Hikes We Took

July 21, 2012
Periodic Springs
Afton, Wyoming
1.5 miles Roundtrip
The Periodic Spring is North America’s only cold water geyser and is the largest of the three known fluctuation springs in the world. Its name is descriptive of the periodic flow, which during the fall and winter, turns on and shuts off every 12-20 minutes. These periodic flows are less noticeable during high water months in spring and summer.

July 22, 2012
Amphitheatre Lake
Grand Teton National Park
10.1 miles Roundtrip
Ascent 3150'
Strenuous, but doable hike up to two lakes, Surprise Lake and Amphitheatre Lake. On the trip down, we encountered a black bear that thankfully ignored us! Be sure to take rain gear.

July 23, 2012
West Thumb Geyser Basin
.75 mile
Mud Volcano/Sulphur Caldron
1 mile
Yellowstone National Park
Easy walks on a boardwalks to view hot springs, fumaroles, and mud pots.

July 24, 2012
South Rim of Yellowstone Canyon
Yellowstone National Park
6.5 miles
We started at the Wapiti Lake trailhead and walked past Clear Lake to the Ribbon Lake junction (2 mi.). We didn't go to Ribbon Lake, because Bill remembers lots of mosquitos there. We then walked past Lily Pad Lake (.3 mi.) and turned right to go to Point Sublime and then back (1 mi. RT). Continuing to Artist's Point (.5 mi.), we then walked along the South Rim Trail to the Overlook (1 mi.) with a side trip to Uncle Tom's Trail, which entails walking down, and then up 328 steep steel grate steps (1 mi. RT). From Overlook, we walked back to the Wapiti Lake trailhead (.7 mi.) The views of the canyon and waterfall are awesome from all vantage points!

July 25, 2012
Mt. Washburn
Yellowstone National Park
6 miles RT
Gain of 1,400' in 3 miles
Wear good hiking boots for traction, as the trail is full of loose rocks. It's a strenuous walk up to the lookout tower, but the wildflowers are beautiful and the vistas at the top are amazing! It gets windy and chilly at the top, so bring a jacket or sweatshirt.

North Rim of Yellowstone Canyon
Yellowstone National Park
3 miles RT
This trail takes you to the brinks of Yellowstone's two most famous waterfalls, the Upper and Lower Falls. Along the way, you will see a third fall, Crystal Falls. Most of the hike is moderate in difficulty, but the 600' descent to the brink of Lower Falls is a series of 9 steep switchbacks. It's a must-do, however, since the views are unbelievable!

July 26, 2012
Upper Geyser Basin, including Solitary Basin
Yellowstone National Park
3 miles
Most of this walk is along boardwalks and paved trails. It's a must-do for anyone visiting the park! Upper Geyser Basin contains the largest concentration and nearly one-quarter of all of the geysers in the world. A variety of thermal features exist here: spouting geysers, colorful hot springs, and steaming fumaroles. We took a  side trail to Solitary Geyser. Although its eruptions are less than six feet high, you will be sure to see one, as the geyser erupts every 4-8 minutes.

July 27, 2012
Observation Point and Solitary Basin
Yellowstone National Park
1.5 miles
We took this walk before leaving the Old Faithful area. The hike up to Observation Point is half a mile with an elevation gain of 160', so it will get your heart pumping. If you time it right, you can see Old Faithful erupt from here. Then we walked over to Solitary Geyser, which we saw yesterday, and continued back down to Old Faithful.

July 28, 2012
Narrow Gauge Terrace and Beaver Ponds Trail
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park
6 miles
We combined these two hikes, as they started from the same trailhead. First we walked to see the Narrow Gauge Terrace (1 mi. RT) to get a view of the hot springs. We then continued to hike the Beaver Ponds Trail loop. The beaver dams were not that impressive, but we did see some elk from afar.

Wraith Falls
Yellowstone National Park
1 mile RT
This is an easy walk to see a very nice 79' falls.

July 30, 2012
Aster Falls, Aster Park, Paradise Point
Glacier National Park
4.9 miles; Elevation gain 670’
These "easy" hikes begin at the South Shore Trailhead in the Two Medicine section of the park. Great panoramic views of the Two Medicine Valley.

August 1, 2012
Running Eagle Falls
Glacier National Park
.6 mi. RT
Running Eagle Falls is really two falls in one. During high water, the water leaps from the top shelf, hiding a second hidden falls that roars out of a cave half way down. At lower flows, water only gushes out from the cave leaving the top dry. It is an easy walk to see the falls.
Appistoki Falls
Glacier National Park
1.2 mi. RT, Elevation gain of 260'
Start at Scenic Point trailhead and follow signs. Easy, beautiful walk!

