A Yellowstone Summer: July 4th weekend

We were out and about during our whole weekend this week, we luckily had the 4th of July off to celebrate. Sam had Monday off, and once my shift at the dining room was over, we headed out with our friend Jim to a camping area in the Beaverhead National Forest. It was a beautiful spot next to Cliff Lake ( if you look on a map it is just west of highway 287, west of West Yellowstone, Montana). We met some more of our friends there who had arrived earlier. Since we got a late start, we were only there for about an hour before sunset. This was also Sam and I's first time using our "new to us" tent we bought from some friends. They gave us two sets of poles to go with the tent, neither of which actually go with the actual tent. One set works very well, but the other set not so much. Guess which set we brought...

It was fine to sleep in once we rigged it up decently though. The sun came up early and warm the next morning so we took out our sleeping bags from the tent and slept out on the ground for a little while. The morning view of the lake was spectacular. The water was incredibly blue and clear. Except in the middle of the lake where it was deeper, the water was so clean and clear you could always see the bottom. So I had to swim in it of course. I will say it was a little chilly, ~ 65 degrees by my guess. Once in the water, it was awesome. Great hangover cure. Sam thought it was too cold so she just stood on the shoreline with her toes in the water. We spent some time swimming and catching crayfish in the shallows before packing up and heading back to Yellowstone Lake.


The clear, blue water and clear, blue sky!

After a nice nap and a good dinner at our EDR (Employee Dining Room), Sam and I set out with a group from our Rec Center for a night hike on Mt. Washburn. Before I say anything else, this is by far the favorite hike I have done in Yellowstone, and maybe ever. It is my favorite by means of the time of day, and the amazing views at the top. There were ten of us in all, 5 kids from China, 2 from Poland. Only the guide and ourselves were Americans, but luckily everyone could speak English. On the drive out we spotted an old grizzly right beside the road. He had a tracking collar on, and a scarred face. Hence his name (Scarface). This particular bear is well known throughout the park, he is very old and docile. The reason his face is scarred is because he keeps scratching his tracking collar off. The hike itself is relatively short, only 3.2 miles. The summit can be reached one of two ways: The first is the one we did, starting from the Mt. Washburn trail parking area, the other starts on the Chittenden road which is not nearly as fun. The trail itself was actually once a road that allowed people to drive to the summit, but that was a long time ago. On the way up it was warm and there were wildflowers all along the meadows beside the trail. We didn't see any wildlife along the trail.

The lookout tower from farther down the trail

There were amazing views of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon on the way up as well. We made it to the summit right about 9:00, and boy was the temperature dropping. The wind at the top was really intense. Luckily Sam and I brought jackets, but some of the other people were in shorts and T-shirts. There is a really cool lookout building at the top where a ranger lives to fire watch and do research. You can walk in and admire the views all around. From the top you can see the grand canyon, Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, the Absaroka mountain range, among many other peaks and ranges I don't know the names of.

At the summit, it was super windy!

Soon after we got to the top, the sun was setting and the full moon was rising at the same time. It was pretty incredible, and the most memorable sunset I have ever experienced. The colors were amazing. It was hard to know which way to look. On our descent, we didn't even have to use our flashlights because the moon was so bright. Since there are no lights really out here, the views of the stars are really amazing too. This is one hike that I will definitely have to do again.

The sun looked like it was setting right on the mountain!

My artsy shot of the moonrise...

But wait! Our fun-filled weekend wasn't over with yet! The next morning after sleeping in (we didn't get back from the hike until 12) we headed out for another night of camping at a place called Shadow Mountain which is in the Teton National Forest. We were meeting up with a lot of people from our location who go there every year for the July 4th festivities. Unfortunately there were no fireworks in Jackson this year because of the very dry conditions and risk of forest fires. In fact, this morning there was a haze all around the mountains that looked like fog, but it was actually smoke from a forest fire somewhere north of us in the Shoshone National Forest. The spot itself was pretty cool and we partied down all night. The Tetons were visible directly across from us and provided some inspiring material for late night drunk ramblings about the greatness of nature...

But for now, it is back to work for the next 5 days. That gives me just enough time to plan out another fun adventure for next week!

Below are some pictures of our camping at Shadow Mtn: