Jim and I were going to do a five night, six day hike up Cache Creek (Yellowstone), and back. Then a heat wave arrived. So we made alternate plans, hopefully to someplace higher, and cooler.
We ended up hiking the Chain of Lakes, which probably was cooler, but it was still hot. But when you make your plans two days ahead, you get what you can.
I had been doing early morning walks in preparation for the hike. This was the reward one day. These happen every day. Every. Day. And they are freeeeeeeee!
The hike from Cascade Lake Trailhead to Cascade Lake has lots of meadow walking. Jim commented that he had never seen it green before. I've only done it a couple of times, and kind of can't remember, but I enjoyed what I saw this time. I LIKE flowers. In fact, I should go weed... but I'll finish this first.
There were lots and lots of lupine, and some geraniums and I think those are buttercups.
This made more sense in person. It's a dried watercourse, and where the water would flow, there were now flowers. Lupines and maybe sulfur buckwheat.
A log with some landscaping.
Elephant head flowers. I once was hiking with a couple, and we came onto some elephant heads. I pointed them out and the lady went Ooooo. The guy asked why they call them that. She started to intricately explain how the flower head... until his lip curled and he started laughing.
At the campsite, we sat by the food pole and watched the neighborhood watch committee.
Right in front of the food pole was Cascade Creek, and then a slope up to the camp kitchen. Jim and I sat and looked out over the meadow. It was shaded (we had to move periodically), and quite nice.
I got a new phone and it has lots and lots of zoom. I'm still learning about how much is enough, and how much is too much. This guy is fuzzy. Sorry. He gave me a sideways glance once, and I wondered if I should do something--though I wasn't sure what. He quickly lost interest and went back to eating.
We did have some hikers coming and going. Most, the bison ignored. There was one group that had a guy that the bison looked at longer, and started to approach. Being a great friend, he quickly passed his friends to get to the front of the column. The bison went back to eating. I wonder if the friend had to walk home.
Another fuzzy picture, this time from 6 am, of a grizzly. The grizzly grazed in the meadow for a while, then disappeared. We think he may have done a quick reconnaissance of the campsite across the meadow. Next, we saw him below that camp, and after a short bit, he took off at a lope toward the lake, where we no longer saw him. It had been a good hour, watching the bear.
You can see that he is collared.
As we packed up, some hikers/fishermen came in and we heard conversation. The folks who had spent the night at the third campsite on the lake had had a bear a few minutes before. All ended well, but now we were watching for a grizzly. We never saw him again.
These lupine were right at the camp kitchen area. I like kitchen flowers.
There was no real view from the tent area, but it would be a little protected from wind and rain.
On this day, we were headed to Grebe Lake. Neither of us had done this section of trail. We stopped at that campsite that had had the bear visit. We had neither of us stayed there, and just wanted to see what it looked like. It was up a hill, so I didn't go very far.
I've only been to Cascade Lake a couple of times. I just don't find it very nice. It's fine.
Looking back at Cascade Lake, and the valley we had come from.
Our campsite had been almost dead center of the picture.
We had thought it would be a pretty simple walk, gently flowing from one lake to the next. Nope. There were three or four hills that needed climbing and descending. Ugh. I haven't mentioned the heat in a paragraph or two, but it was hot. We had started fairly early, and made plans to start much earlier the next day.
This is gentian. I don't know if it's fringed gentian or purple gentian or maybe another kind of gentian. It's pretty and I like it for its rich, purple-blue color.
One of the hills. The moaning and groaning and huffing and puffing you can almost hear is me, reacting to the climb in the heat.
There were many pretty views.
I believe this was the meadow that Jim dubbed Mosquito Meadow.
The trail, along with going up and down in an unanticipated way, came out a distance from where I thought it was going to come out. No, I wasn't lost. I followed the trail, and it led me to the lake. But I would have never guessed it was going to take that angle.
I was happy to see the lake. Our campsite was in the trees, a little right of the center of the picture.
This Shaggy Mane caught my eye, so I took its portrait.
There were flowers everywhere in the meadows by the shore.
This family of ducks came by.
This family of ducks came by a minute or two later.
Mom, Dad and one cygnet coming.
Hmmm, Mom or Dad and two cygnets. I wonder where the extra cygnet was in the first picture...
I found another mushroom, though I don't know what kind it is.
I've not seen a pelican on this lake before. He tried to pass the swans, going the other way, and there was a kerfuffle. I didn't even know swans made sounds. They do.
I didn't get a picture of the loons, but they were also on the lake. They sang the song of their people periodically, and especially at night.
