Mt. Washburn and the Geysers

Nancy get away from that animal. A phrase uttered far too many times over the course of our trip, and while on any day it could have been Buffalo, Elk, Pronghorn, Mountain Goat, or even Bear, on this day the newspapers would have read, "Connecticut woman gored by Big Horn Sheep". But once again we were spared from ending up on an episode of I Shouldn't Be Alive.
If there is one promise that Yellowstone kept it was that you will see lots and lots of wildlife. Not the kind that will steal your pick-a-nick basket, but the kind that will do this. Never before have I felt so humble while in the woods. I wasn't completely in control of my surroundings and I was, in large part, at the mercy of the wildlife that surrounded me. Instead of making me feel scared or discouraged, I felt like a kid on some sort of adventure, like I had been transported into "Where the Wild Things are". I was in a place where I had to cooperate, share, and most importantly respect, wild animals. This is not something we Americans get to experience all that often anymore. Plus I knew deep down that any animal who lives in the wild and rolls in his own feces still couldn't stand the natural repellant that is the aftermath of BBQ food, so I knew we would be safe.
We spent our first afternoon in Yellowstone NP getting all of the touristy stops out of the way. Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Geyser basins are great and shouldn't be missed, but I think anyone who's been will tell you that after you've seen a handful of geysers and hot springs, you've seen them all. So after a spectacular night of camping at the Madison Campground in Yellowstone we headed out early to hike 10,243 ft Mt. Washburn.
It was a relatively moderate 3.2 mile hike to the summit, climbing just about 2000 vertical feet. There was plenty of views to keep our eyes distracted long enough to continually trip over rocks on the way up and Mark found a rock chair to rest in which he struggled to get motivated to get out of. Near the summit we noticed a group of Big Horn Sheep just below us and by the time we headed back down after a summit lunch they were just a few feet off the trail along the ridge-line. I snapped about 4 dozen pictures and we practically had to talk Nancy down bridge jumper style from climbing up and trying to ride one of the sheep. We returned down the mountain and got in our cars and headed to Montana for the night.

UPDATE: Wanderlust now has a store where I am selling a selection of my favorite photos, and also the best of the best photos featured on the Wanderlust blog from over the years. So stop on over and get something to cover your walls with!

Link located here: Corey O'Connor Photography

Mileage: 8.4 miles

Camping in Yellowstone.

Hot Spring.

Grand Tetons from Jackson Lake.

First wildlife encounter in Yellowstone; Elk.

Old Faithful.

Nancy always making the smart decisions.

Precipice Nancy.

Big Horn Sheep female.

Mark's rock chair.

Distant hikers.

On our way up Mt. Washburn.

Relaxing.