Pine Creek

Last weekend we took on the Pine Creek trail, Located about 40 miles north of Yellowstone in the Gallatin National Forest. This is the hike we weren't able to finish the previous weekend and I'm very glad we waited because it was exhausting.

This hike was one of our favorites, second only to the Bunsen Peak/Osprey falls hike. The forest reminded us of Turkey Run in a way so we felt kind of at home. The trail started out relatively flat and led us to a small waterfall about a mile in. Beyond the waterfall was a steep 4 mile climb to the top of the mountain. We passed so many waterfalls that we lost count. The trail also winds through a beautiful rock field between mile marker 3 and 4. After about four miles we came to a beautiful lake with a tall thin waterfall running into it and thought the climb was over, but this was only the first tier of three lakes that basically fall into each other. When we reached the top of the mountain we were awe struck. The main lake was so clear and surrounded by slabs of black granite, perfect for sun bathing and resting up for the descent.

at waterfall #1

beautiful

going into the rock field

Sean by the lake

Unfortunately, last Wednesday a wildfire started in the Pine Creek area destroying 8000 acres and continues to slowly burn, but is contained. We went out when we heard and watched the fire from the road along with many others from around the area. In the night it looked like a volcano with the embers still red over the entire mountain. Many people have been evacuated from their homes in the area and some have lost their houses to the fire. We are sending lots of healing thoughts their way and hope you can send some along too.

'The weekend of the 18th' or 'Brewfest ruined our hiking plans'

This weekend (August 18-20) was full of grand plans which included a fun night at a local event, a good long hike to a secluded mountain lake and camping under the stars. We got about as far as Brewfest. 

Brewfest was a fun gathering of regional breweries in the little park in town. There was a funky band playing and lots of beer to be guzzled. Unfortunately for our weekend plans, a pint of beer at this fine festivity was only one dollar and have I mentioned we're light weights? About six pints later and probably too much embarrassing dancing that I barely remember, our weekend became one long hangover recovery period. This doesn't mean we did nothing, we were just kind of boring.

On Sunday, we drove out to the Lake area to hang out on the lodge's porch that looks over the lake and read for awhile. While driving out we got to see a herd of bison swim across the river, that was awesome. I honestly didn't even know they could swim. We also did a small hike to the Natural Bridge, which we didn't take a picture of, but it was very interesting and nestled in a beautiful fairy-like forest.

Look out Michael Phelps

Monday we attempted to do our before planned hike up the mountain, but got a mile in, where a beautiful waterfall fell, and decided to leave the rest for the following weekend.

August 1-13

The first weekend of August we went to the Fiddler's Picnic. It was such a wonderful experience. It was like the Woodstock of bluegrass musicians. People came from everywhere to pick and grin with other musicians, in fact we were probably among the only people who didn't have instruments. Everybody pulled up in RVs, camper vans (including us) and pitched tents for the weekend. We were only there one night, but wish we could have stayed the whole time. Sean and I were so mesmerized by the atmosphere that we neglected to take any pictures of the actual festival, but I did manage to get a pretty cool close up shot of the moon from our campsite, that counts right?

mad skills.

The twelfth we hiked the South Rim trail, which gave us a relatively flat 8 mile tour of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, aside from one very steep climb down into and back out of the canyon. The trail basically takes you past all of the popular touristy pull outs, so we got to see everything in one trip while getting some much needed hiking in instead of starting and stopping the van. The canyon area was GORGEOUS. It's host to the Yellowstone river and two waterfalls, including Lower Falls, the tallest in the park. The most treacherous part of the hike was Uncle Tom's trail, which is essentially hundreds of stairs that twist down into the canyon for a closer view of Lower Falls. This hike was awesome and we wore ourselves out just enough.

Lower Falls with a Rainbow

One of many flights

Photo-op =)

The weekend ended with a pretty casual/easy hike to Ice Lake. Sean got a lot of footage of these weird but cute swimming ducks, but our internet is too slow to upload video, so I'll just have to share it later.