Exploring a National Park - IVb. The Second Day (Post Lunch)

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4.3 Mt. Washburn Trail

We had lunch in a big cafeteria bustling with people. There were long tables and you had to find a seat. The menu was one of burgers and fries and I was getting a bit tired with that kind of food. I ordered a tuna sandwich and soup while Soura opted for a chicken burger and milkshake.

Our server was very jovial, “Where are you guys from?” he asked while taking down our order.

“I am from Boston,” Soura replied, “and he is from Jersey.”

“You’re kidding me,” the man was all smiles; “This place is full of people from Jersey. Look at them,” he pointed to a big group sitting at the other end of our table.

The lunch and the post meal icecream, sitting on the outside bench and observing people all around, had a languorous effect. That was not what we needed at the moment. I wasn’t tired physically though, beyond an expected stretch in the muscles.

“Let’s get going,” I rose up, “Mt. Washburn – here we come.”

“There are two ways,” I added looking at my guide, “You could start the hike from Dunraven Pass picnic area and climb to the top of Mt. Washburn and it is around 3.2 miles one way. Or you could drive to the Chittenden Parking area and climb the mountain and that is around 2.4 miles one way, from that side.”

“So the second one is shorter?”

“Yes, but steeper too – that’s what the trail guides say.”

We decided to drive towards Mt. Washburn and start climbing from the point that came first, which would be Dunraven Pass. As we drove northwards from Canyon village, the traffic was much less and within fifteen minutes we came across a small parking lot at the roadside, just in front of the foothills. There was a sign board at the point where the lot ended and the mountains started but it was covered with snow and we couldn’t see what was written. There was a group of around ten people in that area, who had come in a RV and the children of that group were throwing snowballs at each other, with great intensity. They took no heed of us and we made our way carefully, through the barrage and reached the sign-post, which confirmed that this, indeed, was Dunraven Pass.

Behind the sign-post there were lumps of snow on the rocky slopes of the mountain, from where the trail originated. The mountain was to the left and the trail went slowly winding up. It was weird to see and feel snow in July. The rays of the sun were mellow and as we proceeded, a blast of cold air hit us and chilled our bones. I put on a shirt over my tees wishing that I had brought a pair of gloves along.

In about hundred steps, we had left the parking lot behind. The trail reached an open area where we could see it meandering ahead of us in a huge arc. Initially, at ground level, our vision was constricted to the immediate surroundings but now, even at the small elevation, we could see a lot more of the landscape. Medium sized hills loomed to the left and were covered with grass. Our trail circled around one hill till it joined the next and we didn't know where it would lead us to. On our right, we could see the smooth, green downhill patches, almost resembling a golf course, that lead to the road that we had been driving on. Subalpine vegetation such as fir and pine trees and occasional thick bushes added variety to the mountain slopes. From afar, in the distant mountains, we could catch glimpses of the Canyon.

The trail itself was made of loose rocks and soft earth. The upward slope was gentle and our walk was pleasant. We walked at a constant but relaxed pace.

“So much better than the morning trail,” Soura remarked.

I agreed, “Good that we did that first, before this one.”

We occasionally saw groups of hikers, but all of them were returning from the top. I had a feeling that we were the last ones to start the hike.

As we walked, we came across a valley of flowers in full bloom. Violet was the predominant color, with patches of yellow scattered about. The flowers kept appearing along our trail at several spots. Soura was furiously taking photos,

“I don’t like taking too many personal photos,” he said once, “Many people look at the photos I have taken and say – ‘did you actually go to these places? Where are you in them?’ – never understood that logic.” I smiled in broad agreement.

He was a man of his words. When I stopped to get myself photographed at the next scenic spot, he refused to follow suit by saying, “Let’s keep walking. You can take my photo at the next scenic location and we’ll alternate.”

The place that I had stopped was a portion of the road, over which, two trees on either sides had bent over and intertwined above, to form a most lovely and natural arch.

As we walked on, the number of trees that flanked the trail on either side kept increasing and they gradually replaced the grassy valleys at the beginning of the trail. We had been climbing up for quite some time now and were in the middle of the mountains. Looking down we could see more trees that grew upright from the mountain slopes. Sometimes, at a distance, we could spot patches of the trail that we had already traversed. The entire extent of the downward slopes was not visible as before.

