Spending The Day With Friends

We met Bob and Susan at the RV-Dreams Rally and have been following each other's blogs since then.  Since we were both in Yellowstone, we made a plan to take a hike together.  Today was the day.

Last night Jim had realized he had lost his car keys.  He spent a lot of the evening trying to figure out where his keys could be.  Then, in the middle of the night, he woke up and realized he had probably thrown them out with the trash we had taken out of the car.  Then, to compound matters,  he had taken the trash to the compacter that is locked each night and not opened until 8.  We had planned to meet Bob and Susan at Mammoth Hot Springs about 9 planning to leave here at 7.  To make a long story short, he was able to find a camp host who would open the compactor.  He found the keys in the trash bag and now, we were starting out at 7:45.  Bob and Susan were nice enough to wait for us.

We got there about 9:15 after Jim stopped for another elk.

When we got out of the car, there were many elk laying in the grass.  I read in Yellowstone Treasures that these elk keep the grass trimmed in this area.  It is the only turf grass found in Yellowstone and was planted in the days of Fort Yellowstone.

Our plan was to make the hike around the Beaver Ponds.  The trail was a little over 5 miles long.

 We got started about 9:30 making the upward climb after closely passing another elk at the beginning of the trail.  We continued to climb and finally reached one of the tops.  The view was gorgeous, there is a lot of smoke in the air right now from forest fires, so the views were clouded.

We passed over this little stream with stepping stones provided.

 Bob, Jim and Susan pause for a quick picture on this wooden bridge.

 There were streams,

 luscious, green vegetation,

and flowers and butterflies.

We counted four lakes that we passed, but we all agreed this last one was the prettiest.  We spotted several beaver dams, but no beaver.  The reflection of the mountain and trees in the still lake was beautiful.

Susan and I crossing the bridge made out of a tree log.

We continued on back up again and then out across an open field.  Finally, we reached the top of the last mountain.  There was Mammoth below us.

We made it down the hill about 1:00.  All of us were famished.  Jim and Bob took all of our equipment to our vehicles.  Susan and I went to the Grill to order lunch.  It was a zoo with people backed up all the way to the door.  We decided the Mammoth Dining Room looked a lot better.  The guys met us there where we ordered our food.  It and the conversation were wonderful!  We said our so longs. Bob and Susan were going to continue on another hike.  Jim and I were pretty well worn out and headed home.

It was another great day!