It’s taking me longer to crop and organize my photos than I had hoped…I’m sure it has nothing to do with the vast numbers that I took…no…couldn’t be. Anyway I decided I would just do a quick post with some of my favorites that I have finished from the hike to the beaver ponds…at least from the very first part of the hike…not even close to the half way mark but that way you have more to look forward to.
L and I decided to hike all day on one of the days rather than the original overnight backpacking trip we had planned. The first part was up the side of a mountain…and then down the back side….that will be a post some day soon…I promise. That part was 6-7 miles. I did well. I was still walking when we finished…and breathing…it was good!
The second part of our day hike was the Beaver Ponds trail. It was .7 miles to the trail and then a five mile loop. L had held herself back on the mountain hike and stayed close to me but I could tell she needed to expend some real energy so we decided we would hike at our own pace for this one. That meant L was out of sight within minutes and she finished almost two hours before me…but that was okay with me…I no longer felt any guilt whatsoever about stopping to take photos whenever I wanted (translation…every two seconds or so).
Right about the time I crossed this bridge I began to second guess my ability to continue…but after a brief rest (with lots of heavy breathing) I pushed on. In my defense…it was uphill and I had just hiked over six rather strenuous (for me) miles.
That morning while we were getting breakfast in the campground I started talking to our “neighbors” in the campsite next to us. I shared our plans to hike all day. The woman asked which trail we were going to take. I mentioned both of them. She then said that she and her husband had talked to some people the day before and asked about good hiking trails. They were told the Beaver Ponds trail was a real disappointment, that there was nothing of interest along it, and that it was not worth the effort. I beg to differ!
I love red clover. It is a favorite from my childhood and there were many stands of it all over Yellowstone.
As I started to hike alone I decided to get out my bear “bell” and attach it to my backpack to warn the bears that I was coming. It was prime bear habitat and there were signs warning of recent bear activity. I didn’t see any bears but there was other wildlife around.
I noticed early in our explorations that the regular white clover…the kind we tied necklaces and bracelets out of…had a beautiful pink outer edge. My guess is that it was from different minerals in the soil…I never remembered to ask a ranger about that.
Once I got up the hillside the trail leveled off and I was surrounded by the most splendid fields of wildflowers I have ever encountered!
The distant views were spectacular and went on forever. (There aren’t enough superlatives in the English language for me to do justice to my Yellowstone experience!)
There is so much more to share about our trip. It will probably keep me busy for a month or so.
And…to make it even more challenging…I’m heading to Seattle Thursday evening and going camping in the Olympic peninsula area through Sunday with my daughter. I happened to get a chance to have a four day week end and I grabbed it. So after my Yellowstone adventures I’ll have all of these new adventures to share. I better start charging the camera batteries right now….
