Article Contributed on: 8/5/2008 2:49:47 PM
With the Gunbarrel Fire releasing smoke down into Cody, I decided to go up to the park to get some fresh air.
Small hot spots from the Gunbarrel Fire were burning next to the road on the way up to the east entrance, but despite a fire that was burning in the
LeHardy Rapids area of the park between
Fishing Bridge and
Canyon villages, the air was nice and clear in the park.
From some of the higher vantages, you could see smoke form the Gunbarrel Fire, but it wasn't blowing into the park.
In the mountains on the way down from
Sylvan Pass, I saw my first grizzly bear. It was foraging along the side of the road. It was about 8 a.m., so there weren't too many people, but it had drawn a bit of a crowd,and it just ignored us and wandered around rooting.
I saw my second grizzly from my car a little later. It was swimming across the Yellowstone River in the Hayden Valley.
There were people videotaping something and cars stopped in the middle of the road, so while I was blocked from going anywhere, I watched something swim across the river. At first, I thought it was a buffalo because I'd seen big groups of them swim across the river before, but I saw it was a bear when it reached the far bank and climbed out and shook off.
I think going early in the morning was key to seeing the bears, and the more popular areas and trails aren't very busy yet, so that's my plan from now on.
I drove to the canyon area, and having already seen the Upper and Lower falls, I set out on the trail along the south rim right away.
It was really serene, especially early when hardly anyone was around. After awhile, I took a trail away from the canyon and into the forest. One thing I wasn't prepared for: mosquitoes.
Living in Colorado really made me spoiled, and I didn't think to bring bug spray with me. (There's not much water and hence not many mosquitoes in Cody -- it's basically a high desert.) But hiking between lakes and through marshes, the mosquitoes just ate me up. There were certain spots where the bugs were really thick, and even though they usually don't go after me aggressively, but I was bitten dozens of times by the time I was done.
One thing that always strikes me in the forest areas is that great alpine smell. The one that all the detergents and air fresheners try to capture. It's light and refreshing and a little fleeting. It's sweeter and more noticeable in Yellowstone than in Vail even.
After about five hours of hiking, I got back to my car. Since it still was only 2 p.m., I decided to leave through the northeast entrance, which curves through a sliver of Montana and then through Sunlight Basin. It was really pretty, and I'll definitely explore that area some more, but right now the Gunbarrel Fire smoke trails through the Sunlight Basin/Crandall area, so that made it a little less scenic.
One thing I noticed between
Tower Junction and the northeast entrance were a lot of shallow, slow areas along the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek that looked really nice for wading and sunning or swimming.
I also reserved a spot for a ranger-guided hike to the top of Avalanche Peak, so that's what I'm doing Saturday. It should be fun but tough.