Gardiner Montana and Yellowstone NP Part 2

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Continuing on with our stay in Gardiner Montana, we head into Yellowstone National Park again for a hike in the Lamar Valley. The hike itself wasn’t necessarily a highly rated one, but I had a reason to go for this six mile round trip hike. There is a virtual geocache along the trail about 3 miles out. A virtual cache is one that doesn’t have a container hidden. The cache owner usually asks finders to email them an answer to a question that can only be determined if you are present at the location provided. This particular cache is over 15 years old and had been found fewer than 50 times. For reference, another virtual cache in YNP at Midway Geyser that is about 16 years old has been found over 3000 times so the one I want to go for is infrequently found by cachers.

We knew the trailhead parking area for this hike is somewhat small so we attempt to head out early with the hopes of finding a parking spot. Of course, being the Lamar Valley, we ran the risk of coming upon bison. We have seen so many bison at this point in our travels, we wouldn’t be tempted to stop for pictures. But when the bison are blocking the road, we don’t have much choice but to stop and wait for them to move out of the way. It was probably only only a five minute delay before we could continue on. There are possibly two starting points for this hike. The closer one is intended for the start of livestock trail while the other one, a third of a mile further, is intended for hikers. When we arrived at the parking area, there was just one legal spot remaining so our timing was perfect. The hike starts out crossing over the Lamar River and the hiker trail has a bridge over the river whereas the livestock trail doesn’t.

Hiker Bridge Over Lamar River

There are lots of pretty distance views along this trail but definitely no tree cover so plan on the sun beating down on you for the full hike. This trail is also a way to get to the more popular Specimen Ridge Trail which would be a nice hike from the sounds of it, but it is a long trail that is difficult to turn into a day hike. It was also a very lonely trail. It wasn’t until we were at the 3 mile turnaround point that we came across other hikers. We did see a bison carcass about 50 feet off the trail. I took a closer look to realize that not much was left of it so I think Chris’ nervousness of a possible bear in the area was a bit overblown. We got the required information for the cache and turned around. We ran into a few more people heading out along the trail as returned. They asked about any wildlife we saw along the trail but other than a pair of pronghorn a couple hundred yards off the trail and a herd of bison more than a mile away, we told them we had come up empty but on the plus side, we hadn’t seen any bears either!

View Along Lamar Valley Trail

Tracks from Lamar Valley Hike

One the way back, the bison were still near the road but not immediately in the road. We stopped at a pullout near them to eat our lunch and watch then wander around. Next we stopped at the Tower-Roosevelt area of the park. There isn’t a visitor center here but the Roosevelt Lodge was interesting to check out. There are numerous small cabins to be rented out surrounding the main lodge building which includes a small cafe. A large covered front porch with lots of large wooden rocking chairs seemed like a relaxing place to sit and just people watch.

Roosevelt Lodge

Old Poster Hanging Over Lodge Fireplace

View From Covered Porch at Lodge

The next day we head north to Bozeman. At 75 miles or so, it’s further than we typically travel for a day trip but we thought the Museum of the Rockies sounded interesting enough to warrant the drive. The museum is predominantly known for its large collection of dinosaur fossils and other paleo collections. It’s a big place and you are greeted by a T-Rex outside the main entrance. There seemed to be enough things to see and do that we felt the need to come up with a game plan in order to fit it all in during our one visit. They have a planetarium with a several different programs scheduled throughout the day. We decided on one of the shows at noon and headed off to see the dinosaur exhibits before then. There are so many displays to check out with lots of signs describing each one of them. It would be a challenge to fully take it all in during a single day’s visit. The admission price does permit entrance for two consecutive days but we know we don’t want to drive back the next day to take advantage of that perk.

Colorful Red Rock Formation on Drive to Bozeman

Museum of the Rockies

T-Rex Sneaking Up on You

Dinosaur Head

Colorful Interpretation of Dinosaur

Another T-Rex Inside

Close Up of T-Rex Skull

They also have a changing exhibit. While we were there, it was dedicated to Genghis Khan. While it didn’t really fit in with the theme of the rest of the museum, we still found it fun to explore. They have lots of artifacts from his time in Mongolia in the 13th century.  Some of the masks from that time period were downright scary looking. They also had music and dance presentations in the auditorium periodically thru the day. We sat in on one of the shows and were amazed by the extremely ornate costumes of the performers. There are other exhibits that explore some of the Yellowstone geology and history. Outside of the main building but part of the museum is the Living History Farm.  The old farmhouse from the late 1800’s was moved here along with several outbuildings. Many volunteers dressed in clothing of the period are on hand to show what daily life was like back then. One woman was making cookies and other food in a wood burning oven while another was working on a loom. It was all nicely done and the garden in front of the house had a large number of flowers and vegetables that get used in the kitchen. It was a full day but quite enjoyable.

