Where is Mesa Falls?

I bet you probably think Mesa Falls would be near Mesa, Arizona. That would certainly make sense. But no, Mesa Falls is located on an Idaho scenic byway, about an hour's drive from the West Yellowstone entrance. They are on the Henry's fork of the Snake River. I consider it a hidden gem. If you are ever in this area, it is well worth driving to see the spectacular falls. There are both lower and upper falls, but the upper one is the place to be!

We headed there on Sunday, hoping to avoid the weekend crowds at Yellowstone. Sandy was the first one to head down the stairs to the falls. There are LOTS of steps here!

The Upper Mesa Falls are 114 feet tall and 200 feet wide. Approximately 967 million gallons of water flows over them daily. The area has pathways, stairs and platforms which allow visitors access to the brink of the falls.
The spray from the falls create a microcosm on the canyon walls opposite it. It looked like the rock walls were covered with fine green carpeting.
Don's bad knee forced him to stay at the top of the stairs, so it was up to Jerry, Sandy and me to do the stair climbing and to take pictures.

Here is a view from one of the upper platforms:
After doing the Mesa Falls scenic route, we headed back north to the town of West Yellowstone. All around the town they have decorated buffalo statues.
Sandy and Jerry peek over the buffalo at the West Yellowstone Visitor center.
Then it was our turn. This was one buffalo that we didn't have to worry about trampling us!
"Hey, Don! Come here! Ya just gotta see this!" Better be careful, Jerry....that could really backfire on you!
Last I heard, Jerry was in the restroom washing off his face and hat. Lesson learned!

I'm not alone in Yellowstone

Nope, I'm not alone....it is me, Don, Sandy, Jerry about 10 million other people at Yellowstone on Saturday. Or at least it seems that way. Aren't all those families with children supposed to be back home, getting their kids ready for school? Okay, I may be exaggerating just a wee bit, but there sure are a lot of trucks and cars on these roads!

The four of us have decided to do Yellowstone in stages, since we will be in the area for 5 days. If we were here for only one or two days, it would be hard to figure out just what areas we wanted to visit.

Our first drive was through the Firehole Falls loop since it was on our way to see Old Faithful.

Old Faithful put on its spectacular show right on time. The boardwalk was crammed with tourists, all waiting with their cameras to catch the display on their cameras. Old Faithful didn't disappoint anyone that day. If it wasn't so darned cold here during the winter, I would absolutely love to come when there was snow on the ground and less people. It would be a great time to get some wildlife pictures. For now, I must be content with capturing geysers and hot springs in varied colors.
Our next stop was Black Sand Basin. No, that is NOT me "spouting" off to Don. We are in front of Cliff Geyser.
This is a better shot of Cliff Geyser, once the old "geezers" were out of the way!
Iron Spring Creek meanders through the Black Sand Basin, the blue water creating a beautiful contrast with the orange and white runoff from the geysers and pools.
As we walked towards Rainbow Pool, we passed through a sauna-like mist that drifted off this hot spring. It was like being in an open air sauna!
What impressed me was the variation in the colors of the pools of water, ranging from blues, to turquoise and deep green, as seen in Emerald Pool in the picture below.
This is the Wall Pool, which reminded me of the turquoise waters of the Caribbean.
Our third stop was at the Biscuit Basin area, which was named for the unusual biscuit-like deposits that used to surround Sapphire Lake. Following the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake, Sapphire Lake erupted, which resulted in the "biscuits" being blown away. Still, I think Sapphire Lake is one of the prettiest blue pools in Yellowstone. It's amazing how clear the pool water is.
These types of trees are referred to as "Bobby Sox" in Yellowstone since they look like they're wearing bobby socks. The white "sox" are created when calcium in the water is absorbed by the tree, eventually killing it.
Jerry, Sandy and Don paused on the boardwalk long enough for me to take a picture from the front.
The end of the day brought us a full moon over the Idaho mountains. This is a view from our campsite at Henry's Lake State Park. After a day with all the crowds and the hustle and bustle, we're glad to have peace, quiet and a large space all to ourselves!

The Tetons ARE grand!

We got to Grand Teton National Park on Thursday morning, awed by the rugged mountain range that captures your attention right at the very start. The cloud formation almost looked like Indian smoke signals coming out of the tops of the mountains!

Our campsite at Coulter Bay Village was only a 2 minute walk from Jackson Lake.
As you can tell, it was a very blustery day! White caps formed on Jackson Lake, and I was a bit chilly as I stood by the water taking the picture. Later on that evening, there was a group of teenage girls swimming in the lake! I found out they were from Canada. That explained everything! This Arizona girl doesn't go into the pool water until it is at least 80 degrees.

The drive down towards Jenny Lake from our campground was impressive, with the jagged mountains appearing at the bends in the road.
The next morning I was up early, determined to capture a sunrise shot of the mountains. No beautiful sunrise was in store for me unfortunately, but I was able to capture fog lifting off the lake.
At 6:45 AM, it was just me and 3 old crows at the lake shore. Make that 4 old crows.... : )

Lisa's Advice: "Take a Hike"

Our daughter, Lisa, joined us on our hike to Cub Lake on Saturday. She was our motivator for the day, and assured us we could make the 5.0 round trip hike. Cub Lake starts out at an elevation of 8080 ft. and there is a 540 foot elevation increase, which doesn't sound like much, but it sure made us huff and puff at times. It's like climbing a 54 story building at that elevation! "Easy peazy" for Lisa, who had just done a 14er on Monday with Kim, our daughter-in law. For us older folks, it was more of a challenge. I'm just thankful we can still get out and enjoy the Colorado mountains.

