Grand Prismatic Spring, Mystic Falls, & Imperial/Spray Geysers

 

On our fourth day in Yellowstone, we decided to do a hike that we tried to do on our previous visit had to turn around because of bear activity: Mystic Falls! It was a short hike, only about four miles, so we told the kids we might tack on the spur to a couple of geysers as well. 

But first we took the spur trail to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook--I'm so glad this is finally an official park trail after years of just being a social trail! It's such an amazing view of the spring. It's only a mile to the overlook and then another mile past that to the falls. 

   

Which are pretty gorgeous too! This is such an easy hike (really just a walk...it's over an old logging road; the only thing that makes it a hike is that you're on high alert for bears...last time we were there someone was pulled off the trail by two grizzlies). 

We are very very good at making noise though, so I think we are set. Bear bells, bear spray, and just 8 noisy people. 

We hung out at Mystic Falls, took some pictures, ate a snack, and then headed off through the trees to the steam wafting over the trees. 

This was such a pretty trail and there was seriously NOBODY else on it. So so so nice after the crowds of people at the falls. 

It didn't take long before we started to see geyser runoff!

We couldn't get very close to Spray Geyster, but it was super active and fun to watch from a distance. 



Isn't it crazy to see the buildup on these sticks?!




Imperial Geyser, however, was MUCH bigger. It was like a mini Grand Prismatic Spring (so I guess it was a small prismatic spring?) with a geyser going off in the middle of it. 

Here's a better view (note the trail to the left, which we eventually took up the hill). 

There were also lots of mud pots. Just hanging out in the middle of a field! We could have jumped right in. I LOVED having no boardwalks; it just felt very cool and explorer-y and I started saying "backcountry geothermal features" over and over and then the kids teased me about it for the rest of the trip because I always said the same phrase exactly the same way. 

Eventually the kids wanted to go up the social trail to see what we could see, so up we went. 



It was, if possible, even steeper than the Avalanche trail the day before. We slid/fell most of the way when we came back down. 

But the view at the top was spectacular! Can you see Mystic Falls? 

Just over the rise was a field full of wildflowers and blowing grass, and a pond full of blooming yellow waterlilies. 

And then we found three more ponds!

The trail had completely disappeared by this point, but we decided to go another half-mile or so to a cluster of big rocks so we could look out over the valley. This was an area that had been heavily and recently frequented by a LOT of buffalo, but we didn't see a single one--just lots of buffalo tracks, pies, and hair (we could have made a blanket out of all the chunks of buffalo winter coats that were rubbed off and hanging from trees). 

Eventually we made it took our planned turnaround spot (and when we got there half of the people really wanted to keep going, a couple were indifferent, and one was very worried about bears, so we turned around so that child wouldn't be so concerned). 

But look at that view!!! This is to the west of the park road that runs between the Midway and Lower Geyser Basins, so you would never ever see this from the road, and gosh, it was gorgeous. Just steam rising from so many points across the valley. How many geysers can you think of in Yellowstone? Probably ten, right? There are 500!! And more than 10,000 hydrothermal features...you can only see a fraction of those from the park road, and I just loved loved loved that in this trip we got to see a few more of those 10,000. 

 

Avalanche Peak

On our third day in Yellowstone, we said goodbye to my parents, Ruth, Caleb, and Evelyn (they were headed for the Tetons and Jackson Hole). 

We had planned to hike Mt. Washburn and Hellroaring Creek, but with the closure of the entire northern half of the park, we had to rethink our plans! So we drove over to Fishing Bridge to get some advice from the rangers (and access to AllTrails via a Wifi hotspot!).



The boat guide and captain the night before had both recommended Avalanche Peak as their favorite hike in the park. I asked the ranger about it, and she told me she'd hiked it a few days previously and there were some pretty sketchy spots in the snowfields on the face. She showed me a video she'd taken, and we decided to go ahead and try it since it seemed comparable to some of the snowfields we'd tackled in Rocky Mountain NP the previous year. 

The thing to know about Avalanche is that while it's pretty short (just over 4 miles roundtrip), you also gain 2000 feet in that 2 mile ascent! It is basically RELENTLESS UP the entire time. 



