fairly popular trail so you really don't have anything to worry about."  So off we went, bearspray-less.  The first half of the trail was just as the ranger described - solitude but enough other hikers on the trail that we didn't feel completely alone.  There is comfort that other people are around while hiking in grizzly country.

There was a definite change on the second half of the hike.

Point #1:  Animals start to get more active in the late afternoon.  As we set off from the lake, we realized that it was getting late in the day.  Not dark by any means but the sun was definitely on the downswing.

Point #2:  There were no other hikers making noise to alert animals to the presence of people.  The hike to Taggart Lake is a loop trail - and we had taken it the opposite way as most hikers, which put us completely alone on the trail.

Point #3:  Taggart Lake trail is one blind corner after another.  Blind corners + wildlife = startling said wildlife which really pisses them off.

Point #4:  Taggart Lake trail is by a stream which masks the noise made by hikers.  See above about startling wildlife.

Point #5:  Taggart Lake trail goes through tons of berry patches.  Wildlife likes to eat berries.

Point #6:  Moose are present in the area of the Taggart Lake trail.  Moose are not nice hiking buddies.  And they are HUGE!  We saw moose scat on the trail and a tree rub that had to be from a moose due to the size.  (This theory was later confirmed by a ranger.)

Point #7:  Elk are present in the area of Taggart Lake trail.  Elk are in rut.  Elk in rut are not nice hiking buddies.  And they are HUGE!  We saw bunches of elk scat on the trail and bunches of tree rubs.  And we heard a bull elk bugle.

Point #8:  Taggart Lake trail is near Moose-Wilson Road, which has been closed due to heavy grizzly activity in the berry patches.  Also, see #5 above about the berry patches.

Point #9:  Grizzly bears are present in the area of Taggart Lake trail.  On the trail, we saw bear scat and a huge, fresh paw print with claw prints that still gives me shivers to think about.

Point #10:  And we did NOT HAVE BEAR SPRAY!!!  Woody says she will never ever again hike in bear country without bear spray.  If for no other reason than her own peace of mind.

Due to all these factors, Woody did what she has learned from all her reading of Backpacker Magazine.  She shouted "Hey Bear!" and shouted "Hey Bear!" and shouted "Hey Bear!".  She also shouted for the bears to not eat her, that she didn't taste good, that they could ask the mosquitos.  She felt pretty silly but nothing will convince her that she did not save all our lives.

At least we had a nice view if we had been eaten....

It Must Be Fake

Day 3 meant we were headed to Grand Teton National Park.  We expected it to be beautiful but holy cow!!  We were in awe!!  Beauty in every direction you look.

All we could do is say that it looked fake.  It looked like a painted backdrop.  And just like the Grand Canyon, photographs do not do it justice.  This one is taken from a spot called Oxbow Bend.

Seriously, it must be fake.

We stopped at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center before beginning our planned hike around Jenny Lake.  On the ranger's recommendation, we decided to hike to Taggart Lake instead.  She said that it was a spectacular hike during this time of the year.  And she was right.

After about a mile - as we were coming out of a thicket, we came across some mule deer, three does and two babies.  They didn't seem to feel threatened by us and continued to mosey along their way.  The oldest of the does made her way around to our backside which didn't make us feel very comfortable so we went on our way.

Soon we had made it to our destination - Taggart Lake.  It was every bit as beautiful as the ranger had said.

Since it was starting to get late, we had to head on our way.  We had another 2.5 miles to go to get back to our car.  And that was when it happened.  Woody saved all our lives......

Back To Lamar Valley

Since we were already on the east side of the park, we headed to Lamar Valley to try to spot more wildlife as the sun started to set.  The Lamar Valley is a breathtakingly beautiful place, absolutely teeming with bison.

We were rewarded early in our search by spotting a pronghorn antelope lying in a field.

The bison were kicking up dust.  Too bad Woody was too slow with her camera to catch him wallowing around to itch his back.

As we continued down the valley, we spotted a gathering of people near Yellowstone Institute.  People with huge binoculars and spotting scopes.  We definitely needed to figure out what these people were looking at!  Turns out, they were keeping watch on two bison carcasses - waiting for wolves or grizzlies to come down for an evening meal.

I was in fear for my life and was hiding under the seat the whole time.  Being eaten by a wolf or bear is not my idea of a good time.  Woody and Vol Fan are NUTS!

The first carcass was just out of sight, over this hill.

The second was in plain view down by the river.  One bison was holding vigil for his fallen comrade.

As we watched and waited, the bison herd kept us entertained.  The calves jumped and played.  Eventually some of the bigger guys got in on the fun, racing around the meadow.

We met several nice people that let us look through their spotting scopes.  Their views were amazing!  There was a very nice couple that kept us entertained with stories of seeing wildlife.  They had been coming to Yellowstone annually for over 50 years!

Unfortunately, there weren't any takers of the free meal while the sun was still up.  But the anticipation made our evening very exciting!  We had been warned that with a fresh kill in the area, we did not want to be hanging around after the sun set.  We definitely listened to that advice!

Got Oxygen?

We started our second day by attending a ranger program.  We learned a lot about bears and things we should do to remain safe while hiking in grizzly country, like how to use bear spray.  Can you believe the size of those claws?!?

I was the first monkey to attend Ranger Erin's presentation.  I don't know why monkeys don't get out of the jungles more!

Our plan for the day was to explore the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  And explore we did!  We hiked and hiked.  Up and down.  Up and down.  Whew, we were worn out by the end of the day!

But man, was it beautiful!  View down the canyon from the brink of the lower falls.

Lower falls.  Yes, those tiny things just to the right of the top of the falls are people.  Gives you an idea of the size of the falls.  That is where we were standing to take the photo above.

Can you see one of the trails we took down into the canyon?

Upper falls.

After already hiking several miles and gaining +700' in elevation, we decided it was time to conquer Uncle Tom's Trail.  When you are greeted by a sign like this at the trailhead, you know you are about to suck some serious wind.

Oh, yeah!  Serious wind! But totally worth it!

On our way back to the car, we encountered this vicious beast.  We were glad that we had attended the wildlife safety class earlier.

Old Faithful And More

While not the largest geyser in Yellowstone, Old Faithful still puts on a show.  We were lucky enough to view it at an angle to see a beautiful rainbow!

I took this photo to give you an idea of the size of Old Faithful.  And this shot was toward the end of the eruption so the water is at about 2/3 the peak height.

We walked around the boardwalk area behind Old Faithful and got to see many more geysers and hot springs.  We enjoyed seeing how different they were.  Some looked like tiny volcanoes.

It was interesting to see how the different types of crust formed.

Earlier in the day, we had passed Great Fountain Geyser.  It had a 4-hour window for an eruption posted.  We had been told there were a couple of things to look for that would tell us that it would erupt within the hour.  After checking its status, we realized we had some time to kill.  So we visited Biscuit Basin.

We loved being able to see just how deep the springs are.  This is Sapphire Spring.  Thankfully, Vol Fan isn't height-challenged and was able to stretch out, holding the camera over his head to get this shot.

A fun little geyser is this one - Shell Spring.  It only erupts with this bubbling but when it is finished, the water quickly disappears, like someone flushed a toilet.

After a little more exploring, we were back to wait for Great Fountain Geyser to erupt.  Why were we willing to wait for hours to see it erupt?  It erupts to 220' - Old Faithful averages 150'.  So we waited....

And we waited....

And we waited...

And then the sun set...

And when it erupted, this is what we saw.

Even though our view of the eruption wasn't the best, the anticipation and watching the signs of the coming eruption was very exciting!