Land of Geysers: Take 1 (2005)

After more than two years of being enticed by Doc of rec.backcountry about the winter wonderland of geysers, mud pots and hot springs, it was time to leave the Vail area and hit the road north. It was 4:30 am and still dark, work traffic would start after I had left the metro area and the skies were clear with many stars.
After traveling north for an hour and a half I then watched the colours of the rising sun in my rearview mirror for nearly half an hour before the suns rays finally started shinning on the hill tops and the small snowcapped mountain range to the south. It was a glorious day with clear skies and warm temps.
Only problem was, I was looking for snow. Sleds, snowshoes and igloos don't work without snow. After traveling west for 200 miles, I again turned north and started gaining altitude which put me into the land of snow about the time I started seeing Bridger's stomping ground.
After traveling 180 miles north I crossed a pass that was amongst some 10,000 ft. hills and drove down into Redford's ski town.
I was to pick Doc. up at the airport well after dark and my 8 hour drive had put me in town by 1:00 pm. I decided to drive further north and check out our pickup point at the park's boundary and come back into town to check into the room we had reserved. I even had time for a two hour nap before heading to the airport.
Doc was all smiles as we waited for his luggage and the chatting began.
We both slept well in the motel and had an easy morning getting to our pickup point by 12:30 pm.

We drove north passing a mountain I had been on twice in years past and I reflected back on what those trips were like. Those mountains still call me but today we were passing them up for an experience in the caldera of a supper volcano.

The drive north brought us to our Bombardier where we loaded the sleds and all our gear before departure at 1:00 pm. The Bombardier had a 350 chevy with a Holley four barrel.

Our first stop to stretch our legs was by a water fall I had hiked up to in my summer trip of 75. There were trees on the right side of the falls in 75.
We had been passing lots of open areas with standing snags and I was starting to appreciate the views and the feeling of openness it gave.
The Bombardier got us to our reserved room about 4:00 pm and we went about getting a permit for the next days backcountry trip and checking in to get keys for our room. It was dark by the time we took care of business but we were able to check out the one geyser that used to go off every hour but after the earthquakes it goes off about every 90 minutes. It was quite spectacular in the moon light.
The next morning we hopped on a "ski drop" Bombardier that hauled us 3 miles to our trailhead. Luckily, the driver advised us to start at a closer trailhead as the one we had in mind would take us through a thermal area with bare ground and we would've had to haul our sleds.
The trail the driver had dropped us off at took us over a river on a foot bridge and skirted the bare ground thermal area. It soon took us to the actual trail we were supposed to be on and we headed down the trail towards the mouth of the canyon.
Soon, we reached the fork in the trail were we could either go back into the canyon and then climb the 800 ft ridge on our right or we could turn up now and climb it. We decided to take the first turn as we could see that the entire route had snow on it.
At first we were meandering up small benches and encountered one tricky bare spot that was steep and a bit exposed but managed to get through it. When we finally got to the last leg of the climb, we found it steep with pretty hard snow so we took off our snowshoes and kick stepped up and through the top cliff band. There were a couple times where I couldn't get my boot into the snow deep enough to feel safe so I rammed my ski poles in like an ice axe shaft. The climb was a challenge but not beyond us.
After reaching the cliff tops we had climbed 400 feet from the valley floor and still had another 300 feet to gain in three miles before we started descending to our planned camp site.

The trail went over some pretty rolling ground with views that were pretty astounding.

The steep climbing was past us and the little hills kept beckoning us on into the rhythmatic trudge of breaking trail while sinking in a foot. The snow was pretty consistent except for the occasional spruce trap or hidden log.

As we were about the crest the edge of the hill and loose sight of the valley we were leaving, the ninety minute geyser decided to show once again.

With the lack of tree wells and with the open view we were able to travel nearly anywhere we pleased. We had been on and off the marked trail and it felt good to be traveling with the map at times.
The day was a hard one though and it soon started taking itŐs toll on us so we decided to build and igloo short of our intended camp site on our route. It was also looking like the intended route was beyond our strength reserves so we decided to stay in our new igloo and take a day of rest and a day with a short trip to the meadow we had intended to stay at the first night.

Our day of rest ended in a glorious evening with a beautiful sunset.

Our short day trip took us down into the meadow where our first campsite had been planned.

The meadow was rather stunning with the meandering river outlined by a deep blanket of snow.

We went out into the meadow and followed the river back. Some of the banks along the river drew our attention enough that we were traveling rather slow.

I put my hand in the water and it was not as cold as the mid summer mountain streams in the Vail area. It looked to me like the river was a real snow-eater.

Many cornices had broken off and fallen into the river to be melted or carried away.

On the way back to camp we followed the river a bit closer and found rocks and logs that looked like cake with thick frosting on it.

Upon returning to camp we found the shovel had melted into the wall of the igloo from the days sun.

We had a perfectly clear evening.

On our way back to the trailhead the next day we got a view of the entire valley.

After the backcountry trip we stayed near the ninety minute geyser and checked out some of the thermal features.

Some looked like moonscape.

We had some buffalo come walking past.

Some of the colors were stunning.

And the clarity of some of the water, wow.

We built another igloo at the thermal area and spent two nights in it.

And of course, the ninety minute geyser in the backyard.

Ed Huesers
http://www.grandshelters.com