TravelingMel

Heather has been my hiking buddy for the last 12 years. Our first "date" was snowshoeing (that's like winter hiking) on Phillips Ridge near Teton Pass. When I lived in Jackson we frequently walked up Snow King with dogs, once scrambled over rocks to the top of the Middle Teton and spent many, many miles together chatting and exploring the mountains.

Heather always has interesting things to talk about and is willing to do just about anything I suggest. A lazy walk along a river? Check. Climb a 13,000+ foot mountain? Check. Whether it is one mile or 20, she's up for it.

Since I haven't been on a long hike since before Anders was born, I wanted to cover some miles this weekend. I would have considered our hike medium in length four years ago, but these days anything over 6 miles is a long hike for me.

On this particular day we hiked the Washburn Trail. It starts at the end of the Chittedon Road on Dunraven Pass, follows a fire road to the top of Mount Washburn and then descends (super steeply, at first, then gently) through meadows and hot springs to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Total distance: 10.5 miles.

(One of the great things about this trip is that since we had two vehicles we could hike through-trails.)

Lupine.

Heather checks out the view on the way to the Washburn lookout.

Ghost trees. Boo!

Marmot being cute. Also known as a "whistle pig." It was so not afraid of people.

Marmot decides to bask in the sun along the trail and flaunt its cuteness.

Looking at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from the top of Washburn.

Baby mountain goat with its mom. Some of the kids were coughing since they had pneumonia. The ranger said they would probably die. So sad.

The mountain goats were highly habituated. It was kind of a zoo. Fortunately barely anyone continues the hike beyond the Washburn lookout, so we saw just a few people the rest of the day.

At the top of Mt. Washburn. 2.5 miles done and 8 to go.

Leaving the lookout and heading out on the Washburn trail.

The wildflowers were out of control everywhere we went. Out. Of. Control.

Heather is extremely tall. No, alpine plants are short and hardy.

Coming down from Wahsburn was pretty steep for a couple miles. Heather had trekking poles. I think I want some.

Paintbrush.

Getting closer to Canyon.

One of my favorite flowers, and one I don't see very often--elephant's head.

This meadow is filled with elephant's head.

If you look at the top of the mountain in the middle of this photo you can see the Washburn lookout.

We passed Washburn Hot Springs in the rain. A ranger on horseback we had passed a little earlier told us a nasty storm, complete with hail, was coming our way. So, we barely paused and kept on walking.

More hot springs. It never hailed and only rained for about 10 minutes.

Heather got off trail and ended up on Mars.

We thought the meadows were kind of pretty.

From the Washburn Trail we turned onto the Sevenmile Hole Trail. It was pretty much a parkway for the last few miles.

That narrow waterfall in the shadow is Silver Cord. We didn't hit it at the best time of day for photos.

I made it to the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone! I made Heather take another silly picture!

We both showed up in these goofy shoes. More on them later.

There's the Yellowstone River down there.

After our lovely hike we met my mom for dinner at the Roosevelt Lodge, then got ready for another day on the trail.

This weekend we took a little walk to Trout Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Attending the hike were my mom, Anders, Finn and me.

You can read more about the afternoon here.

Scroll down to see lots and lots of photos. And a video.

Heading up the trail.

Our first otter spotting.

Otter head.

Mom takes otter photos.

Swimming toward the inlet where the cutthroat trout were spawning.

Watching otters.

Sunning on the trail.

The otter-watching zoo.

Pretty.

Looking for more otters.

Isn't Finn the cutest thing ever? He and his brother, that is. Adorable.

Brothers chatting.

Buttercup.

Lupine.

Anders carried around a tray of blueberries and offered them to weary hikers.

None shall pass. None shall pass!

Paintbrush

After this photo was taken, Finn dropped mom's trekking pole into the creek.

Spawning trout.

Fin out of water.

Phlox

Peekaboo

Wrestling in the grass.

Wrestling on a log.

Hiking out in the rain.

Finn almost fell asleep on the hike out even though it was raining on him. Luckily, I was able to keep him awake and cheerful.

There were two reasons for going to Glacier:

1. My friends from grad school--Julie and Chris, and their kids Elena (22 mos) and Sylvan (4.5 years) were coming from Eugene for a visit.
2. It's awesome and we love National Parks.

Sylvan and Elena slept through the night, remained mostly cheerful on the trail and were adorable. Our kids were also adorable, but melted down daily from lack of naps and had certain sleeping issues at night (like waking up over and over...). I just keep reminding myself that we are in training and will one day be great campers!

It was great seeing Julie and Chris and catching up with them. And so neat to meet the little ones.

Looking across Swiftcurrent Lake. We hiked around the lake and enjoyed amazing views of mountains and water.

Chris and Sylvan trekking.

Julie and Elena look at birds. (I don't know if that's what they are doing, but it seems believable.)

I'm Anders Coble Harrison and I will kick your a$$.

Julie and Sylvan watching from the bridge.

Julie is so strong. She carried Sylvan on her shoulders for a mile or so.

Finn took his short naps in the backpack to impress other hikers with his cuteness.

Swiftcurrent Creek.

Paintbrush!

Mariposa lily.

These bighorn sheep came around the corner and almost trampled me and Finn.

They turned just in the nick of time.

The sheep were looking a little mangy as they shed their winter coats.

After the hike we got ice cream at the Swiftcurrent Lodge and Finn gave Anders a little love push.

We had a lot of chairs at our campsite.

Anders would have been content digging in the dirt and playing with his trucks at the campsite the whole time.

A couple weekends ago I went down to Yellowstone with the intention of skiing the Pebble Creek trail near the east entrance of the park. When I got there I read the description of the trail and decided it was too steep and avalanche-y for me to ski myself.

I checked out a few trailheads and ended up skiing the (closed) road to the Slough Creek trailhead, through the campground and across a meadow.

It was pretty.

The beautiful Beartooth mountains.

Downy woodpecker.

Soda Butte Creek.

Bannock Creek ski trail, obviously.

Coyotes mousing.

A herd of bison at Slough Creek. They were not that happy to see me ski by.

Nice photo, Mel. Thanks.

More pics here.