Total Trail Mileage: 55 miles
It’s already been a over month and I haven’t even scratched the surface of Yellowstone, it feels like. Of course, that’s bound to happen with its 2.2 million acres. But I’m gonna try to do as much as possible. Two Saturdays ago a friend and I took a trip up to Canyon to hike around a little bit, and we were able to do just a little bit seeing as how I had to be back at work that afternoon. So we drove to an overlook of Upper Falls, hiked along the river, crossed the river, and hiked down a good ways for a view of Lower Falls. Another trip is in the making to see more vantage points of Lower Falls. It’s gorgeous. On Sunday night, several of the ACMNP crew plus some friends camped out, chopped down some trees, made a fire, enjoyed the fire and fellowship, and then slept in the cold. The following day, even more of the park-wide ACMNP crew joined together to hike Osprey Falls. I had done this before and planned on going back to take some pictures since the time before the water was way too high and so the waterfall was way too misty. This time it was worse, or should I say better. There was a lot more water coming down. We did manage to do some climbing in order to get as close as possible to the falls. It took some teamwork, but we managed to get several people up and back down safely. Bunsen Peak I hiked sometime during last week before work. It’s a short two mile hike but fairly steep. The views on the way up were gorgeous. You could see the Gallatin Range clearly as well as Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner, and some other peaks that I’m not sure of their names. Once on the top, it was an interesting experience. It was extremely windy. On top of the mountain there was a wind coming from a direction in which there was nothing to hinder its movement. It was a completely unobjected wind. I would guess it was a steady wind of 35 mph. And so of course, I explored the top of the mountain playing in the wind. I did Sepulcher Peak on the 4th which was a gorgeous hike through meadows and flats for the first couple of miles then the trail started meandering up Sepulcher Mountain. The view of the peak was mostly always in view and so I saw where I was going, but I also saw where I wasn’t getting to. However, I did make it to the top, and the top was pretty interesting because it was very rocky and had some neat rock formations, some resembling sepulchers, hence the name. And afterwards in celebration of the 4th, some of the park-wide ACMNP crew got together in Bozeman, the nearest city with a Walmart, which is an hour and a half away, to hang out for the rest of the day and watch some fireworks. Yesterday I visited Lake Yellowstone for the first time. I hiked a nearby trail which led up to a point overlooking the lake and its surrounding mountains. Pictures cannot do this lake any justice. It’s just gorgeous.
I’ve been slowly realizing that I’m not sure what the next step is. The Appalachian Trail is coming next spring, but after that, everything seems to be up in the air. For now, I’m okay with that. I think there’s something to living daily. Actually I think there’s everything to living daily. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot make any plans, but that what you think of as a certainty can change fairly quickly. We’ve been taught to pray a daily prayer and so daily we should recognize God, daily we should ask for provision, daily we should ask for forgiveness, and daily we should ask for guidance. And the more I go along, the more I realize how much adventure is in living for God. He’s a very adventurous God. He’s exciting. And we should be excited. Look at Moses, at Joshua, at David, at Peter, at Paul, at any Biblical character and you will see that in their walk with God there was adventure and there was excitement.
Thermal vents at night during full moon
Yellowstone Lake
Lower Yellowstone Falls
Canyon area at sunrise
Lower Falls from Uncle Tom's Trail
View of Electric Peak from Bunsen Peak Trail
Bunsen Peak Trail
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