Yellowstone National Park’s Upper Geyser Basin: Faithful on the CDT

It spouted at regular intervals nine times during our stay, the columns of boiling water being thrown from ninety to one hundred and twenty-five feet at each discharge, which lasted from fifteen to twenty minutes. We gave it the name of "Old Faithful." — Nathaniel P. Langford, 1871 This post is not about Old Faithful. The …

Yellowstone National Park’s Fairy Falls: Fairy Trails Can Come True

It can happen to you. You can see Yellowstone's Fairy Falls for yourself — if you're willing to hike to it. Yes, this is a can't-see-it-if-you-don't-hike-it attraction, although the hike is neither long nor arduous. To be honest this trail is a little meh, but (and it's a big but) the payoff is easily worth …

Yellowstone’s West Thumb Geyser Basin and Lake Overlook Trail: Overlooking the Rule of Thumb

As a general rule of thumb, I don't post about short, sightseeing walks on engineered pathways. However, with so much to see in Yellowstone National Park and a keenness to pack as much as possible into a relatively short visit, this week I'm serving up a combo-meal that includes a light hiking entrée with a …

Yellowstone National Park’s Storm Point Trail: Bison, Boulders, and Beauty

Bison. They were the first thing we encountered on this hike, and I thought they were too close. I had a figure of "one hundred yards" floating around in my head as we settled our shoulders into our packs at the Storm Point trailhead. When Lisa, Nichole, Ben, and I took our first steps down …

Yellowstone National Park’s South Rim Trail: Waterfall on the Rocks – Make it a Double

"In the end, it's all just rocks and water." ~ One-star review of Yellowstone National Park What did this ranting reviewer expect from Yellowstone Park? Trees? Grass? Copious wildlife? Fields of wildflowers? The melodious sound of songbirds? Some people just want it all, and Yellowstone National Park just does not … not have those things. …

Yellowstone National Park’s Undine Falls: Dine, then Undine

There are nine hundred miles of hiking trails in Yellowstone National Park. We hiked about twenty of those miles in the four days we spent in the park. Why so few? Easy. There's a lot to see in this 2.2-million square acre park. This was the first trip to Yellowstone for any of us, and …

Devils Tower and the Red Beds Trail: Close Encounters of the Natural Kind

"Well I guess you've noticed ... something's a little strange with dad" ~ Roy Neary, after sculpting Devils Tower out of mashed potatoes in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" It is impossible to look at Devils Tower without thinking about Close Encounters of the Third Kind. At least for my generation. Stephen Spielberg's 1977 …

The Custer Wolf Restaurant: Good Food and a Surly Todd

The Sunday Gulch Trail (read here) had taken a little bit out of us, so we headed into the town of Custer, SD to find some post-hike chow. We found The Custer Wolf Restaurant. It was a beautiful day, and Custer Wolf had outdoor seating. We were greeted promptly, and a server soon took our …

The Sunday Gulch Trail: Grasping in the Gulch

What were we grasping, you ask? Handrails! The decent down Sunday Gulch is steep, uneven ... and exciting. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Through the fissure The Trailhead I could have called this post "Gasping in the Gulch" as this was to be the most elevation I would climb since summiting Mt. Everett in …

Custer State Park’s Sylvan Lake: This Lake Can’t Be Real

When I saw Sylvan Lake, my jaw dropped. Literally. My first impression was that this could not be real. The scene was a mirror-smooth lake backed by massive formations of seemingly sculpted stone that looked every bit as if it belonged at Disney World, a secret lagoon created by a team of Imagineers. The only …