Escape to the Wild (Day 12 – Depth)

Well, today is our 1^st 14^th wedding anniversary.  So, Happy Anniversary to my beautiful wife, and thanks for sticking with me this long.

Since we missed out on Norris Geyser Basin yesterday, we decided to try it again today.  Before we headed over there, we decided to go to Canyon Village first.  So, after grabbing some sandwiches at the Book Peddler, we were on our way.  Many of the roads around that area are closed, so we had to park at the Visitor Center and hike over a mile through the woods to the Grand View observation area.  This observation area is part of the North Rim that runs along the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is a deep gorge cut into the mountain with the Yellowstone River running along the bottom.  The Grand View observation point is near the highest point of the canyon which is around 1200 feet above the river below.

My wife wussed out and wouldn’t go near the edge to look at the canyon, so I braved it alone.  Some nice people agreed to swap pictures with me, so I would have proof that I was there.  We headed down the North Rim trail to the Lookout Point observation area where we caught our first glimpse of the Yellowstone Lower Falls.  There was an offshoot trail that headed down to Red Rock Point, a 260-foot descent into the canyon that afforded a better view of the waterfall.  Again my wife wussed out, so I hiked it alone.  The descent wasn’t too bad.  It consisted of a series of switchbacks that zig-zagged down the side of the canyon to an observation point at the bottom.  The ascent was killer.  With an average grade of 9 degrees and a max grade of 23 degrees, my calves were throbbing by the time I made it back to the top.

After my wife administered CPR to me to revive me, we headed back through the woods to the visitor center.  We decided to eat the sandwiches we had brought before heading over the geyser basin.  As we munched on our cold grilled cheese sandwiches and Cheetos, a huge raven flew down and stood by our table.  I tossed him a couple of Cheetos, which he scarfed down greedily, and then some of the crust off of my sandwich.  He hopped up on the bench next to me, and I noticed that he had orange Cheeto cheese on his beak.  I decided that if he couldn’t eat without being such a mess, then I’d have to cut him off!

After that we headed over to the Norris Geyser Basin.  This basin holds the Steamboat Geyser, which has the distinction of being the world’s tallest active geyser.  During major eruptions, water can be tossed up to 300 feet into the air.  Unfortunately, the last major eruption was three years ago, and the geyser is so unpredictable that a major eruption can happen anywhere between four days and fifty years.  We did not see a major eruption today.  However, we did see several minor ones, so we’ll take it.

The tour around the back basin to see the various geysers, hot springs, and thermal pools is about three miles.  Honestly, I wouldn’t really say that it was worth the hike, but my wife liked it. I think she enjoyed the names more than anything.  You have the Puff ‘n Stuff Geyser, the Black Hermit Caldron, the Green Dragon Spring, the Blue Mud Steam Vent, the Porkchop Geyser, and the Vixen Geyser.  Of all of these, the Vixen Geyser was the most violent and feisty.

Exhausted and worn out, we head back to town.  As we were driving along the river, I spotted a white and grayish-brown bird sitting in a tree.  We turned around and went back and were blessed with a sighting of an osprey, or river hawk.  It was mostly white with grayish-brown wings and a brown stripe along the side of its head.  Unfortunately, when I got out to take its picture, it took off down the river.

We grabbed dinner at The Buffalo Bar again, me with my chicken fried steak and my wife with her bacon cheeseburger.