“How much have we covered – do you think?” I asked, as we stopped to exchange the backpack.

“Should be close to halfway.”

“Really? I don’t think we are there yet.”

We got into a discussion involving our average walking speed and the time that we had covered. It wasn’t leading towards any consensus, when we spotted an elderly Chinese couple, descending. We asked them about the distance covered.

“Half,” the man said, “close to half.”

As they passed us, we saw that they were pushing a perambulator with a small baby inside, fast asleep, blissfully unaware of the beautiful surroundings.

We would have walked for another twenty minutes when we met another group of hikers coming down and asked them the same question. These guys seemed to be more definitive.

“Still some distance from the half-way mark,” one of them said, “Walk for ten minutes more and you’ll hit a patch of ice- that is roughly half way. The ice continues for a long while.”

“There are many big-horned sheep up there,” his companion added, “We got lots of photos.”

Those creatures were supposed to be a rare site and the news filled us with excitement. As we went ahead, the trees grew denser and the seclusion of the trail increased. Once, I looked ahead at the distance and saw a small structure on top of a faraway mountain. It seemed to be some sort of an observatory. There were several round objects, similar to drums, protruding out.

“What is that,” I asked pointing out.

“Antennae?” Soura guessed.

“But why that shape? Doesn’t look like one.”

As I looked at it, I had a sudden thought, “Hope that’s not our destination - looks too far away,” I remarked as we had stopped to drink some water.

Finally we saw the snowy patch that the hikers had talked about.

Patch was an understatement as the snow was thick and vast, often knee deep and occasionally going even below. Initially we could bypass the snow by scrambling along narrow rocky passages at the very edge of the trail, but gradually those passages shrunk, till it was no longer safe to walk on them and we were forced to climb upon the snow. There were deep impressions on the snow made by previous hikers and I put my feet in them, one after another, and moved forward. Occasionally, I landed in a soft spot and my legs sank abruptly in the snow. Sometimes, I couldn’t get a firm foothold and slipped. The body of snow was at an incline as it was on top of the mountain slope, which made walking on it more hazardous. A couple of false steps would hurl us right off the trail.

We were making slow ascent and the trail was rather monotonous. Once it was broken by the site of a white goat-like creature. I wasn’t sure if that was a big-horn sheep, which the hikers had talked about, but we did pause for multiple photographs.

Once, within thirty feet from the trail and atop a pine tree, we saw a solitary bird of a bright blue color. It was perched absolutely still and unwavering, and seemed to symbolize the silent wilderness all around. We moved on, careful not to disturb the peace and quiet of the place.

By now, we had lost the sense of time and distance. We walked mechanically, without much thought, conscious only of the beauty of nature all around. Around two hours back, we had started amidst medium hills and valleys, gloriously verdant and full of flowers; then we had traversed through dense alpine forests on either side of the road and now we had advanced slowly but surely through snow-county and just emerged out of it.

The place we had reached was more open, more elevated than ever before. The mountain slopes with dense vegetation, that had constricted our vision for so long, gave way to a more expansive and barren surrounding. Reddish brown rocks and boulders of all shapes and sizes filled up the scenery. A couple of peaks from the tall mountain ranges could be seen nearby, looming above us. We could see far, far away into the distance and spot the Canyons, at an altitude much below us. Separating us from them, far below where we stood, were miles and miles of dense forests, that formed part of the Yellowstone backcountry.

“Look at that,” Soura spoke slowly.

I recalled a piece of information from the travel guides, “Seems that 98% of Yellowstone is backcountry. All the places that we drove in car and are hiking now – constitute just 2% of the entire park.”

“Amazing!”

“Can’t imagine the early, park rangers- they would have explored much more of the whole park- to find the 2% that tourists can visit.”

“Why only early? The landscape keeps changing – and for general maintenance of the park too- they get to see a lot more then we do.”

As we turned a bend, we again saw the building on the top of the mountain that we had spotted before. It had grown bigger in size and was surely nearer than when we had seen it first, and yet new measures of distance, previously unseen, seemed to have been added between us. It still looked a good distance afar. I still couldn’t make out what the drums that were attached to it were.

“Boss, that has to be where we are headed,” Soura said with conviction.

We checked our watches. It was going to be seven soon. The sun had not set but was hidden in the clouds.

“Should we return?” Soura said suddenly, “No point in climbing back in the dark.”