Here we are, at the start of the hike, our hopes high and CamelBaks full of water. The three of us were amazed at how many people we saw on this trail with only one water bottle. By the end of the hike, Don and I both had drained our CamelBaks dry. They held a total of 150 ounces of water!

The hike to Cub Lake starts out in the meadows by Morraine Park. There weren't as many flowers here as our hike on Thursday, but a nice fat beaver crossed the trail right in front of Don and Lisa near this spot. I only saw the back half of him and his tail before he disappeared into the brush. Thus, no picture of an eager beaver. : (
However, I did catch this busy bee literally diving into the pollen laden Mariposa Lily. He was so busy that he didn't even realize that I had taken his picture.
Both Lisa and I stopped to take a picture of the hiking path that led us through this grove of huge aspen trees and ferns. It was nice and cool in this part of the hike.
We arrived at Cub Lake, which is noted for its yellow lily pads during the month of July and August. Most of the lake was covered with them. Views of Sprague Mountain provide a beautiful backdrop for this picturesque place.
Don and I posed by one of the boulders near the lake. I'm not strangling him...just trying to keep my balance!
It was easier when Lisa and I sat down on the boulder and braced ourselves on the log by our feet!
"Hey! Wait for me!!! You're disappearing into the bushes! I only stopped for a couple of seconds to take a picture!"
They are still ahead of me, but at least I'm within shouting distance of them. Don and Lisa seem to be more focused on going down the rocky trail.
Towards the end of the hike, we once again pass through meadows festooned in lush grasses and yellow Coneflowers.
Almost back to the trailhead! The path here is flat and not as rocky as the last mile of the hike. Somehow, it always is easier to go back down and we made much better time coming out. Lisa and Don were motivated by the Braunschweiger sandwiches waiting back at the truck for them. I passed on that offer and stuck with my roast beef on rye bread. At least I didn't have to sit between them while they were eating!
Boy, this was a time when I wished I had hiking sandals! Lisa cooled her feet off in the cold, mountain stream water while Don and I watched. On the other hand, I was glad for my closed toe tennis shoes because I stumbled over rocks more than once. What I lack in coordination I make up for in determination!

No cats in Catarack Lake

So, you are probably wondering where is Catarack Lake? Never heard of it before? Neither did we, but after perusing through the "Best of Colorado" book, I landed on a picture of this lake. It had two things going for it right away: a nice hike around a mountain lake, and it was one of the scenic picks mentioned by the author. Catarack Lake and Falls is located about 45 minutes north of Silverthorne, off of I-70. Interstate 70 just happens to be one of Jerry's (my brother-in-law) favorite roads to travel, especially when pulling a 33 ft. 5th wheel travel trailer. But I digress, back to our hike.

This is not an easy place to find, thank goodness for good directions in the book. The last couple of miles to the trailhead is a narrow and bumpy dirt road. We thought no one else would be there since it is rather remote. Wrong! By the time we left, there were 25 vehicles in the two parking lots.

We arrived at the trailhead at 10 AM after driving for 2 1/2 hours. The clouds were already building up and we hoped we wouldn't get poured on as we began our trek.

This is a view at the start of the hike, just a few wildflowers and the lake in the background.
The first part took us through meadows and a grove of Aspen trees.
As we headed toward the falls at the other end of the lake, the flowers became more profuse. Don is ahead of me, as usual and he patiently waits as I stop every 5 minutes of so to take some more flower pictures. If you ask him, he'd probably tell you it was more often than that, but I am the one writing the blog!
Below is one of my favorite pictures from this hike, with the flowers, lake and the clouds being reflected in the water.
The Columbines were out in all their glory, competing for space among all the other yellow, white, pink, red, purple and blue flowers. I love taking photos of these beautiful, delicate flowers that also are Colorado's state flower.
The hiking path was almost overgrown with all of the flowers on the hillside.

Most of the Columbines were light blue, but we also came across these deep purple ones. Naturally, off came the camera lens cap again, and more photos were snapped. My personal theory is that you can NEVER have too many flower pictures! My friend from high school, Marsha, said that I must have been a flower child, and I have to agree with her!
As we rounded one of the turns we could see the top of Catarack Falls. You can barely see it through the trees and vegetation, but we could sure hear it long before we got there!
More flowers, and as an added bonus, a butterfly!
This is one view of the falls as it cascaded down toward the lake.
Just so you know I actually took the hike, here is proof! I sat myself down on large rock in the middle of the path and had Don take my picture. Look for the pink in photo!
As we headed back, the ominous, black clouds turned into fluffy, white ones. That meant we could take more time and not have to worry about getting rained on. You have to keep your eye on the weather here. Colorado storms build up very quickly and a blue sky can turn to a black one within 15 minutes.
After the hike, we had a picnic lunch at a parking lot by a historic cemetery! No, this was not by chance. We had read about this in the Colorado book also and decided to learn about this piece of Colorado history. The "inhabitants" here immigrated from Kansas in the late 1800's because they thought the railroad was going to go through this area. The railroad never came, but they stayed and homesteaded the land by the Blue River.
You can see our truck in the parking lot, behind the white picket fence. There were advantages to eating here: 1) it was quiet 2) no fast food place with tempting french fries in sight 3) not a single living soul here to disturb us and 4) the scenery was beautiful. Maybe it sounds a bit strange or weird to you but it made sense to us!

P.S. We didn't have "soul food" for lunch.