Hiking With Hubby in Yellowstone Park

See this look of horror?  Hubby is preparing for a hike.  In his words, "If you can't drive there, it isn't worth seeing."

But since he is in Yellowstone Park, he decided that maybe he should get off the road and venture down a trail.

I took him to the Lone Star Geyser which is about a 45 minute walk down a paved road.  For hubby, this is the equivalent of basic training.

Note to self....do not drink a cup of coffee before going on a hike.  Walking next to running water causes one to have the urge to, well, you know.  I got to practice more of my roughing it in the woods techniques.

Here's the path.

Common phrases for the non hiker are...
"How much farther?"
"Are we there yet?"
I heard them a lot on the hike.

This is my artistic shot of moss on the tree.

Here's hubby climbing over a tree on the path.

Remember, there is very little dirt here.  The trees just fall over.

They may be more dangerous than the bears.

We reached our goal.  The Lone Star Geyser.

It sits all by itself in the middle of nowhere.

It goes off every three hours or whenever it gets the urge.

Hubby was determined to wait it out.

No way he was wasting a 45 mile walk that didn't end up at a bar with a big screen t.v.

 And then it happened.  Lone Star gave us a show.


 It erupted for at least half an hour.

Here's another view of our little beauty.

It was well worth the wait.  There was only one other couple there, so for the most part, we had the show to ourselves.

You can have Old Faithful.

We had the Lone Star Geyser.

Much to hubby's dismay, the return trip was another 45 minutes, but he was glad he made it there.  His circulation thanked him also.

There's not much time left in Yellowstone and believe it or not, I'm growing misty over the prospect of leaving.  Not sure I can get hubby out for another walk before we leave.

Check in tomorrow for more tales from Yellowstone Park.

Grousing in Yellowstone Park

Now that my days are numbered in Yellowstone Park, it's time you meet some of the cast of characters here.

Meet Jacqueline from Washington.  We first met when she commented on my blog.

As you can see, she is a cute 20 something.

What you can't see are the freckles.

Jacqueline works at the barista at the Old Faithful Inn.  She is a vital part of the Inn.  If guests can't get their Starbucks wanna be coffee, they can get quite cranky.

Jacqueline kidnapped me yesterday in her pickup truck with the cracked windshield.  Her goal is to meet as many people as possible in Yellowstone.  She claims that once you are her friend, it is for life.  I think I believe her.

If she hangs out with old broads like me, there will be a time limit on the friendship.

I can try to summarize her life to this point, but since we were gabbing a million miles a minute, and I didn't have a tape recorder, some of this may be slightly if not totally wrong.  Forgive me J if I mess this up.

J's parents, as she describes them, are Christian hippies.  I like that image...a Bible and love beads, maybe?  She was home schooled and had completed some college before she graduated from high school. 

She's been to Papua New Guinea, not sure why, but it was part of a school trip, I believe.

I got this picture off the internet of some of the locals having a party.  J claims that the folks she met there had been cannibals at one time, but not any more.  They had stopped 5 or 6 years ago, she told me with her sweet smile.  I was thinking that she was going to say 5 or 6 generations ago.  This country is not on my bucket list.  Stop me from saying my Colonel Sanders list.  Too late.  Forgive me.

J most currently lived in a tent for six months somewhere in Washington state.  She and her friend had to move every week or so as you can only stay in campgrounds for a limited time.  No wonder she doesn't mind the dorms.  Maybe I should have camped out before I came here.

Her dream job is....hang on friends....to travel to a place where the people do not have a written language so that she can translate the Bible for them.  Bless her heart.  I mean how many young people do you meet who would even consider this?  I wouldn't consider anyplace that didn't have internet, air conditioning and washing machines. 

Like I said earlier, we were gabbing and walking down the Lone Star Geyser trail, when we heard this thumping sound that got louder and faster.  I have discovered that I am not a runner when danger seems near.  My feet froze to the ground.

I was thinking that maybe this is the noise a bear makes charging down a hill going after an afternoon snack.

How would I know?  Give me a break!

It turned out to be this bird on a log.

Whew!