“The climb down will be faster,” I was in no mood to go back, “Let’s go on.”

It was probably an impulsive utterance and we kept on climbing. There were some more snowy patches that we had to cover. The trail was inexorably heading towards that building. It was different than before, when we were simply trudging along, regardless of the destination. Now since that was within sight, we were more inclined to keep checking if we were getting nearer. However the closer we went, the building kept moving farther away. Probably because, the trail wasn’t in a straight line; often we had to go around a mountain. The trail was also steeper.

And yet, slowly but surely we reached a huge, rocky plateau, which had a small sign-board saying ‘Mt. Washburn’ and we knew that the long journey was, at last, over.

It was an awesome sight. A mountain wall was to our left and the plateau extended on the other three sides, till it reached the cliff, from where it dropped sharply below. From that abyss, on our immediate right, there rose a mountain peak like an angry serpent, rising from the deep sea. At other places there were huge gaps of emptiness in front of the cliff. The mountain walls blocked all direct illumination to that plateau and the resulting shadow was pleasant, but as we paused there for a moment, to catch our breaths, we could see the surrounding mountain slopes gloriously basked in the golden rays of the setting sun.

It was however not the end of the trail. We discovered that another steep path lead to the building that we had seen. For a moment I hesitated about continuing there, but this time Soura urged us on.

And it was a mighty good decision. I had no idea what that building was, which in retrospect means that I could have improved upon my research about Yellowstone. As we climbed, severe blasts of wind hit us and chilled our bones. Had I been at the edge of a cliff, the wind would probably have blown me over. After about ten minutes we reached another smaller plateau with the building in front of us. There was a sign-board, proclaiming the end of our trail.

The building in front of was some sort of observatory and as we came near, the mystery of the drums was also clear. They were dish antennae, as expected, only that they were covered with perforated clothing, to prevent it from being directly hit by the wind.

There was a short flight of revolving stairs that lead up to the observatory and following them, we stepped into a small chamber with various frames hanging from the walls and a big telescope installed in the center. The frames had location and other information about various mountain peaks of Yellowstone that could be seen through the telescope.

There was another flight of stairs inside that chamber leading up somewhere and as Soura was peering at the telescope, I went up. At the end of the stairs there was a closed door and I pushed it open and stepped out into a small balcony with railings on all sides. The wind was absolutely ferocious with a screech and howl and it messed up with my cloths and hair, pulling and flapping them in all directions. I wondered if whatever hair was left on my head would get uprooted. The wind hurled at my face and eyes, like angry waves crashing at the shore and I found myself involuntarily squinting my eyes and assuming a grimace.

The balcony offered a wide and unobstructed view of the entire Park and was surely worth the long hike. I gazed in front, slowly turning around. At one corner, I spotted a sign-board and moved closer to read what was written. At this point, the door pushed open again and Soura came out.

“Look at this-,” I beckoned him closer in excitement, “Guess what this place is about – this is a fire tower. There is a ranger here at all times- he checks all around to see if there is a fire anywhere in the Park.”

The board said that the practice of elevated fire towers, where a single person was stationed, to watch the entire Park, through his binoculars, and report any incidence of rising columns of smoke, is an ancient one, abandoned by most Parks, in favor of more modern methods. Yellowstone is a notable exception with its four fire towers that still adhere to the ancient customs. As we looked up, we could see that a couple of steps from that balcony lead up to a medium sized room and, through its glass paneled windows, we could see a solitary man. He smiled as our eyes met.

The sign-board also informed us that the lone ranger moved there in late June, as the snow melted and stayed there till October. His food and other supplies were replenished every two weeks, via helicopters.

“This is crazy,” I said, “I can’t believe someone staying up in this place, all on his own for 4 to 5 months. He would turn mad – not talking to anyone for all this time.”

Soura just shook his head and laughed.

“Could make a nice horror story,” I mused, “Think of this – lone ranger stays in fire tower for too long – goes bonkers in the process – then after many months a solitary hiker come here – let’s say a young woman – and so we have a young woman and a psychopath on top of a mountain – think of the endless possibilities of such a plot.”

Soura laughed aloud, “Send this to Hollywood.”

“Yup,” I grinned, “also the natural beauty of Yellowstone will add on to the story.”

“Yellowstone Park and their rangers will sue you for defamation. Poor blokes, looking out for fire for a living – and you have turned them into psychopaths.”

