Paws and Friends

July 28, while staying at Yellowstone's Edge RV Park, we drove down to MM 9.65 (no, there wasn't an actual MM, but a road to the left to the trailhead parking area just a tad past mm 10 😃). The Forest Service has changed the access to the trail head for the OTO (original brand--and if you look at it closely, you will see two oxen linked by a yoke) Ranch access, and this was it! After climbing up a narrow but good gravel road, we reached the trail head parking lot and guess what! We were the only vehicle! And we were the only ones hiking up to the old OTO Dude Ranch!  We gathered together our "stuff":  backpack with water, snacks, one can of bear spray (thanks Lisa and Carol for the loan!) and other small odds and ends, and took off walking! Lindy uses the app AllTrails to "track" hikes, bike rides, and other trails. This hike was 3.8 miles total:  up to the old dude ranch and back. Total elevation gain was 545 feet, and moving time was 2 hours. We spent a t...

Tuesday, July 21 we drove down into Yellowstone National Park 5 miles past Mammoth Hot Springs to hike the Bunsen Peak Trail. At 9:15 we were lucky to get one of the last parking spots at the trail head! Note to self:  GO EARLY, EARLY into the park! That note was even more important as we drove back after the hike, at 1:30! Mammoth Hot Springs was a MESS.  But I jump ahead!  Flowers were in abundance!  You can see from the graphic at the top of this post that indeed, the going up was just that--going up for most of the way! The total elevation gain for us, as we stopped just short of the final stretch to the actual peak, was 1,273 feet.  It was a beautiful hike! Great views! Lindy only hugged the hill side a few times...maybe a little more than just a few.  And she completed the hike without mishap!!!!  Even on the rocky part!  As the morning progressed, we met more hikers on the trail:  those coming up behind us and meeting those coming down...