Travelling Diaries
2017 US Great Adventure / Day 13 – Yellowstone
Previous and next: Day 12 – Idaho Falls to Gardiner / Day 14 – Gardiner to Wells
Happy Birthday!
Today was the designated driver's birthday. We had a celebratory breakfast and then set off on our trip back into Yellowstone.
Grin and bear it
We started off by heading back to where we had seen the bears the day before to see if they had returned. Although the park was a bit cloudier today, it was still very beautiful.
We saw more bison on the way, some in the middle of the road.
They were big beasts!
I saw it with my beary own eyes
Much to our surprise, we found the same bears again.
They were not in the same place, but a bit further round the hill. However, this time they were further away so couldn't really get a good photo of them. So you will have to take our word!
North by North East
We took a drive over Yellowstone to the North East gate. That side of the park was a lot snowier.
We then drove back the North gate in preparation for our walk.
We were going to go on a hike around what is known as Beaver Ponds.
The real Bear Spray, because you're worth it!
The Beaver Ponds trek is a five mile (8 km) walk through the park. However, we were told we must be prepared in case we meet any bears.
The warning at the bottom was a bit scary.
So, we armed ourselves with Bear Spray.
This is basically a Mace-like spray that would hopefully irritate the bejasus out of the bear and give us a chance to escape. However, as the saying goes, if you can't see the face, you can't use the mace! So vigilance was required at all times.
Let's hope we don't have to use it.
if you go down to the woods today
The walk was a relatively gentle one compared to the ones earlier in our vacation. However, due to the altitude (about 6,000 feet, 1,800 metres) we all found it a bit tough.
The walk took us through lots of woods.
Bear left or bear right
At one point we came to a T-Junction. Which way should we go?
There were arguments all round as to which way we should go. Should we go left or right?
In the end, I said, "I think it has to be to the left".
"Why?", they all asked.
I said, "Well the sun is in coming in that direction, which seems a logical approach, and we are generally going in an anti-clockwise path, which seems correct. Oh, and there is a sign on that tree pointing to the left."
So off we went to the left.
When the woods cleared, the views were magnificent.
One day my prints will come
Soon we were back in the woods, and it was eerily quiet. We had been walking for over an hour and had not seen another person.
It could have been like a normal walk in the woods back in Ireland, except that there was the added danger of being attacked by a bear. So we all kept generally quiet and on the lookout.
I reminded everyone that we had to act fast if we saw a bear as they can run faster than humans.
The designated driver said, "That's not a problem. So long as I can run faster than at least one of you, I'll be alright".
As were going through one part of the woods, I noticed a print in the ground.
Could this be a bear print?
Further on we saw some more. Yes. There were bears about, and they were on the same track that we were on.
It looked like a black bear print. Black bears are smaller than a grizzly, but you still don't want to meet one in the wild.
The question was when was the footprint made? 10 minutes ago? An hour ago? A day ago? No one could tell. All we knew was that we had to be alert at all times.
No time to paws
The path on our journey was often blocked by fallen trees.
And there were many really muddy bits that took a bit of negotiating.
After a while we thought the prints had disappeared, but then I spotted another.
This looked fresh! A new urgency came to our progress.
Just let me get my bearings
Soon the woods cleared and the view opened up again and we saw lots of deer.
The views were still stunning.
Thankfully we finished the walk without seeing any bears.
I know that we started off this vacation wanting to see bears, but on a walk like this, being left alone was a good thing!
We also did not see another person. If we had been attacked and killed by bears, we may never have been found!
But luckily, it didn't come to this and we all had an enjoyable (if a little anxious) time.
All's Wells that ends Wells?
We got back to our hotel and relaxed.
However, this relaxation didn't last long.
Our designated driver re-looked at our itinerary and realised that what he thought was going to be a shortish drive tomorrow was actually going to be the longest one yet.
We needed to make our way over to Lake Tahoe which is a long way away. Therefore we had to get all the way back to Wells in Nevada as the first leg, otherwise we wouldn't do the whole journey in two days. This meant that the first leg was going to be a nine hour drive.
We got to bed early ready for the next day.
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