Monday 7/26/2010
We spent most of Monday around the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We did three hikes that were short, but steep. They were hikes that brought you closer to either the upper or lower falls. One hike had a good number of switchbacks and another had 328 steps down to the lookout point. 328! That's more than the roughly 300 down to the Point Reyes lighthouse! But it really wasn't that bad of a hike up. We saw a lady lugging her little pet dog down the steps with her and we were thinking, really? You want to haul that dead weight of a dog back up over 300 steps? Whatevs.
After the second hike (the one with all the switchbacks), we made a stop at Canyon Village, where the general store had Wilcoxson's mint ice cream bars! (Let me emphasize - !!!!!). At 79 cents each, it was a pretty dang good 79 cents spent.
We saw a bull elk with a fairly large rack pretty close, so that was exciting (I felt pretty satisfied at having spotted it first - it was walking through the forest next to a popular lookout spot). On our drive back to Gardiner, we also saw a bull moose and two black bears - more excitement!
Tuesday 7/27/2010
Tuesday, we went to tourist-y spots of Yellowstone - Biscuit Basin, Old Faithful, and Grand Prismatic. Fun to see, but crowded. My dad has never been to Yellowstone before, so it was all pretty new to him.
I got a bit tanned and sunburnt from all the hiking we did the day before. I should know better than to go without sunscreen, being from Phoenix and all, but I did. Boo to skin cancer.
