Skywatch Friday: Sentinel Meadows
Today we went in search of the Queen's Laundry off of Fountain Flats Drive in Yellowstone. Queen's Laundry was a bathhouse started in 1881 near a location where the thermal water wasn't so hot so people would be able to bathe. The project was abandoned before completion when a new park superintendent was named. The remains of the building are still standing and have been preserved by the thermal water.
The trail starts on an old freight road. The first stop was the Ojo Caliente spring.
Then the trail follows an off shoot of the Firehole River.
The narrow trail meanders through big open meadows. Definitely not a trail you want to do on a hot sunny day.
Irv showed off his balance beam skills on some of the water crossing logs. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of his perfect 10 routine.
Beautiful wildflowers along the way.
Many thermal features that the average tourist never gets to see.
At points the trail went through some wooded areas and the shade was greatly appreciated.
What the heck is this?
This area is obviously the winter home of many bison as evidenced by the bark that is rubbed off the trees and the many hoof prints we walked through. No signs of any of the fluffy cows today though.
Interesting geyser cones out there. After here we reached an area that went through trees as we started to make the turn back. I assumed that at some point we'd see the bath house in the distance and we would make the short walk out to it. Wrong!
We kept walking and walking and walking. The Indian Paintbrush was beautiful.
Then the trail opened up into another big meadow and geyser field.
At this point the trail completely disappeared. We were somewhat prepared for this because my trail book had said it was going to happen.
Somebody had dinner out here.
At one point as we were walking by the trees there was a lot of rumbling and noise in the woods. Sounded like something very large. We both grabbed our bear spray and made our way to a more open area. It sounded more like a large hooved critter such as an elk rather than a bear. We both had a little fright.
We walked in the direction we thought we needed to go and eventually we found our way back to the trail where we had started. These guys were keeping an eye on us. I love the Yellowstone ravens. They are so intelligent and full of personality.
Our three mile hike turned into a 5.17 mile hike, but all was well. We found our way out and didn't get eaten or mauled.
We never found the bath house and upon our return I did a little research and learned there is no trail or trail marker to show you the way. You kind of have to know where it is. Oh well, it was just nice to be outside and in the wilderness without any other people around. My photos are all washed out because there is so much smoke and haze in the air. Hard to get good shots in those conditions.
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