We spent about half an hour in the fire tower, taking photos and soaking up the feeling of vast wilderness that was all around and savored every moment of it. Then we decided to head back, as it would get too dark otherwise.

My legs were fatigued and the feet had developed a mild ache, which I knew would worsen with more walking. Soura had blisters in his feet. However, we were in good spirits and did not take heed of such minor inconveniences. If anything, we were charged up for more adventures.

As we climbed down to the first big plateau, we saw that another trail was leading up the place.

“This must be the trail that started from the other place. What was it called? – the shorter but steeper one?” Soura asked.

“Chittagong Parking area or something like that.”

“Yeah that – you know what,” he added after a pause, speaking with the air of having made a brilliant discovery, “Let’s go down that way. And then-”

“Yes, and then-?”

“And then- we will walk along the road till Dunraven Pass. Or maybe someone will give us a lift.”

That was an absolutely crazy idea and both of us knew that. I thought about it for a split second and then smiled, “Let’s go for it.”

However good sense prevailed soon when we checked the map and discovered that Chittenden Parking area and Dunraven Pass were almost 3 miles apart. Even in all our excitement and recklessness, the prospect of walking 3 miles in the dark, along a paved motor road, seemed like a big waste of time. Reluctantly, we jettisoned the idea.

“Let’s ditch it,” Soura said, “If we have some time after going down- we can still visit the Tower Falls.”

“Yeah, and you never know- we might be chased by a bear while walking on the road.” I remarked with a smile.

“Then, we wouldn’t even be able to run away,” Soura grinned, “and no-one will be giving us a ride in that situation.”

It still seemed like a pity that we had a chance to do something out of the ordinary and didn’t pursue it. However Soura soon made up for that.

As we were retracing our path, he had fallen silent, seemingly mulling over something. Then he spoke, “Look, I have an idea that will save us some time in going down.”

“What is that?” I asked

“Instead of following the trail, we’ll climb down the mountain slopes directly.”

“You’re joking.”

“No, I’m not.”

I looked down incredulously at the steep mountain wall by the road-side that dropped sharply below and then at the vast empty space in front of us where the sky seemed to merge with the void between the mountains. This was a far more crazy idea that the first one.

“How can we?” I asked, “You mean down these rocky mountain walls?”

“Not here,” he said, “I have been observing this place for a while. Soon we’ll reach – over there,” he pointed out ahead, “Over there, the mountain slope has less rocks and is more mud and grass. We could go down from there.”

I wasn’t sure if he was entirely serious. “Have you done it before?” I asked.

He replied in affirmative and added that the basic action was very similar to skiing, an art in which he was proficient. I already knew that from numerous stories that he had told in the past.

We reached the place he was talking about. It was certainly less rocky, but I was far from convinced. The slope was vast and extended as far my eyes could go. It was quite steep and thus impossible for anyone to walk straight down.

“We go down here?” I asked. He nodded. “But I don’t even see the trail at the end of it.” I replied back, “Are you sure this is the correct direction? The trail had gone around several mountains – you know.”

“If we get down in the wrong direction – it would be very difficult to climb up, back to this road,” I added, trying to imagine the consequences to getting lost in the mountains, with the cold night approaching.

“Yeah, I am sure of the direction,” he replied and proceeded to give me some elementary lessons in topography, something in which I am absolutely miserable. Consequently, despite his explanations, I didn’t quite understand how that was the true direction.

“Well, let it be so,” I conceded, “But I still don’t see the trail at the end of the slope - what if there is a steep fall where the slope ends to get to the trail?”

“It wouldn’t be much, even if there is one,” he replied with self assurance, “three, four feet at the max.”

“Also, is it safe to go down? What if we break a bone over here? We’re all alone.”

“We wouldn’t,” Soura was more cheerful and pleasant than ever, “I know how to walk down the slopes. You see- you walk sideways, with your body leaning back-”

“Well-,” I hesitated, my heart pounding heavily, “Does sound exciting – but this really doesn’t look like – it is getting dark also - but let me think – give me a moment.”

“Of course, I don’t want to force you,” he replied in an easy tone, “No point in going unless you really want to go. It’s perfectly understandable.”

Of course, I really wanted to go or else I wouldn’t have even asked him so many questions. I just wasn’t sure if we were well prepared for it. As I fell silent, he proceeded to give me more knowledge.

