A blog about our travels and adventures through life (and maybe some nerdy stuff)
I was still a little sore this morning but a hike was doable. Planned is 2700ft up, 1800 ft down, so it should be easier on my knee. We left at 10 or so, and it should be a 6 hour hike, so, ideally, an early day.
Continue reading “Day 7 – Blown Away by Red Gap Pass (literally)”
The day started sort of okay. I still didn’t have much appetite, Robert’s knee was still stiff, but we got packed up and set off for Poia Lake by about 10 AM.
We are in the backcountry, woo! What a ridiculously long day: 11 miles, 7.5 hours, 2480 feet up, 2518 feet down. The morning was frustrating because it was cold, I wanted to get up and see sunrise, the tent was wet, and we had to repack our backpacks before setting out for the trail. We still decided to stop at Johnson’s Cafe for a nice hot breakfast before setting off for the trail head to Elizabeth Lake via Ptarmigan Tunnel.
Continue reading “Day 6 – Lara is Slow and Glacier is Excruciatingly Gorgeous”After a good night’s sleep, we once again wanted to be up for sunrise. I was able to get up 15 minutes before it and get out of the tent into the cold. Lara stayed in her warm sleeping bag. She had hoped (without communicating this desire to me) that I would open the rainfly so she could see it as well. Continue reading “Day 6 – Into the Woods”
For now, here’s the view we had from our campsite in Glacier:
Today, we bid farewell to the “Three Breasts” (if that’s what the French think breasts look like, well, they need to spend some time on the internet). Also, I got a decent night’s sleep. We’re getting much better at packing up camp now so, progress! Continue reading “Day 4 – “We punished ourselves yesterday, let’s do it again today.””
Once we got into Yellowstone, I was on duty to have the camera ready for any sudden vistas or wildlife. There were quite a few:
It took us almost six hours to get through Yellowstone. We stopped at most of the things along our route northward along the western route, and they were all pretty, but by the time we got about halfway, we were ready to be out of the park. We stopped at the falls and the grand canyon of Yellowstone and went down the 328 steps on Uncle Tom’s Trail, because, well, we punished ourselves yesterday, why not do it again today? It was worth it, but my legs didn’t love me afterward and the heights were making me a little woozy (heights make me a little anxious…). We headed to Artist Point after that, despite Robert’s initial misgivings: he decided it was worth it once we got there. After Artist’s Point, our last stop was the petrified tree, which was pretty cool, if you think about how it’s now rock and used to be wood.
The rest of Yellowstone was pretty, but we ran out of battery and space on the cameras so I just enjoyed the view while Robert drove. In the Mammoth Springs area there is a nice little village area (with touristy stuff) and there was a herd of elk just hanging out around town. There was even a little one chewing on a sign, which I thoroughly enjoyed but only got one picture from afar.
After that, it was smooth sailing to Helena, MT where I passed out as soon as Robert would let me after we went through some of the pictures from the day.
The sunrise on the Tetons was gorgeous though, so, bonus, but the temperature was bitterly cold (25° F).
