Mary Mountain & assorted other adventures

 

I found the missing day, haha! This was a hike I was so excited about and have wanted to do for a long time. Sadly we could not do the whole thing since it's 20.2 miles point to point and we didn't have a second car, so we just hiked in for four hours and then turned around. 



The night before I stayed up late reading the coroner's report and rangers' reports from the last guy who got eaten by a bear on this trail. It was...enlightening. Also not a great life strategy. 

In any case, we started out with the most gorgeous beautiful day and saw lots of buffalo and wolf tracks but no bears. Perfect. (And assorted bones.) 

We started from the Madison side so it was mostly pretty flat and through big open plains scattered with hot springs and geysers. 

And this super sketchy-looking bridge that was actually more robust than a fair number of backcountry bridges we've crossed. 

We followed this guy for a long time and the kids named him "Buffalo Bill." He was a real ambler so sometimes we would have to wait for him to move off the trail again and then we would think we were ahead of him and suddenly he would appear again after having cut the river or gone through a hot area or something else that we had to avoid. 

I really want to do this whole trail so badly! (But not as a trail run because I don't want to get eaten by a grizzly. This area used to allow camping but stopped because the grizzly population has gotten so high.) 

We also saw lots of wolf tracks! 

Such a gorgeous day. 

A few pics from a morning run--the first day we were there I went to a teeny little gym and ran on the treadmill for an hour and lifted weights. The next day I went for a run around West Yellowstone and then gave in to the lure of running into the park because there was a trail RIGHT THERE and it looked so alluring.



Gorgeous, right? Then I regretted it for the next few miles because I was sure I was going to run into a bear and it was such a dumb choice to run by myself in bear country without bear spray. I ended up cutting the trail and climbing up a very steep hill to get to the park road and ran back to the entrance station and back into town. 

But I had a very beautiful run along the Madison River. 

Then that evening I saw a bear exactly opposite where I was running in the morning so...that's fun. 

After Mary Mountain we had planned to hike a specific lake trail in the Canyon area, but it was closed for bear activity, so we ended up just doing the canyon rim hike which we've done a lot but it never gets old. And we got our requisite photo at Artists' Point and I must say this guy took one of the poorer photos we've had taken there by strangers...managed to miss the waterfall AND get his thumb in. 

I can't remember why I took a photo of our dinner but it was really good! We stayed in hotels every night of this trip but we ended up making quite a few meals just because there aren’t a lot of options once you get into the park (and even West Yellowstone is pretty limited). 

Run around Mammoth

On our last morning in Mammoth before heading home, I woke up early to a bunch of texts and missed calls--Juliet had spent the night in the hospital in Provo due to a medication mix-up and it was pretty darn scary. I was shaking so much that I decided to go on a quick run before we headed out just to try to get some of the adrenaline out. It was raining pretty hard but I really really needed that outlet. 

I ran up the old fire road which was BRUTAL but the incline and climb and rain really helped and I had a good cathartic cry up here at the top.  

Looking down at our cabin after climbing on the fire road; can you spot our blue van in the lower left? 

I ran a few loops through town (avoiding the elk!) and then went up to the terraces and basically just ran the stairs and inclines for awhile. 

And then we packed up and headed out, so so so thankful that Jules was surrounded with people who love her (Abigail spent the night with her in the hospital and my mom was there with them for the intake and leaving). I thought that nothing could top waking up in Paris to find out that a tornado had gone through our town at home with the boys and my dad there, but...this topped it. 

So grateful that Jules realized that the dose was so off and that she had people to call who rushed her right in to make sure that everything was okay!!!