Bunsen Peak

Now that we are finally healthy, we are starting to tackle some of the hiking trails in our area. We're both between 1/4 and 1/3 of the way to completing the 100 mile hiking club certificate, so we need to get walking! Last night, after work, I had the urge to tackle Bunsen Peak, just 5 miles up the road from here. At 4.2 miles round trip, it's definitely do-able in an evening, but with a 1300 foot climb, it was questionable if the 2 of us would be up to it after being on our feet all day at work. We decided to give it a shot.

We arrived at the parking lot in time to greet another couple returning from the Glen Creek trail across the road. "Just in time," he said, as a few splatters of rain dropped on us. "Just in time," I said a few minutes later when we noticed 3 river otters in a nearby stream had come to visit. We watched them dip in and out of the water, swimming around and over each other, for a while until they disappeared in a drainage culvert. "Time to go hiking," we agreed, and headed up the trail.

The first thing we noticed were the mosquitoes. We were warned to bring bug spray on our trip to Yellowstone, but, thus far, haven't had any need for it. Thankfully, for me, the mosquitoes seemed to be swarming mostly around Alex, still stinky from his work around the grill and greasy french fries. I killed a few on my arms and worried about the welts that resulted, but we decided to press forward. Once out of the trees, the mosquitoes disappeared, so we were happy with our decision.

The description for Bunsen Peak reads, "Climb through forest and meadow to the summit of Bunsen Peak, which has panoramic views of the Blacktail Plateau, Swan Lake Flat, Gallatin Mountain Range, and the Yellowstone River Valley. (You'll also see communications equipment, which supplies Mammoth and nearby communities.)" It is rated as moderately strenuous. Not mentioned is that the 2.1 miles out is the 1300 foot climb - one way going up the mountain, the return trip coming back down. Alex and I were feeling particularly fine - that is until we got close to the top and I started to lag. Just about then, we had a return of mosquitoes, so I was well motivated to keep going. Plus, the description was right - we had fabulous views all the way up. From the trail, we could see the hoodoos bunched together across the Mammoth-Norris road. Further up, we admired Swan Lake Flats and the multitude of smaller lakes also in the valley. Near the top, we got into some rocks that tinked together as we walked, reminding us of marimbas. At the top, with our panoramic views, we discovered that the Gardiner River has it's own canyon (separate from the "Grand Canyon" of the Yellowstone River that is a hot tourist spot), and planned our motorcycle ride to the distant Beartooth Mountains. Unable to linger due to the lateness of the day, we left the communications equipment and headed back downhill, hoping for another glimpse of the large fox we'd seen on the way up. (BTW, we are still seeing coyotes here and there, but this was a quite different looking beast.) A light breeze had kicked up, so we were virtually mosquito free on the way down! After our hard labors, we went to the employee pub and treated ourselves to a beer and nachos.

Another mystery - Alex was swarmed with mosquitos and I had not so many. I returned with a welt on my neck, one behind my ear, two on each arm, and one on my hip (how it bit through my jeans, I don't know). Alex has not one single bite.