Location: Lewis Lake Campground, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Norris Campground
Elevation: approx 8000 feet
7/11/2010
From Dubois we drove up into Grand Teton National park 2 days ago, where we caught our first glimpse of snow capped mountains. I have always been anxious to see the mountains ever since I found out those were the mountains pictured on my discover card. Seeing the Tetons with your own eyes is a entirely different experience. They are just a magnificent mountains that rise up out of the meadows and completely dominate your surroundings. Nobody ever really drove close to the speed limit, because the views from the road were so breathtaking.Upon entering Grand Teton National Park we stopped at a post office, and then drove on to one of the multiple visitor centers. After talking to a park ranger, we decided to go set up camp, eat lunch and then do a 9.6 mile day hike that would take us up to about 10000 feet. After making some pasta, eating it, and packing our day packs, we drove the short distance to lupine meadows trailhead and started off. Little did we know that after the short beginning section, the hike would be uphill the whole way, which is 4.8 miles. When I say uphill, there as never a point where it flattened out, it just kept going up and up, luckily, the two months of insanity definitely paid off here. As we went the views just got better and better, and we stopped multiple times to take pictures. We had also been prepared for a little rain as the skies had looked somewhat ominous, and it did start raining hard enough to put our rain jackets on, after a few minutes of rain, it turned into pebble size hail. I can't remember the last time I've seen hail that big. The storm didn't last more than 10 minutes, and we kept moving and started to encounter our first snow banks. We thought the first few snow banks were amazing, but as we kept hiking up, there was more and more snow and in some parts, the entire trail was blocked by massive snow drifts and you had to find your way around them. We finally arrived at surprise lake, at approximately 9800 feet, and it was just magnificent. The lake was surrounded by massive snow banks and sat at the base of one of the Teton peaks. We decided to hike up the short distance to amphitheater lake, that was even more magnificent, the lake was still covered by ice in some portions and the views from some of the locations around the lake was just great. This was one of those other places where it was just really hard to capture what you were seeing with pictures. We decided to go down, which was significantly easier as it was basically downhill the entire way and upon leaving the trailhead, caught a glimpse of some elk, one which almost blocked the small gravel road. The next morning, I woke up early and went to chant some japa by Jackson Lake, sitting right across from the mountains. The water was so clean and inviting that I went back to the campsite and grabbed my bathing suit to take a dip. While chilly at first, I stayed in for a little while and swam some laps along the side of the lake where I got in.
After packing up our camp site, we moved north into yellowstone. It was disappointing to leave those magnificent views behind, but yellowstone has so much to offer on its own. Yellowstone was the world's first national park and it is absolutely massive. From the southern end (end) to the northern end is about a 4 hour drive, there is a lifetime's worth of activities to take part in. There are several mini towns in yellowstone that include accommodations, restaurants, visitor centers, general stores and gas stations. When driving around yellowstone, you encounter so many spectacular views and wildlife that its hard to get a picture of everything. At some point I decided that I'd get a picture of a few and just soak in the rest. After setting up camp and squaring away lunch, we drove up to Old faithful and the upper geyser basin. We arrived just in time to see Old faithful erupt, and then went on a 2 hour ranger walk in the upper geyser basin which concluded with the eruption of Riverside Geyser, which erupts every 6 hours. Riverside Geyser is just as spectacular as Old faithful, and the scenery around it is much nicer. On top of this, Riverside's eruption lasts 20 minutes. The water in many of these geysers and hot springs is over 200 degrees and is often boiling. The boiling point at approximately 8000 feet is about 199 degrees,
On the way to another campsite today we encountered an unusual traffic jam caused by first a humungous herd of bison grazing that people all wanted to take pictures of, and then later a couple of the bison actually crossed the road, stopping traffic. When they crossed the road, they sometimes just stood right in the middle, making it impossible to get around. Some people got impatient at the back because they did not know what was causing the traffic and drove into the other lane, making the traffic even worst. After arriving at Norris Campground and securing a campsite, we headed for Firehole canyon drive to swim in one of the two swimming areas here in yellowstone. I also got a chance to test out my waterproof camera, and it worked great. The reason there is only two swimming areas in yellowstone despite its many lakes, rivers, geysers and hot springs )is because the water is generally too hot (geysers and hot springs) or too cold (lakes and rivers). The lakes are estimated to be between 41 and 50 degrees, mainly caused by the late snow melt. Yellowstone does not open until late May at earliest and the spring melt can last until late July or early August.
After the swimming expedition and a early dinner, we prepared for our excursion into the backcountry. We will be there for three days and two nights and for that everything we need had to be packed into two packs. This includes clothes, tent, sleeping bags, food, stove, toiletries, rope, water, etc. While we have thoroughly enjoyed Yellowstone from the main roads, I am very excited to see what it is really like in the backcountry. I know you are probably reading this entry several days after it is dated. This is because cell phone signal in yellowstone is hard to come by and wifi is non existent. While this can be frustrating, it is refreshing to only use the computer to type these blog posts.
Note: I couldn't get all the pictures up, so here's a few of grand teton.
Chaitanya