There was a snipe that did his singing in the night, too. It was a busy bird lake.
Every time I come to this lake, the swans go by. I think they're pretty curious creatures. They always look carefully, and then come ashore and preen and maybe take a nap. You'd think they'd worry about me, but no. They just make themselves at home. Probably because they could break my arm if I did more than look.
Early morning.
On this day we were headed to Ice Lake. The name sounded pleasant. We left early, to hopefully avoid the heat. Again, neither of us had been on this chunk of trail. This is the creek, no wait, the Gibbon River's headwaters?
This is looking back at Grebe Lake.
There were meadows to cross.
Then we had to wade/ford the outflow from Wolf Lake. It was only shin deep. There was some silt, but we walked on fine gravel, mostly.
On this day we knew we had some hills to do. It wasn't horribly hot yet, but it was hot. We just took our time. There were lots and lots of downed logs--mostly from the fires of '88. I sat on a number of them, mostly on the up bound portions of the trail.
In this area there were only lodgepole pines, lupines and some grass. We wondered why there were no other types of flowers. Anybody know?
On this day, there were a number of places that required walking on logs, or fording streams. For two of them, I waded. The others, I walked on logs. I think I waded here, though I'm not really sure. I don't feel very comfortable balancing on a log. They can shift, and if you fall, well, you're going to land. That might hurt, or even break something. Wading just means your going to get wet. Though, I did feel my boot to start to come off at one point.
I think this was the last time we crossed the Gibbon River. We got to our campsite, and sat and drank and rested and decided to hike on out to the vehicle. It was hot. The campsite is mostly in the sun. Jim mentioned cheeseburgers and root beer floats. There were also fries to be had.
It was 95* at the trailhead. We had done pieces of trail that we had never done before, and seen loads of wildflowers, and bison, and a grizzly.
I have tried to go up Cache Creek to Wahb Springs (Whab?) a few times, which had been our original plan. The first time I tried, the people I was to hike with had an encounter with an elk, and totaled their car. I think the elk was ok, but it didn't report back. The second time I tried, that was the year of the flood. Last year I was going to schedule it, and Jim and I ended up headed toward the Thorofare. This time, we had a heat wave. I'm beginning to think I'm, not supposed to get to Wahb Springs. I'll let you know if I schedule it again, so you can get some extra insurance.
We ended up hiking the Chain of Lakes, which probably was cooler, but it was still hot. But when you make your plans two days ahead, you get what you can.
I had been doing early morning walks in preparation for the hike. This was the reward one day. These happen every day. Every. Day. And they are freeeeeeeee!
The hike from Cascade Lake Trailhead to Cascade Lake has lots of meadow walking. Jim commented that he had never seen it green before. I've only done it a couple of times, and kind of can't remember, but I enjoyed what I saw this time. I LIKE flowers. In fact, I should go weed... but I'll finish this first.
There were lots and lots of lupine, and some geraniums and I think those are buttercups.
This made more sense in person. It's a dried watercourse, and where the water would flow, there were now flowers. Lupines and maybe sulfur buckwheat.
A log with some landscaping.
Elephant head flowers. I once was hiking with a couple, and we came onto some elephant heads. I pointed them out and the lady went Ooooo. The guy asked why they call them that. She started to intricately explain how the flower head... until his lip curled and he started laughing.
At the campsite, we sat by the food pole and watched the neighborhood watch committee.
Right in front of the food pole was Cascade Creek, and then a slope up to the camp kitchen. Jim and I sat and looked out over the meadow. It was shaded (we had to move periodically), and quite nice.
I got a new phone and it has lots and lots of zoom. I'm still learning about how much is enough, and how much is too much. This guy is fuzzy. Sorry. He gave me a sideways glance once, and I wondered if I should do something--though I wasn't sure what. He quickly lost interest and went back to eating.
We did have some hikers coming and going. Most, the bison ignored. There was one group that had a guy that the bison looked at longer, and started to approach. Being a great friend, he quickly passed his friends to get to the front of the column. The bison went back to eating. I wonder if the friend had to walk home.
Another fuzzy picture, this time from 6 am, of a grizzly. The grizzly grazed in the meadow for a while, then disappeared. We think he may have done a quick reconnaissance of the campsite across the meadow. Next, we saw him below that camp, and after a short bit, he took off at a lope toward the lake, where we no longer saw him. It had been a good hour, watching the bear.
You can see that he is collared.