August 2, 2012
Scenic Point
Glacier National Park
7.6 miles RT; Elevation gain of 2,350'
Scenic Point is a "strenuous" hike 3.8 miles up a mountain. It gets very windy as you get higher. It also was quite cold at the top, so take clothes to change into. There were stunning views from most vantage points on the hike. The wildflowers were beautiful, and I was mesmerized by the teal and orange rocks of the mountain. The walk down the mountain was easy with my walking stick.

August 3, 2012
Twin Falls
Glacier National Park
5 miles
We (Bill, Wayne, and I) accessed this trail by riding the shuttle boat across Two Medicine Lake. There’s a spur on the trail that took us to the Twin Falls. Then we continued walking around the lake and ended back at the Two Medicine Campground.

August 7, 2012
Summit Lake
Waterton National Park, Canada
5 miles; Elevation 1,000'
The lake sits high on a plateau above Cameron Lake. Starting at Cameron Lake, follow the trail to the left crossing the bridge over Cameron Creek and follow this trail around the lake. Soon the trail veers left up a series of moderate switchbacks through spruce forest, with nice views down to Cameron Lake, eventually leveling off about 1km from Summit Lake.

August 9, 2012
Upper Kananaskis Lake
Kananaskis Country
We walked a ways around this lake, but were stopped by a road closure due to bear activity.
Canadian Mount Everest Expedition Interpretive Trail
Kananaskis Country
1.5 miles; 400' elevation gain
On a high, rocky point between Lower and Upper Kananaskis, this is a short trail with nice views.

August 11, 2012
Walk to Lake Louise
Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
After a serendipitous connection with Jack and Judy Dettner, we all took a walk along Louise Creek to Lake Louise where we saw lots of people and took a look inside the Lake Louise Lodge.

August 12, 2012
Sunshine Meadows
Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
6.6 miles
Jack, Judy, Bill and I took the Sunshine Meadows Alpine Shuttle which took us from the Sunshine Village Parking Lot  to the trailheads located at Sunshine Village ($26 a person).The steepest part of the trail is at the very beginning where it leads you up and out of the meadow that Sunshine Village sits in and over the continental divide. We took both the Grizzly-Larix Lakes and the Twin Cairns-Meadow Park Loops including the detour to Standish Ridge. The wildflowers and views were beautiful, bu the horse flies were annoying!

August 14, 2012
Sky Meadows Parkway Loops: Upper Summit Trail, Balsam Lake Trail, Heather Lake Trail, First Footsteps Trail, Firetower Trail, and Koo Koo Stint Trail
Revelstoke National Park, Canada
After we drove up the steep parkway, we took the short loop trails at the top. The wildflowers on these walks were even more lush than the Sunshine Meadows flowers

August 16, 2012
Emerald Lake
Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada
3 miles
This lake is a beautiful green! We started at 9:30AM and it was 37°. By the time we got back to the RV it was 59°. The walk was easy and we chose to end it by walking through the Emerald Lake Lodge complex, which had beautiful flower gardens.
Chephren and Cirque Lakes
Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
8 miles; Elevation 344'

This relatively level trail leads to beautiful, glacier-fed lakes. The routes to both lakes are heavily rooted and were very wet and muddy in places. We enjoyed the trail to Cirque Lake better because you follow a vigorous creek for much of the way, and have more opportunities to view the mountains.

August 17, 2012
Toe of the Athabasca Glacier
Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
1 mile; 196' elevation gain
We walked up glacially smoothed limestone surfaces that were under the ice in the 1950’s. It was amazing how much colder it was when we were close to the glacier. There are signs of along the way indicating where the glacier used to extend in certain years.

August 18, 2012
Old Fort Point
Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
2 miles
Old Fort Point is a prominent bedrock hill standing 130 m above the Athabasca River. The trail is steep in places, but provided an excellent view of the town of Jasper and its surroundings.
Mary Schaffer Loop
Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
2 miles
This trail is an easy stroll that features a set of interpretive panels about Mary Schäffer, famous for her explorations in the Canadian Rockies. In 1908 she and her guides arrived at Maligne Lake by following a map drawn for her by Stoney tribesman Samson Beaver. Outside native circles, the lake was unknown. Leaving the shoreline, the trail passes through lichen-rich stands of pine, spruce and fragrant subalpine fir as it loops back to the parking lot.
Maligne Canyon
1 mile
Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
This is an interpretive trail with foot bridges over the canyon. Jack, Judy, Bill and I took the shortest leg of this walk, but found lots of photo opportunities of the water rushing through the canyon. Beautiful!