“Look here,” he said gesticulating with his hands, “Assume this is the slope where we are on – and this is the trail where we have to eventually get to – and now assume that-“

“Wait,” I stopped him as none of his explanations were getting through me, “Just answer one question – are you absolutely certain that this can be done?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Well, in that case,” I said, “Let’s do it.”

“Awesome,” he said, grinning broadly, “I’ll lead and you follow. Let me first explain to you the trick in getting down a mountain slope.”

With the first few steps into the slope I had a strange feeling - it was almost as if I had been hitherto watching a vast dangerous ocean from the safe confines of a ship but now had jumped into that vast body of water. There was no going back to safety.

However after a few steps, things were much brighter. Soura’s trick of first firmly establishing the left foot into the soft earth, then bringing the right foot close and then repeating the process, all the while leaning the body back to align with the incline of the slope, worked smoothly. In some places, I didn’t get a firm foothold and slipped momentarily but on the whole, I was no longer apprehensive about breaking a bone. After a while, we were confident enough, to stop, pose and even go up the incline a little while for taking all sorts of photos.

For most parts, we went straight down, but in a couple of places, there were rocky patches and we had to go around them; same for other places, where trees or shrubs impeded our path.

Eventually, I saw the trail in front of us and felt elated. Soura was the man. I proclaimed as much. He smiled. The final jump from the slope, to the trail wasn’t a whole lot but since we were landing in the snow, we had to be careful. Once there, we looked up at the mountain, feeling thrilled and fully enjoying the moment.

We were back into the land of snow. Now that we were going down the slope, our progress was faster. The sun had set but the mountains were still illuminated in a mild golden hue. Both of us were really glad to have gone for this hike.

“You would have taken thousands of pictures by now,” I commented once.

“Yes, and I know what to do with them – I’ll make a collage once I’m back home – then I’ll take a huge printout and frame it in my wall.”

“Sounds exciting,” I replied. I thought for a while and an idea struck me, “I’ll write the story about our trip and then post it in my blog.”

And thus we descended the mountain, walking briskly past places that we had seen on the way up. Eventually, at about half past nine, we arrived at the Dunraven Pass parking lot, exhausted but very happy.

4.4 The Way Back

Once we were inside the car, we leaned back on our seats. The plan was to drive back to Canyon Village and hope that some place was still open for dinner.

“If not, we have to drive back all the way to our motel and hope that the McDonalds is still open,” said Soura which did not sound quite alluring.

We drove in the semi-darkness, in a languorous state, conscious only of our epic hike of the day. We reached Canyon Village close to ten and were dismayed to find that the cafeteria, where we had our lunch, had just closed down. However luck hadn’t deserted us completely as the adjacent dining hall was still open.

We flopped wearily on our seats that the waiter escorted us to. While in the hike, we were energetic and ready to take on anything, but now, the desire to lie down on a bed was overwhelming. I gazed wearily at the well decorated dining hall with all modern comfort and appliances and then at the people all around and everything seemed so incongruous.

The food was very good, or maybe we were really hungry and would have devoured anything. I especially liked a dish of mashed cauliflowers.

When we were done and had limped out of the dining hall, we were in no mood for Tower Falls. The time was close to eleven in the night and there was a forty mile drive till our motel. Going to Tower and back was another extra thirty eight miles of driving. We still had many more places to visit tomorrow and also had to drive back to Salt Lake City. We decided to leave Tower Falls for tomorrow.

“We postponed it yesterday also,” I smiled, “I have a feeling we are not gonna make it tomorrow too.”

“Well, three days is hardly enough to explore Yellowstone,” Soura replied.

We drove back in the darkness, fast and eager to reach the hotel. After some time, I was surprised to see cars in the other direction, going inside the Park. First I thought that they were isolated instances but they kept on coming, one after another, at a regular interval.

“What on earth are people entering the Park at this time of the night?” I exclaimed.

“Must be some serious folk – hardcore nature lovers.”

I wondered if I googled Yellowstone plus night activities, I might come up with some surprising stuff. Three days was surely inadequate for Yellowstone.

By the time, we reached our hotel, threw our shoes and shirts to the side and dropped on our beds, it was almost midnight. I copied the pictures from Soura’s camera, readjusted the alarm and fell into a deep slumber.