Wildflowers on Mars!!

This past week the weather seemed a bit questionable every day, so I opted to just go do some day hikes instead of overnighters. My first hike was to a back country thermal area called Tomato soup. The walk out to the backcountry thermal features was along a small creek, that originated in some of the larger thermal pools. The wildflowers in the open meadows were beautiful.

The colors of the thermal features, the flowers, the different grasses, and the bright blue sky were amazing.

Standing on a sliver of land between two pools:

We found 2 thermal "caves" during our hike and were able to climb inside one of them. The steam made it really difficult to take pictures while inside though.

The name explains the tomato soup thermal. And actually there were 3 of them that looked like tomato soup, which apparently is new this year.



The next day I went on a hike by myself in the Lamar Valley called the Garnet Hill Loop. This hike was really nice. It started in the open Lamar valley, then cut down into a forested area, and then ran along the Yellowstone River. The flowers in the woods, against the bright green grass, again, were beautiful. There were hundreds of yellow flowers along the river.

 

Yellowstone River in the backdrop:


The trail then looped back around the front side of Garnet Hill into a more forested area and ran along a really small creek. It started to drizzle in the woods, but was still really beautiful. At the end of the hike it again opened up into a large meadow and then into the valley. While in the meadow it started to downpour. Just as I was getting my rain gear on I spotted a black bear staring at me across the meadow. I also saw 2 pronhorn that immediately took off into the woods. I walked very briskly to the other side of the meadow keeping a close eye on the bear. By the time I got to the other side the rain had stopped and I noticed a jeep road and a horse corral. As I started up the jeep road, a ranger truck pulled up to let me know that two bears were "stalking" me through the valley. I have no idea where the 2nd one was, but I continued my brisk walk to the end of the trail and got the hell out of there!

That night I took a short 3.5 mile hike up Elephant Back Mountain for some views of the lake:

Tuesday I went on another hike in the Mammoth area. This hike was about 10 miles and went through the Hoodoos, which are really cool rock formations just above the Mammoth thermal terraces.

View of Bunsen Peak from the Hoodoos Trail:

Once through the Hoodoos, I hiked the beaver ponds loop. The views of Mt. Everts from up in the meadows was stunning. And once again there were thousands of wildflowers. The whole landscape looked like pure yellow at some points!

 

The hike took me to a beaver pond, but unfortunately I did not see any beavers. I did see some young, male elk in the forest just past the pond and was able to sit and watch them for a while without having them run off.

Beaver Dam:

Beaver Pond w/ Mt. Sepulcher in backdrop:

After the Beaver Ponds I hiked the Mammoth Terraces which made me feel like I was on Mars or the Moon! Some of the thermal features literally look like they are from a sci-fi movie or some other planet! After that I hitched a ride back to my car and sat in the back of a families truck while being pelted by hail, good way to end a long hike!

 

 

 

"The Mound" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, and I saw another Grizzly sow and cub!