August 20, 2012
Patricia Lake Circle
Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
2.5 miles; 75m elevation gain
Jack, Judy, Bill and I took this hike and found it boring. There were few views of the lake; most of the walk was spent avoiding stepping in horse manure, as it is also a riding trail.
Maligne Canyon
Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
2 miles
Bill and I went back to Maligne Canyon and took a longer walk. We walked from the trailhead to the 5th bridge (out of 6), and could go no farther since the bridge was closed due to water damage. There were impressive views of the canyon, water rushing from springs, and waterfalls along most of the trail.

August 23, 2012
Ross Creek Cedars
Troy, Montana
5 miles
Wayne, Bill, and I walked through a forest of hemlocks and giant cedars. We saw a new wildflower called Queen's Cup, which is a species of flowering plant in the lily family. Although it blooms in May and June, the flower is replaced atop the stem by a round blue berry, which is how we saw it.

September 4, 2012
Dungeness Spit
Dungeness Wildlife Refuge, Sequim, WA
6 miles
The spit is 5 miles long, so you could walk a total of 10 miles, but we decided to do a 6 mile walk. The stones on the shore were beautiful, and we spotted two red starfish! If you were to walk the entire spit, you would end up at a lighthouse.

September 5, 2012
Striped Peak
Salt Creek County Park, Sequim, WA
5 mile RT; 850' elevation gain
This was an OK hike, mostly in forested areas. There is a view at the top of Mount Baker.

September 6, 2012
Ozette Loop Trail
Lake Ozette Campgrounds, Olympic National Park
9.2 mile loop
We started the loop with the Cape Alava trail which was mostly on a boardwalk, through a forest of moss-covered trees and very large ferns. That took us to the Pacific Ocean, where we climbed some large rocks and over fallen trees down the shoreline. We could hear the barking seals on the nearby islands, but couldn't see them due to the fog. The Sandpoint Trail (also on boardwalk) took us back to the parking lot. I like this trail a lot, mainly because of the beach walk and the sound of the surf.

September 8, 2012
2nd Beach and 3rd Beach
Olympic National Park
Roundtrip 8.0 miles
We walked from the campgrounds to these trailheads, so the distance was longer than the trails themselves. The trail to Second beach starts at the Quileute Indian Reservation, and spans a little over a mile before you reach the coast. You must return using the same path. Second Beach is the longest and flattest of the three beaches and is the most populated. Though within a mile of First and Third beach in each direction, north or south; they are inaccessible due to the protruding headlands and steep bluffs .Third Beach is a 1.6 mile hike from the road; again, one must return using the same trail..

September 10, 2012
Hall of Mosses Trail
Spruce Nature Trail
Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park
2 miles
These two short nature trails loop through the forest near the Visitor Center.

September 12, 2012
Carter Falls
Mt. Ranier National Park
2.2 miles RT
No one on this trail was sure if the falls we ended up seeing, which were not much, and obscured by foliage, was Carter Falls or not. The trail was not marked very well.

September 14, 2012
North Trail
Cape Lookout State Park, Tillamook, Oregon
4.6 miles RT; 850' Elevation Gain
You can start at either end...we started at the park day use area along the beach at the north end of the park and ended up at the trailhead area at the summit of the cape. I had a pinched nerve in my hip during this hike, so it wasn't so fun for me. There are views of the Pacific Ocean along the way.
September 15, 2012
Beach Walk Along Pacific Ocean
Beverly Beach State Park, Oregon
4 miles RT
We simply walked two miles each way. Lovely beach!

September 18
Crater Lake National Park
Lady of the Woods Trail
.5 mi.; 120’ elevation gain
Loop trail around Park Headquarters; self-guiding brochure describes how early park architects integrated their designs with the natural landscape.

Discovery Point Trail
2.2 mi.; 100’ Elevation Gain
Mostly level trail along the rim of Crater Lake, connecting Rim Village with Discovery Point.

Watchman Peak Trail
1.6 mi; 420’ Elevation Gain
Moderate ascent to a lookout above Wizard Island. Spectacular views in all directions.

September 22, 2012
Antelope Island State Park, Utah
Frary Peak Trail
6.6 miles RT; 2,100' Elevation Gain
Called "moderate to difficult", but I'm calling it "difficult" all the way! It could be because it was very hot, and hundreds flies followed us as we hiked. There are views of the Great Salt Lake along the way, but it was hazy the day we took this trail. We didn't see any animals except for some small lizards, but apparently bighorn sheep hang out near the top.