As we packed up, some hikers/fishermen came in and we heard conversation. The folks who had spent the night at the third campsite on the lake had had a bear a few minutes before. All ended well, but now we were watching for a grizzly. We never saw him again.
These lupine were right at the camp kitchen area. I like kitchen flowers.
There was no real view from the tent area, but it would be a little protected from wind and rain.
On this day, we were headed to Grebe Lake. Neither of us had done this section of trail. We stopped at that campsite that had had the bear visit. We had neither of us stayed there, and just wanted to see what it looked like. It was up a hill, so I didn't go very far.
I've only been to Cascade Lake a couple of times. I just don't find it very nice. It's fine.
Looking back at Cascade Lake, and the valley we had come from.
Our campsite had been almost dead center of the picture.
We had thought it would be a pretty simple walk, gently flowing from one lake to the next. Nope. There were three or four hills that needed climbing and descending. Ugh. I haven't mentioned the heat in a paragraph or two, but it was hot. We had started fairly early, and made plans to start much earlier the next day.
This is gentian. I don't know if it's fringed gentian or purple gentian or maybe another kind of gentian. It's pretty and I like it for its rich, purple-blue color.
One of the hills. The moaning and groaning and huffing and puffing you can almost hear is me, reacting to the climb in the heat.
There were many pretty views.
I believe this was the meadow that Jim dubbed Mosquito Meadow.
The trail, along with going up and down in an unanticipated way, came out a distance from where I thought it was going to come out. No, I wasn't lost. I followed the trail, and it led me to the lake. But I would have never guessed it was going to take that angle.
I was happy to see the lake. Our campsite was in the trees, a little right of the center of the picture.
This Shaggy Mane caught my eye, so I took its portrait.
There were flowers everywhere in the meadows by the shore.
This family of ducks came by.
This family of ducks came by a minute or two later.
Mom, Dad and one cygnet coming.
Hmmm, Mom or Dad and two cygnets. I wonder where the extra cygnet was in the first picture...
I found another mushroom, though I don't know what kind it is.
I've not seen a pelican on this lake before. He tried to pass the swans, going the other way, and there was a kerfuffle. I didn't even know swans made sounds. They do.
I didn't get a picture of the loons, but they were also on the lake. They sang the song of their people periodically, and especially at night.
There was a snipe that did his singing in the night, too. It was a busy bird lake.
Every time I come to this lake, the swans go by. I think they're pretty curious creatures. They always look carefully, and then come ashore and preen and maybe take a nap. You'd think they'd worry about me, but no. They just make themselves at home. Probably because they could break my arm if I did more than look.
Early morning.
On this day we were headed to Ice Lake. The name sounded pleasant. We left early, to hopefully avoid the heat. Again, neither of us had been on this chunk of trail. This is the creek, no wait, the Gibbon River's headwaters?
This is looking back at Grebe Lake.
There were meadows to cross.
Then we had to wade/ford the outflow from Wolf Lake. It was only shin deep. There was some silt, but we walked on fine gravel, mostly.
On this day we knew we had some hills to do. It wasn't horribly hot yet, but it was hot. We just took our time. There were lots and lots of downed logs--mostly from the fires of '88. I sat on a number of them, mostly on the up bound portions of the trail.
In this area there were only lodgepole pines, lupines and some grass. We wondered why there were no other types of flowers. Anybody know?
On this day, there were a number of places that required walking on logs, or fording streams. For two of them, I waded. The others, I walked on logs. I think I waded here, though I'm not really sure. I don't feel very comfortable balancing on a log. They can shift, and if you fall, well, you're going to land. That might hurt, or even break something. Wading just means your going to get wet. Though, I did feel my boot to start to come off at one point.
I think this was the last time we crossed the Gibbon River. We got to our campsite, and sat and drank and rested and decided to hike on out to the vehicle. It was hot. The campsite is mostly in the sun. Jim mentioned cheeseburgers and root beer floats. There were also fries to be had.
It was 95* at the trailhead. We had done pieces of trail that we had never done before, and seen loads of wildflowers, and bison, and a grizzly.
I have tried to go up Cache Creek to Wahb Springs (Whab?) a few times, which had been our original plan. The first time I tried, the people I was to hike with had an encounter with an elk, and totaled their car. I think the elk was ok, but it didn't report back. The second time I tried, that was the year of the flood. Last year I was going to schedule it, and Jim and I ended up headed toward the Thorofare. This time, we had a heat wave. I'm beginning to think I'm, not supposed to get to Wahb Springs. I'll let you know if I schedule it again, so you can get some extra insurance.
Attachments
Last edited: