WY

Ok. Last post on the vacation. The last 2 nights in Yellowstone we stayed at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, which is the oldest lodge in the park. It had a beautiful view of Lake Yellowstone and the mountains, as you can see here:

We saw a lot our last 2 days in the park. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:

Mammoth Hot Springs, which looked like something from another planet:

And ANIMALS! Yellowstone is home to the last wild herd of buffalo in the world. These dudes were everywhere, and so was their poop. It was amazing. They pooped everywhere. Right up to the front door of the hotel, all around the geyser basin, and everywhere in between.

Moose

Elk

Pronghorn antelope

Buffalo dook

The day before we left, we decided to go on a hike. Matt had a guide book listing all the various hikes in the park, and we picked one that took you to the top of Mt. Washburn. There were 2 trails, one on each side of the mountain, so we dropped my parents off at one trail head, and Matt and I drove to the other. The plan was to meet at the top, give my parents the car keys, and they would come pick us up on the other side.

Our hike got off to a bit of a rough start when Matt and I realized (after dropping my parents off) that we had misread the guide book, and the hike which we thought was 3.5 miles was actually about 6.5. We weren't too happy to discover this since it was already after 11am at this point. We hadn't brought any food and only had 1 bottle of water between us. Oh well.

Our attitudes worsened when we discovered that the road to the parking area at the trail head was closed, adding an additional mile to the hike. Even worse was the sign posted at the parking area (the one we walked a mile to get to) notifying us that there was FREQUENT BEAR ACTIVITY in this area. Great. But we had to keep trucking along since my parents would be waiting for us at the top.

Somewhere around mile 2, I found some kind of animal track in the path. It was pretty big, and had some claw marks that were very unsettling. Matt informed me it belonged to a grizzly bear. Great.

Let me back up a little bit. The day before, while driving through Yellowstone, we saw a grizzly bear run across the road, almost directly in front of our car. It was really neat to witness - from the car. That night, Matt had a nightmare that he was being chased by a bear, and the next morning at breakfast, Matt had spent some time in the gift shop reading up on bear and wolf attacks in Yellowstone. Needless to say, were were a little on edge after spotting that bear track. To make matters worse, we were literally the only people on this trail, which went straight up through the middle of nowhere.

Determined not to be eaten, we walked on, a little faster now, trying to make as much noise as possible. (FYI - you don't want to startle a bear. It will eat you.) So we were clapping, singing, praying out loud.....you get the idea. Matt found a metal pole in the ground being used as a trail marker and yanked it up, brandishing it as a weapon. Repeatedly, Matt kept telling me not to worry, that if we did encounter a bear he would protect me and I could go on and live my life and one day remarry. What?! Not the most comforting words to hear.

After a long, long time, and several bear scares ("Oh my gosh, Matt! What IS that? Is that a bear?"), we finally made it to the top. Hallelujah! My parents arrived about 45 minutes later.

The view from the top of Mt. Washburn. Roughly 10,300 feet in elevation.

After we rested for a bit, met a few guys from Clemson (random!), and recounted our hike of terror to my parents, we all headed back together. Safety in numbers, right? And - a mere 5 hours after we began, we were back at the car, ready for our next adventure. Not really. None of us could walk after that little jaunt. Misery.

Back at the hotel gift shop (I swear Matt spent 3 hours looking at wolf t-shirts and gold buffalo necklaces) Matt found a book citing the trail we had just hiked as being one of the most common places to spot grizzlies in all of Yellowstone. Gooooooo!!!