Bechler to Lone Star

Deweys and the Richards decided they needed some old geezers to make them feel better on a nice Yellowstone hike. We hiked from Bechler Ranger Station, in the far southwest corner of the park, to Lone Star Geyser, near Old Faithful. We had a blast, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

We also hiked with the Renfroes, some friends of the Deweys. On day one, everyone except Daniel and me set off early and hiked to the first camp, in the mouth of Bechler Canyon. Daniel and I righteously attended our college and department meetings, and set off after 3:00 PM, to meet them. We got to camp at about 8:00, me completely wet from our first ford (waist-deep where I went).

Happily, we were allowed fires at that camp, so I dried off fairly quickly. This is the next morning, and that's Rebecca Renfroe, with Lindsey and Daniel, and Jann slaving away at the hot stove.

Princess Lindsey. She required Daniel to carry her from her tent, and place her on her special mat that kept her socks clean while she was breakfasting.

True love at Colonnade Falls. Debbie Richards took this, and accidentally took about 6 shots in sequence, from the approach, to the kiss, to the followthrough. I almost put them together into an animated GIF, so you could see the whole thing play over and over again, but decided against it.

Colonnade Falls without the distraction. On the second day, we hiked up Bechler Canyon. It was about a 2000 ft elevation gain, over about 13 miles. Not overly steep, but we never descended the whole day. Just up, up, up. There were many beautiful waterfalls, and rapids. 

Dan the Man, thinking about his next shot. Notice you can't see his lower body.

It was stinking cold in the nights. In the teens. At Iris falls, the mist from the falls froze on the grass and trees at the top of the cliff above it. Here it is in mid-day, and not all the snow had melted yet. See the rainbow? That's Debbie taking a picture of Alan with his wife Rebecca.

We knew the next ford was going to be deep, so were planning on changing to swimming costumes. But when we got there, the horse guys that had passed us a while back, and who were already across themselves, said "It would be an honor to help you accross." The girls all cheered. Quite funny. 

Debbie mounting.

Lindsey, with her pack, ready to go.

Lindsey and Becca, most the way there. The deep part was just before the far bank.

Jann, mounted up, with Mr. Cowboy patting her bum a couple of times.

Daniel handing her pack up. She didn't reach the stirrups, so she had to balance without their help. We thanked the stock party heartily and said it was their good deed for the next month or so. They were very generous about it.

Lunch after our third and final ford, which was only about knee deep.

Alan and Becca Renfroe thinking about lunch.

Big Jim.

Jim, Alan, Becca, and Debbie. 

After about 8 miles of climbing, I kind of hit the wall. We had started down a half-mile spur to go swim in the Mr. Bubbles hot spring, but I just couldn't go any farther. I needed a nap. I told Jann to go on and swim, and I'd see her in a while.

Jann stayed with the others for about half an hour, and then came back to meet me. I must have been hard asleep (and not snoring), because she passed me without either of us noticing. When she got back to the main trail, and I wasn't there, she yelled for a while, and then assumed I'd just gone on, to get it over with. So she headed after me. Alone and small in grizzly country.

When I woke up, the sun was getting low, and I wondered if they had all passed me. I hiked a few yards towards the spring, but saw the group headed up, so I went back to get my pack on. When they caught up, they asked where Jann was. Caraap. So, we went after her. With one thing or another to distract the others, I was the first to get to camp after another couple of hours, and there she was, tired and thirsty, but not eaten by any bears. 

No fire was allowed in this camp, and it was getting cold fast, so we cursed the Park Service, but ended up abiding by the regulations. (Actually, not all of them. We were supposed to pack out our used TP, which we didn't.) (They had fiberglass pooper seats over pit latrines at each camp, which was nice.)

Our camp was pretty close to the Continental Divide, so the next day we had a pretty easy 11 miles down, down, down.

Jann, crossing the Firehole River, with exemplary style.

When we were about an hour out from Lone Star Geyser, we met some Park employees that said that it had erupted at 10:00, and erupts regularly every three hours. If we hurried, we'd make it. So we did. And we did. Here's Jim, Debbie, Jann, Alan, and Becca.

My belly here proves that I was there too.

Close-up of the business end.

It was a nice display, that went on for over half an hour. A nice cap to our very nice hike. From here, it was about three miles on an old service road to get to the Suburban in the parking lot. 

It was a bit of a drive up to the west entrance of the park, then down to Ashton, then way over to Bechler Ranger Station to get the other vehicles, and then home. We stopped off at Ole's in Sugar for burgers and fries, and man that hit the spot. I'd recommend it. Thanks Deweys and Richards for making us go.