Yellowstone Adventure: Pelican Valley

I had planned a couple hikes during my two days off this week, but I woke up on Wednesday with a very sore throat and some chest congestion so I decided to take a day off before hitting the trails.

On Thursday morning I met Elizabeth and Diane at Fishing Bridge then we carpooled over to the Pelican Valley trail head.  As you can see from the sign above, this is a bear management area.  There is no tent camping allowed in this area and it is recommended that hikers be in a group of four or more.  We hung around the trail head until another group showed up.

This other warning was posted at the trail head.  Bears on a carcass 1/3rd mile off the trail somewhere along the way.  

 

I'll always remember this hike as "fields of wildflowers".  It was spectacular and my camera does not begin to do it justice.

 

The hike started through a field of sagebrush, but we quickly entered a wooded area.  This was in a burnt out area as evidenced by the downed trees and new growth.

Even the wild flowers along this stretch were amazing.

 

Before long we entered into Pelican Valley.  It was a mixture of sagebrush, lush green grass, Pelican Creek, geothermal features, and ponds scattered throughout the landscape.

 

We passed this trail marker which had probably been knocked down by a bison as he was trying to scratch his winter coat off.

 

It's hard to see, but in the picture above there is a mama duck and her babies.

 

We knew there was going to be a washed out bridge somewhere along the way and there it is.

It says Fern Lake is 8.6 miles straight ahead across the bridge.  I think those first few steps are going to be just a little wet.  I wonder about the history of this bridge.  When was it built and when did the Park Service decide to stop maintaining it?

 We had our granola bars and water and then started back after connecting up with another group of hikers who were going our direction.

There was more enjoyment of the flowers on the trip back and we all agreed that they were even more beautiful than earlier in the morning.  It seems like they all decided to open up while we were out there.

Before long we got back to the shade of the forest which was very welcome.  I know the rest of the country had been going through a heat wave, but when it gets up into the 80s or 90s in Yellowstone it is really hot.  It feels like the sun is directly touching you.  Irv can attest to this because he remarked on the same thing when he was here for a visit and I was dragging him along the trails.

 

After leaving Pelican Valley we headed over to the Storm Point trail head to do a short hike out to the lake where we planned to eat our lunches.

 

We stopped on this beach and ate our lunches before continuing out to the Point, but one of my hiking buddies got very flush and dizzy.  She had run out of water by this point.  We got her into the shade, and shared our water with her.  We decided to get back to the car and go to Fishing Bridge where we could all get out of the sun and refill our water bottles.  Storm Point will have to be a destination for another day.

We did approximately 10 miles on the trails yesterday.  I struggled all day because I had been sick the day before and it was too hot.  I also took a spill on the trail and twisted my leg and back (luckily no one was around to witness my gracefulness).  I was worn out by the time I got "home".  I'm up to 71.5 miles for the 100 mile hiking club.  I have six weeks to get it finished.

Some other news this week--I got "promoted" to Senior this week.  Woohoo!  That means I'm the shift supervisor when I'm on duty and I get to deal with all the nasty customers.