Click on the pictures to enlarge!
The trailhead was located at the Mammoth Terraces, just beyond Liberty Cap, the rock formation on the left in the picture above.
Other worldly landscape of Mammoth.
Run-off from the thermal features and Liberty Cap at the left.
Almost immediately our surroundings changed as we departed the otherworldly feel of the Mammoth Hot springs for the cool shelter of a Douglas-fir forest. Very shortly along the trail a group of people was standing watching the hill on the other side of Clematis Creek. We joined them to see a mother bear and her cub climbing up the hill.
We climbed up through the forest onto an open area with the hillside covered in wildflowers.
The open area provided some expansive views of the surrounding mountains.
The first beaver pond.
The trail continued to wind past other ponds and past a wooded area where this handsome fellow was taking his Sunday afternoon ease.
We set our sights on the last and largest beaver pond as the place where we would stop to eat our lunch. As we followed the trail around the large pond we spied a beaver in the pond.
Beaver diving!
We had first met this hiking family at the first beaver pond where they were having a snack. As we settled on a log for our lunch, they came by and we had another chat. They are from Hawaii.
Lunch spot near a beaver dam at the end of the pond.
Lunch view of the beaver pond.
As we were finishing our lunch these two deer came down the hill for a drink of water from...
the beaver pond.
Along the trail we spied this skull. Frederick thinks it's a bear.
The last two miles of the trail left the wooded area for this open country and some light sprinkles.
We could see rain falling over these sweeping views of...
northern Yellowstone. In the distance is the north entrance town of Gardiner, Montana, with the Absaroka Mountains towering above.
Back in the village of Mammoth an urban herd of elk were enjoying a sleepy Sunday afternoon on the lawn of Mammoth Hotel.
On the drive back to Fishing Bridge, we saw a bear crossing a meadow in an area where we couldn't stop, and this bear about ten miles further on. Just south of Tower Falls where we were yesterday, there was a huge "bear jam" with 50 cars all stopped to watch a humongous grizzly bear in an adjacent meadow. (5 bears today!)
In addition to these lovely deer we saw an antelope, the fastest land animal in North America.
Today's hike:
Length - 6.18 miles
Duration - 3 hours, 22 minutes (including lunch)
Elevation gain - 849 feet
No comments:
Post a Comment