USRT15 #11--Bonus Hike to Fairy Falls

A and I headed back into Yellowstone on Friday of our reunion week to get another fill of Yellowstone. Turned off by Wednesday's traffic, nobody else was too interested in going back, so it was just my girl and I. Ironically, the traffic was less than half what it had just a couple days before, so we enjoyed a calm day in the Park. It couldn't have been a better day. 

 Our main destination was Fairy Falls, but the trail takes you around the edge of Grand Prismatic's basin. That turquoise is exquisite even from a distance.

Walking through a burned lodgepole forest is a little eery--though new growth is pushing its way out, the thought of this forest on fire was humbling.

At some point A got a little sunscreen in her eyes. She hiked a mile of the way holding onto my arm as her eyes stung and burn. We tried shading her eyes with my hat and my sunglasses. She toughed it out. By the time we made it three miles into the waterfall, we was feeling a little better. She had been cheerful that whole time, I realized.

After playing for a bit in the pool at the base, we opted for some photos and made the quick turnaround, happy that we hadn't seen any grizzlies. Fellow hikers recounted how someone had been attacked by a bear on this very trail the day before. This was the last time that I'll ever hike in Yellowstone without bear spray. I am now the proud owner of two bottles.

Six miles to Fairy Falls and back. We decided to call this our first annual Girls' Hike. A is tough and tenacious. We're determined to add at least a mile a year so that she's hiking ten-milers by the time she's twelve. We might get impatient and decide to hike a ten-miler next year--we already have one in our sights.

We were anxious to get back to dinner with the our family in Island Park. We drove through cute, touristy West Yellowstone before crossing into beautiful rural Idaho. I am so grateful that we weren't staying there, that our destination was the comfort of a cabin filled with our family.