Day 14 – The other Grand Canyon

The view from Artists' Point

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Everyone made it through the night successfully with our new sleeping arrangements, but getting out of bed in the morning is torturous.  We’ve taken to lighting a fire in the mornings – I don’t know what we’d do if there was a campfire ban.  We all feel the need for hot tea and a hot breakfast in order to get ourselves going in the morning.  Luckily we had procured pancake mix and eggs, and were able to make a splendid breakfast in the cast iron skillet over the fire.

Cooking and eating are fraught with peril here.  There are bear warnings everywhere, and rangers constantly circling to ensure that we’re keeping a “clean” campsite.  This means that no food, cooking equipment, dishes, toiletries, water bottles, or basically anything that has any kind of scent can be left out.  Cooking and dishwashing water must be carried to a special sink. .  Crumbs must not be dropped.  (This one is really fun when you’re camping with a four year old.  Lanie has many good qualities, but neat eating is not one of them.  She usually has so much food spilled on her clothing that we’re lucky the bears didn’t come into the tent after her.)

Yellowstone wildflowers

At least here we’re allowed to lock the food up in the car.  At Yosemite, some enterprising bear figured out that they could rip through the car doors and get to the food.  That bear spread the word, and now apparently all the California bears know this skill.  The evidently somewhat slower bears in the Yellowstone area haven’t figured this out yet, so for the moment at least, cars are safe.

Uncle Tom's trail

After yesterday’s busy day of touring, we planned a more relaxed day today.  We’re camping very close to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which is a scenic marvel featuring two huge waterfalls.  The view of the Lower Falls from Artist’s Point is one of the iconic images of Yellowstone.  We hiked a couple of trails on the south rim – one that involved stairs going 500 feet down (about ¾ of the way into the canyon), and the other along the rim to Artist’s Point, with many scenic (or terrifying, depending on your point of view) overlooks along the way.  At least today we weren’t worried about plummeting through the earth’s crust – instead we had the more humdrum anxiety about plummeting off a cliff 750 feet up.

Wolf-centered ranger program

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed.  We had lunch in the Canyon Village restaurant (disappointing), attended a cool ranger program, and had a nice evening around the campfire.  Tonight’s delicacy was banana boats, courtesy of the Girl Scouts.  This treat involves scooping out part of a banana and filling it with whatever treats are on hand – chocolate, pieces of marshmallow, nuts, etc.  Then you cover it back up with the peel, wrap in foil, and roast in the campfire.  Yum.  We needed a warm treat in our bellies to prepare for tonight’s predicted below freezing temperatures.

***

From Bob:

It’s pretty well documented that I don’t love heights, but I think I could’ve taken the South Rim Trail without much problem today if it were just Jen and me.  The combination of the dizzying heights right at the edge of the trail and our three free-spirited children made for a difficult walk.  Kids are just too unpredictable and heights are just too…high.  It all made me feel a little nervous for a while, and I had to call an end to the hike before we reached Serenity Point.  There was really no serenity for me.  I felt a little like Aunt Pat, but I had to do it. 

Note Bob's look of apprehension, and how tightly he's clinging to that tree

                Jen actually did a little trail run to I pick up the car while the girls and I watched a ranger at Artist’s Point.  I don’t know how much she actually ran.  It’s hard to run here at this altitude.  I can definitely feel the lack of oxygen, even after a few days of acclimation.  I get a little faint when standing up from a squat and if I try to move quickly I can feel myself getting out of breath. 

                We’re all good walkers, though.  Fortified by warm morning pancakes, everyone managed to make it down Uncle Tom’s steps and back up.  Nadia counted 317 steps (I counted 324).  And at the top we saw a mule deer grazing in a patch of grass near the parking lot.  Zoe had rushed past on her way to the bathroom – not a great urge to get when you’re in the middle of Uncle Tom’s steps.  But the deer obliged and hung around until she got out of the bathroom.  We’ve passed dozens of beautiful meadows here and this deer wanted to hang out next to the ladies’ room. 

                Oh, well.  I took a few pictures and tossed it a Snickers bar.  No, no.  If I had a snickers bar it would have been gone long before that.  Plus we’ve been well trained not to feed the animals, even by accident.

                Our camp site is a paragon of cleanliness.  Sorry, bears.