It's gorgeous, but it is just up up up up up. I was kind of nervous about this with my tibia (since I was pretty sure I had a stress fracture but was ignoring it until the trip was over) so man I was thankful for my hiking poles!!




And the views were insanely beautiful as we started to edge towards the treeline. 



About a mile in, the trail was completely covered with snow and we had to pay really close attention to the tracks of previous hikers. This is just past that point when we came to a spot where the snow had melted off again once we were out of the cirque. 



The kids sat down to wait for Neil and Matthew, and then up came Neil with Matty on his shoulders! I cannot possibly overstate how steep it was here, and I was SO impressed that Neil was tackling it with Matty aboard!

Once we hit the talus, Matty was on his own feet again!

Soooooooo steep. 

But golly look at those views!!

And that pack of intrepid hikers!!

These snowfields were probably the most exhausting part of the hike. You really had to watch where you were stepping, and Neil and I both went in up to our waists multiple times. 

The kids, of course, had a total blast and filmed each other running down the snow, skiing, sliding, leaping, etc. 

I think there was only one tricky spot where we actually really took our time. It was fine on the way in but the way out was much more melted and treacherous, since it was a steep enough pitch that you would basically sail away into nothingness. 

But 95% of it was totally fine. 

And then finally we were at the top, and the views were amazing!!!

So so so beautiful. 



The wind was super strong, so once we'd all had our fill of looking around, we ducked down into one of the rock shelters to have a snack. 


And then it was time to head down again!



Somehow it felt even steeper coming back down! 



A completely gorgeous hike, one of our top 3 for sure, and we had a beautiful sunset over the lake to end the day. 

Yellowstone day 2: Canyon area

On our second day in Yellowstone, we all met up at the Canyon area bright and early. Hope and I went on another walk!

We took photos with some pretty grumpy kids. I was really hoping to get a photo of everyone together, but...we didn't because the younger kids were kind of having a hard time by the time all of us were finally there. So once again, I have Caleb, Nathan, Pierce, and Matthew with the back of the head perspective. 

So here's a picture of Elise's cute family that I stole from my mom's Facebook page. 

Then we walked along the canyon rim trail, which was as beautiful as I remembered but also had more drop-offs than I remembered, whoops!

We walked up until we got to the upper falls parking lot and my dad told us about the summer he spent building bridges 20 miles into the backcountry in the Absaroka Wilderness. SO COOL. 

I think this picture is actually from the day before but we will drop it here anyway. 

We went over to the Canyon general store, grabbed some souvenirs, looked for a place to eat lunch, and then decided to go back to the Otter Creek picnic area (which is the place Elise and I had planned on anyway in our extensive itinerary-making). We had a really nice time there just hanging out eating and laughing and talking together, and I KNOW I took pictures but apparently they got deleted. 

Then we headed back towards our campsite via the Pelican point drive...

And spent the rest of the afternoon/evening just chilling and hanging out! 

Elise's family was staying at an AirBnB in West Yellowstone, so our kids and Ruth's kids were super excited to introduce Pierce, Iris, and Hope to their wilderness camp that they'd been diligently building. 

Pretty fun! They also whittled a ton of spears & arrows and spent a long time practicing throwing them, plus they made bowstrings out of the bracelet rubber bands and had a lot of target practice going on with the arrows and the spears. 

When Elise's family left, Ruth and I headed down to the lake and caught the very last boat as it was headed out for a scenic tour. 

It was cool to see all the little islands scattered throughout the lake and learn more about them (this particular island has a sunken ferryboat, burned to the waterline, that's been declared a protected site). 

We also saw the Lake Yellowstone hotel from the water, which is really beautiful (I went over with my family a few nights later to check it out; it's gorgeous inside and somehow reminiscent of the Titanic...just kind of the same feel inside?)

Here's a view of the ferryboat's remains--apparently it turned into kind of a party boat after it was stranded here during Prohibition, so two rangers snuck over and burned it, and then they got shipped out to what the boat guide said were "lame postings," i.e. the Statue of Liberty. 

And to take us out, here's Abigail working on a spear!

It was a super quick visit with my family but I'm SO grateful they made it happen and came up to see us--it was so so so good to see them!!!