DAYS OFF

July 12, 1999

It was our day off. We call it our Saturday even though the calendar says Monday. We slept late, and then drove down to the Lake House for breakfast. The lake was like glass. What a sight! Mountains in the background, green trees along the shore, and clear, mountain water.

After breakfast, we drove along the western side of the south loop. At Biscuit Geyser Basin we stopped for a walk. Our walk turned into a hike of three miles to Mystic Falls and back by way of a great overlook. Driving on, we took in Fire Hole Geyser and passed up Paint Pots because the parking lot was full. We drove along Fire Hole Canyon Drive. What a neat place! The Fire Hole River falls over some cascades and falls with 800-foot cliffs on one side. The river is warmed by hot springs in one area attracting lots of swimmers.

Soon we were off to West Yellowstone, Montana. This is one of five gateway towns around the park. West Yellowstone was clean and neat with numerous restaurants, motels, and RV parks to support the tourist going into the park. Our objective was to get groceries.

On entering the park we picked up a hitch hiker needing a ride to the Old Faithful area. He has worked in the park for several years including winters. He told us about how the park was different in winter. The whole park is closed seven weeks in the spring and fall giving him two long vacations.

Another day off. We slept late and went to the Lake House for breakfast. Armed with bear spray, GPS, camera, and water, we were off to hike. Our first stop was Natural Bridge trailhead. This is a very easy two-mile hike round trip to a natural bridge on one of the ridges. It was beautiful hike through tall pines on a well-maintained trail, actually the trail is an abandoned road. We encountered three other groups of hikers, mostly families.

Following this wonderful, easy hike, we drove to Elephant Back trailhead. Elephant Back is a popular day hike. It is two miles each way, through tall lodge pole pines, up steep switchbacks to the top of a ridge. The reward is the best view (yes, breath taking) of Lake Yellowstone. What a view! Lake Yellowstone has to be the prettiest lake in the world. It is over 20 miles long and 12 miles wide, lined by trees. The mountains in the distance still have snow on them making the perfect backdrop for the pretty, blue lake.

After the hike, we rewarded ourselves with a light afternoon meal, including apple pie with vanilla ice cream at the store in Lake Village. During the meal, we did not encounter any hikers, only tourists, to swap lies with so we returned to the RV to give our feet a deserved rest.

THE GRIZZLY. The past three or four days, we've had a young, female bear feeding in the meadow at the entrance to our RV park. The bear has also been going through the woods to an area near the dorm were the college age kids live. Resource Management is very concerned that the bear is becoming too "unafraid" of humans, and sooner or later some person will do something dumb to cause the bear to hurt someone. They have taken to shooting shotgun blanks to scare the bear back into the woods. They are even considering caging her and hauling her off to some remote place in the park. Some of the touists have learned about her and sometimes drive by looking for her. She adds a bit of excitement for the people who walk or ride bikes to work, especially very early in the day or after dark. In the mean time, Gina has been reading accounts of bear attacks from a book called Death In Yellowstone. She is firm that she will not camp out in the primitive backcountry campsites. Since we would have to backpack or canoe to one of the sites, she need not worry for a while.