Genghis Khan

Elaborate Headwear

Scary Mask

More Masks

Musician Playing Dutar

Mongolian Dancer

Musician Playing Yatga

Rear of Farmhouse

Entrance to Farmhouse with Gardens

Old Yellowstone Horse Drawn Carriage

The following day we head back to YNP to the Canyon area for another hike. We drive to South Rim Drive and park in the large lot near Artist Point. We initially head to the viewpoint at Artist Point before the crowds arrive. This is definitely the place to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in all its glory. We have a nice sunny morning and the colors of the canyon walls jump out at you. Just over three quarters mile upstream is the Lower Falls. It is definitely a popular photo op but for good reason since it is such a remarkable view.

Lower Falls of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Colorful Canyon Walls

Closer to Lower Falls

We next head west along the parking area to the trailhead for the South Rim Trail. This trail follows along the top of the canyon as it heads west. The Lower Falls are visible at many places along the trail until you get too close at which point the terrain and trees block the views of the water. Along the way, you come to the intersection with Uncle Tom’s Trail. This leads to the dramatic staircase we saw from the viewpoint at the Brink of the Lower Falls several days earlier, but is currently closed - bummer!

The trail follows the bend of the canyon to the south and ends up at the Upper Falls Viewpoint. This is a nice view here as well although not quite as impressive as the one from Artist Point. From here, you could turn around and retrace your path back, walk down South Rim Drive or as we did, find the Clear Lake Trail. In a bit over a half mile this interests the Clear Lake - Ribbon Lake Trail which we follow east for a quarter mile before passing the southern shore of Clear Lake. It is a pretty lake but not a great smelling lake. We could see bubbles all along the shore and realize we are nearing another thermal area and this lake has some of the smelly gases being released below it. The thermal area isn’t very large and there aren’t super pretty pools or geysers to see. We follow the trail east all the way to Ribbon Lake and find a spot for a snack by the water. In hindsight, it wasn’t worth the extra 2 miles round trip to see this lake.

Upper Falls

Clear Lake

Bubbling Mud Pit

Unexpected Mushroom

Ribbon Lake

After retracing our path, we follow a connector trail that heads north to the continuation of the trail along the south rim of the canyon. A left hand turn will lead back to Artist Point while a right takes you to the end of this trail at Point Sublime. It sounded interesting and would only add a mile and a half to the overall hike. I’m really glad we did this trail. It offers continuous views of the canyon and river below. There are stretches of this trail that are close to the edge of the canyon. Chris took her time and didn’t have any trouble but we did run across one family where the daughter was not at all pleased with the trail being so close to the edge. So if you have a fear of heights, be forewarned. When we got to Point Sublime, we took in the views and then headed back.

Odd Shaped Tree Hanging Onto Rim of Canyon

By the time we got back to the car our hike came in at 9 miles. The sad thing is, had we only hiked the trail from Artist Point to Point Sublime, we would have done possibly the most scenic hike in YNP and only needed to go a total of 3 miles. As we were returning, several, people asked if the hike to Point Sublime was worth it and we responded with an enthusiastic yes. If you’re only in Yellowstone for a short time, this would be a must do hike. Later that evening, we walked into downtown Gardiner and found a nice restaurant to celebrate my birthday dinner.

Our South Rim Hike Tracks

We have definitely been finding this summer’s trip to be approaching vacation mode for us. What do I mean by that? Well when we were still working full time, if we took two weeks vacation to go somewhere special, we would feel obligated to cram every single hour of the day and night with activities. After those two weeks, we would be so exhausted that we “needed” to go back to work just to recuperate. With this summer being one national park after another, we have been falling into that type of pattern and it’s tough to continue that pace indefinitely. So we force ourselves to have lazy days every now and then.

We have seen a fair number of cars heading up and down the hill beyond the campground but it wasn’t clear what, if anything, was up there. We took the several mile drive up the hill on one of those lazy days just to see what we could find. About two miles up a most dirt road is Eagle Creek Campground. It is a small (16 site) campground that isn’t suited for large rigs but would be rather nice for small trailers or tent campers. A bit further up the hill, is the small town of Jardine. The road isn’t in that great of shape so we were somewhat surprised to find decent looking homes up here. The road gains over 1000 feet in elevation, so the views from up here are quite nice.

View From High Above Gardiner Montana

With our rest day behind us, we headed back to YNP for something a bit different - a combination mountain bike ride and hike. Osprey Falls sounded quite nice and is an out of the way hike. There are two ways to get to the start of the Osprey Falls trail. One is to hike up and over Bunsen Peak. The other is to go south around Bunsen Peak on the old Bunsen Peak Road which is now closed to automobiles. It’s permissible to ride a bike on the old road, so we figured we could go to the trailhead and bike the three miles or so to the Osprey Falls Trail the. Switch over to our hiking gear and head down the 1.4 miles (one way) dropping close to 800 feet in elevation in the process.

The road was in reasonable shape for the mountain bikes. Overgrown grasses and weeds were probably the biggest obstacle along the way. The only other concern we had was the possible run in with a bear. We have been hiking in possible bear habitat most of the summer, but riding a bike brings in a different level of concern. By traveling several times faster than on foot, it is much more likely to sneak up on a bear and the bear and us are both startled. Our bikes both have small bells on the handlebars that we usually only ring before passing somebody on a bike path. We found ourselves ringing the bells several times a minute during the three mile ride with the hopes of warning the bears before we got to them. We didn’t see any bears so either the bells helped or none were in the vicinity. We locked the bikes together and I changed into my hiking shoes.