My picture wasn't very good, so I copied this from the internet.

It's a sage grouse.  The noise it makes is its mating ritual.

The little guy thinks this impresses the ladies.

The question is, did he think one of us looked cute?

He's definitely not my type.

So that's the end of the big adventure.  J and I finished our walk and talk and our little scared out of our wits episode.  I think we are friends for life.

Just a reminder, the poo ornament contest ends tonight at midnight.  I will choose the grand poo bah winner tomorrow afternoon (I work early.)   I have some good people in the running, but there's still time to impress me. 

Night for now from Yellowstone Park, the place that never sleeps.

Hiking to the Lone Star Geyser in Yellowstone Park

Before we get into today's adventures at Yellowstone Park, let me reassure my followers that I am mainly leaving because of the tooth.  It is glued together.  I make $7.75 an hour here. That does not pay for an implant, a bridge or a large pizza at the employee pub.

I am hoping that the glue holds until the end of June when hubby comes to escort me back to Ohio and my dentist, Dr. Ed.  I will continue to blog.  I just can't stop now. I am addicted.

I have been searching the internet and found that there are quite a few walking clubs in my area.  I plan to explore my backyard, get exercise and meet some people.  The adventure and photos will continue.

Now, back to hiking in Yellowstone Park.

It turned out to be a beautiful day here with blue skies that you only see in the west.  Wish I could take them back to Ohio.  Grizzly son and girlfriend were kind enough to take me with them to the Lone Star Geyser.

In the top left hand corner, you see Old Faithful.  Just a short distance east of it, you see the Lone Star Trailhead and a little red line that heads south to the Lone Star Geyser.

Doesn't look far, does it?  It was 5 miles round trip, which is pretty good for this old girl who until a month ago did nothing but sit on her butt.

The real challenge was this.

The trail was covered in snow.  It is an old service road that has been closed for many years.

It is one of the few trails in Yellowstone Park that allow bicycles.

Not today unless your bike has snow tires and chains.

We came across a little dam.

Have no idea why it is there.

It was an absolutely beautiful hike next to the Firehole river.

The weather was perfect for a hooded sweatshirt.

Hiking works up a sweat, if you must know.

Could it be more beautiful?

Other than having snow up to my ankles, this was just perfect.

We were feeling pretty smug about our 5 mile snow hike when a female jogger sped past us.

That's her racing ahead of us.

Later, a couple with their baby in a stroller came down the path.

I would have taken a picture, but I was afraid they might have been offended.

Baby, stroller, snow....why?

We passed a beautiful clearing, kind of hoping and kind of not that a bear might be lounging there.

The girlfriend and I were hoping for not.

Grizzly was the one looking for bear and claimed if it came after us, he would run for his life and we were on our own.

Girlfriend may have words with him later.  He could have at least lied.  Women like that in a man.

This is a smashed bicycle rack right before the geyser.

Nature has a way of winning over civilization in Yellowstone.

Here's the Lone Star Geyser.  It had just erupted before we got there, and it only goes off every three hours.

We didn't stick around for the next show.

It was pretty anyway.

Here's me in front of the geyser, just to prove I haven't stolen pictures from the internet.

I'm still smiling because I hadn't thought about making the trip back down the snowy road.

One more pretty picture.

We made it back without spotting any wildlife, other than Grizzly son.

Our shoes and pants were wet, our legs ached and we just wanted to sit down.

After changing shoes, we took off to the Old Faithful Inn for our reward...huckleberry ice cream.

Huckleberries grow around here it seems, and you can get anything made out of them...candy, hand lotion, lip balm, etc.  It was brilliant.  I promised myself that I would say brilliant once a day because our English guests use the word often.  I love the British.

It was a good day, wasn't it?  I don't go to work tomorrow until 2:30, so there are opportunities for adventure in the a.m.  My laundry is done and there is no other housework to do, so I will be out and about.

Hubby, don't panic about the charge on the bank statement to Land's End.  My hiking shoes are too small and my  toes are starting to curl up like the Wicked Witch of the West.  I really, truly, absolutely need them.  Hugs to you all.  I am surviving.