Week of June 16

This week would be different from the other two -- more like a “normal” life out here in Montana. I did plan to go to Yellowstone one more time to see the Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful), which is the largest grouping of geysers in the world (and has 5 of the 6 major geysers in the park). I even thought about going to Jackson, WY (one of my favorite places with the Teton Mountains), but the hotel rooms in Jackson are priced out of sight this year. And I could leave very early and make it a day trip, but the price of diesel is so high. And while the shopping in Jackson is the BEST, I really don’t need to spend any more money.

This week I wanted to do more things in Big Sky. The resort is now “open” although there are not a lot of people here yet (which I like). So I explored the resort, and I got a map of the hiking trails. There is a beautiful trail called “Moose Tracks”, and it’s for hikers – no mountain bikes. It runs along a creek (which like most of the creeks and rivers this year is overflowing its banks), with meadows, wildflowers, snow covered trails, and some incredible views of both Lone Mountain and the Gallatin Mountain Range (see the pictures). I’m hiking it every day trying to get myself in better shape. The trail is of “intermediate difficulty”, and it has some stretches which go up a good elevation – gets my heart rate going and lungs pumping.

AND I SAW SOME BEAR TRACKS. There is a lot of work being done on the resort and many of the trails are closed for repair, etc. I think work is being done on Moose Tracks, as it is suppose to be 2 miles to the top, but I think what I’ve walked is about a mile. At the point the trail looks like it stops, there is another “road” that looks like it has been widened. Several days ago, I tried to follow it, but it had a lot of new dirt and I was “skating” on the mud. But I thought today it would be dryer, so I started up. I’ve seen a lot of animal tracks which look like deer and elk. But I’m walking along today, and all of a sudden I see a break track -- Yikes!! So I’m standing there wondering when that print was made and trying to decide if I should continue. But I thought better of meeting a bear in the woods by myself. So maybe another time.

On Wednesday, I did go to Yellowstone. I wanted to go on the walking tour with a park ranger to learn more about the geysers. And there were a number of nice folks from all over the country, and it was fun to talk to them. We got to see one of the “major” volcanoes erupt – the Grand Geyser (see first geyser picture below). It erupts between 6 and 18 hours and we happened to be around at the right time. This geyser can shoot up 250 feet. Those who were sitting near the geyser had to get up and run to get away from the hot spray. And it kept shooting lower levels of water for almost an hour. So it was an interesting walk. The Grotto Geyser (last picture below) was the strangest geyser. It is thought that the “sinter” (or limestone) is formed this way because it covered trees.

The anemone Geyser was fun because it looks totally empty, then all of a sudden the pool fills, overflows and hot air bubbles come up and cause the eruption (not very high, but often). It happens every 7-15 minutes, so lots of people stand around waiting for the next eruption. So it was a good morning, and now I am starving since I got up at about 4:30 (had to do some condo rental e-mails before I left). Had lunch and drove back to Big Sky.