View Along Bunsen Peak Road

Chris Approaches

Beautiful Scenery for Mountain Bike Ride

The trail down to Osprey Falls on the Gardner River starts out heading south along the top of the canyon for a half mile or so before it proceeds into the valley. It was rather steep with lots of switchbacks to drop that much elevation. We really wish we had brought along our hiking sticks to help with the footing but we hadn’t thought the hiking part out completely. There are some very nice views along the way and a fair number of flowers in bloom. The red raspberries were just starting to get ripe which increased our bear concerns a bit. Osprey Falls were rather impressive dropping about 150 feet and still with a good volume of water. We enjoyed the views from down here for a bit before starting the climb back up the steep hill. We only came upon one other hiker in the complete 9 mile journey so we almost had the place to ourselves.

Start of Osprey Falls Trail

Looking Down into Canyon We Must Descend

Osprey Falls

Downstream of Osprey Falls

Butterfly in Flight

After we load the bikes on the rack, we head south another mile or so to Sheepeater Cliff Picnic area. What we hoped would be a quiet little spot for lunch turned out to be a rather popular destination. The parking area was nearly full and the few picnic tables were all full with others having the same idea. While sitting in the car having lunch, we saw an RV come in to use the place as well even though the sign at the entrance to this area clearly prohibits them for good reason. There is no room for them to turn around to get out, especially when so many others are here. It took a long time for them to manage to get turned around. Sheepeater Cliff is so named for the Shoshone Indians that lived in this general area. Apparently they used bighorn sheep for all sorts of things and earned the name sheepeater. The cliff at this location is interesting because the rock outcropping here has columnar joints created by how the lava cooled 500,000 years ago.

Sheepeater Cliff

Another View of Mammoth Springs Area

With our stay in Gardiner and Yellowstone National Park drawing to a close, we squeezed in one more interesting hike. The Yellowstone River Overlook Trail starts at a picnic area a mile or so along the NE Entrance Road after the turn near Roosevelt Lodge. It was fairly crowded but found a parking spot and started up the hill. The trail is on the eastern side of the river following along the top of the canyon. We had seen people hiking over here days ago when were were at a viewing area on the western side of the canyon. We had wondered how to get to this trail and now we know. There are some great views along this trail and it wasn’t super strenuous. The last section of the trail turns back towards the northeast and intersects Specimen Ridge Trail. We had come across this trail while hiking the Lamar Valley trail but that intersection is over ten miles away to the east.

View Along River Overlook Trail

Looking Down onto River

Dramatic View of Yellowstone River

Looking Back at Hikers Behind Us on Trail

View Before Heading Back Towards Road

We take a left hand turn onto Specimen Ridge which heads back to the main road. As we got closer to the road, we saw a herd of bison and were concerned they might be blocking our way out, but it turned out to be just a dozen or so and they weren’t near our route. We followed the main road back to the picnic area to enjoy our lunch. It was still rather crowded and some people asked if they could join us. It was an older couple and a younger guy that turned out to be a tour guide for this couple. The guide definitely came prepared to pamper his guests. We put down a tablecloth and opened up a huge picnic basket with a wide assortment of food. We enjoyed talking with them about what they have seen and what we have been up to. From the brief investigation I did about this type of tour, packages start at $600 per day. I think we will stick to our method of exploring our national parks.

On our way back, we made a slight detour to check out Tower Fall. We have driven by the parking area numerous times but hadn’t bothered to stop. The view of Tower Fall from the overlook area wasn’t all that special. We continued down the steep trail to just about the river level but decided it wasn’t really worth the effort from a scenery standpoint. Although it was a fairly good workout coming back up to the car!

Tower Fall

We ended up spending a total of 21 nights in the Yellowstone area split between West Yellowstone and Gardiner. Since the park is so large and varied, it almost seemed like we were in completely different national parks at times. We really enjoyed the stay here but I must admit it didn’t move to the top spot of national parks we have visited. It is the only place to see such a high concentration of thermal features, so if that is your “thing” then this is a must do. We saw some great springs, pools, and geysers but the majority of them were in very crowded areas. I can practically guarantee you will see bison if you visit either Hayden Valley or Lamar Valley. So if bison are on your bucket list, then a stop in Yellowstone would work out well. However, we enjoy hiking and we found the hiking in the park so-so. If we were avid backpackers then our tune might change, since it seemed like there might be some excellent multi day hiking trips within the park. So not to knock Yellowstone but I doubt we will feel the need to stop here every time we are in the general area. In hindsight, I would have shifted one of our three weeks in Yellowstone to extend our stay up in Glacier National Park. Next stop is Grand Teton National Park just to the south so we will see how that goes.

Elk Out Front Windshield

Deer at Campground