Hiking, and Hiking, and Hiking Some More

I have never hiked for so far ever before.  Will I ever be the same?  September 14 a friend and I hiked on the Fairy Falls Trail from the Fairy Falls trailhead to Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone Park, and then hiked on the road back to our vehicle.  It was kind of a stormy day, so we were glad to have our rain gear with us.  Personally, I was still dealing with the residual effects of the long hike we had the week before up Sheep Mountain.

Along the trail, we saw Grand Prismatic Spring from above on the hill next to it, Fairy Falls, Imperial Geyser, and Mystic Falls.  Previously, I had used the closer trails from the road to see all these features.  If you don't remember about my adventures then, you should read Adventures in Wonderland (Part 1) and Adventures in Wonderland (Part 2).  I've been to the area several times, but because MySpace hasn't created a way for me to access those blogs, I can't post links to those adventures at this time.

Outside of what I've previously seen in the area, the Fairy Falls Trail was loaded with obsidian rocks and boulders.  There are a couple kinds of obsidian forms (not counting colors) in the Yellowstone area.  There are shards of it which were perfect for making arrowheads by the native population ages ago, and there are chips of it.  These chips resemble a broken windshield.  Many of the boulders along the Fairy Falls area are made of these kinds of chips.

Obsidian rocks along Fairy Falls Trail

Little Firehole Meadows

Little Firehole River

We finally arrived back at our vehicle after dark, even though we tried to start in the morning.  Unfortunately, driving time to this location was a little while and made for a longer day.  While we walked along the road, bull elk bugling could be heard nearby.  At my house, I often hear the same sounds.  In all, we hiked for about 8.25 hours.