Skiing to the Lone Star Geyser

During our one full day at the Old Faithful Nick and I decided to ski out to the Lone Star Geyser. The first segment of the trail led to the Kepler Cascades and was marked as intermediate in difficulty on the map. While the rating made me worried, Nick remained confident in our skiing abilities. The second half of the trail was marked as easy and was pre-groomed.

From the start, skiing the intermediate trail seemed very difficult to me. On top of many uphills some brilliant soul decided to walk on the skiing track without skis leaving enormously wide and deep gashes in the track. The holes actually did not matter so much on the uphills, but whenever I was going downhill I was afraid that the tops of my skis would get stuck and that I would flip over. Luckily no flipping happened.

I was relieved when we finally reached the Kepler Cascades. We went out to look at them (together with over a dozen of snowmobilers)—we were here the night before, but we more heard them than saw them because it was completely dark.

The rest of the trail was extremely well groomed though slightly uphill all the way to Lone Star Geyser. We saw an American Dipper in the Firehole River, and a pheasant flew from under a tree near our path.

Lone Star Geyser is supposed to erupt approximately every 3 hours, and the eruptions last about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the geyser finished erupting shortly before we arrived. So we decided not to wait for another eruption, but we did break out a picnic lunch.

Taking skis off was out of the question—any step with a boot dropped you about 2 feet into the snow. So instead we worked on compacting the snow right next to the trail, and half laid down in this “clearing” in order to keep our weight spread out as evenly as possible. It was sunny and warm, and our peanut butter and jam sandwiches tasted like the best food ever.

Skiing back to Kepler Cascades went by a lot faster, probably because it was now mostly downhill. We took another peak at the cascades, as they looked different in the afternoon light. Nick tried to avoid part of the intermediate trail back from the Cascades by skiing along the road. I was too afraid of and disgusted with the snowmobiles to share the road with them. So I braved the ups and downs, as well as deep holes, on the intermediate trail. Eventually we met up, scaled a couple more uphills together, and we were back in the comfort of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.

From Mammoth Hot Springs To Old Faithful

I swear the lady at the front desk said that we’ll be riding with the Tamarac. A real tour bus drove us (and another 20 some people) from the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel up to the snowmobile hut where the road closed for all but snow vehicles only. The snow coach drivers were standing by the hut. I approached one of them and asked her if she was the Tamarac. She took our tickets laughing and said that, yes, indeed she was THE Tamarac. Only 2 days later was Nick able to convince me that Tamarac was actually our driver’s name…






And so we set off for the Old Faithful Geyser area. Our ride was going to be about 50 miles and would take a little over 4 hours, including stops. A heard of bison was lying around on the road in the Swan Flats area. The snow coach moved very slowly trying to get around the animals, and would patiently wait until the animals moved if going around was not an option. During the winter all animals try to conserve energy, so the goal is not to startle them and to avoid making them run.

Tamarac has been working in the park on and off for over 20 years, and bald eagles seemed to be one of her passions. She got all of us trying to spot them while we rode the snow coach. One of the first places we stopped at was near the Roaring Mountain.

Today Roaring Mountain is a quiet thermal feature—a lot of steam rising from many fumaroles in the bulging hillside. However, when it was first encountered, the violent roar of the mountain could be heard at least 3 miles away. The load roaring ceased after an earthquake, which brought about changes to many thermal features in the park.

After a quick stop for bathrooms near Norris Geyser Basin, our drive continued along Gibbon River, and our next stop was by Gibbon Falls. Nick and I remembered stopping here back when we visited the park in 2005.

We passed by a carcass of a bison, that has probably been taken down by wolves no more then 2 days ago. The snow around it was very compacted and lots of tracks have been left around. When we saw the carcass again 2 days later on our way back to Mammoth, there spine has been detached, and hardly anything remained of it all.

Further on, the snow coach turned off onto the Firehole Canyon Drive, which runs along the Firehole River and made another stop so that we could enjoy the view of the Firehole Falls. Along the river we saw several Trumpeter Swans and a few American Dippers—little birds that sit on stones and logs in the shallow rapids and bob in and out of the water searching for food.

When we visited Yellowstone in September 2005, all the elk herds we saw had a single male elk. I expected to see the same now, but it turns out that males and females stay nearby only during the mating season (which is September). So during the winter most male elk stayed solitary, while the female elk walked around in smaller groups.

To see all the photos from this snow coach trip: Helen's photos, Nick's photos.

Lamar Valley

We decided against renting a car for this trip for 2 main reasons: winter weather could make driving over 90 miles between Bozeman, MT and Yellowstone National Park rather painful, and all roads through the park are close for regular vehicles, except for the road between Gardner and Cook City. This road runs through Lamar Valley, which is one of the best places in Yellowstone to observe wildlife. On our first day in Yellowstone we took the "Wake Up To Wildlife" tour to Lamar Valley.














The highlight of the tour was seeing a pack of wolves feeding on an elk carcass in the Soda Butte Creek, but we also so heards of elk, bison, a couple of coyotes, and a heard bighorn sheep.

Pike Place Market

The last thing I want is to be a tourist in Seattle. And yet I can never resist taking a stroll through Pike Place Market. (I could never resist it even when I lived in Seattle.) So yesterday, Nick and I did just that.

Christmas Time

Being sick is no fun, but I have to admit that being sick a week before Christmas is so much better then being sick during Christmas. Waiting for the train for 2 hours in the beautiful snow storm left me feeling so drained that when the DFMC group run was cancelled, I decided to skip my long run that weekend. Not running was not enough, and by Sunday night (after spending the weekend printing tens of holiday cards) I completely lost my voice.

Another week of writing and mailing the holiday cards (well over 60), and running only 7.5 miles, and I was ready for our trip to the West Coast. Christmas in Walla Walla was lovely, relaxing and sweet as always. After a beautiful 4.5 miles run into the wheat fields on the morning of Christmas Eve I spent the day trying to help around the kitchen and waiting for the UPS truck to deliver the last of the present.

But not to worry—all the presents arrived and were wrapped in time, lots of turkey, peas and pies were consumed, and the Christmas Eve was another success. By 8 am on Christmas Day the presents “feast” began, and by 11am the sumptuous Christmas breakfast was finished. We spent the rest of the holiday socializing, and eating sweets.

(Oh, the endless variety of chocolates, nuts and dried fruit, homemade caramels, countless brownies and cookies, fudge, pies and a sheet cake… My mind spins…)

The day after Christmas Nick and I drove out into the wheat fields over the Scenic Loop. On the way back, Nick dropped me off about 5 miles away from home and I ran through the fields following Russell Creek Road back into town. Despite the wind and a little bit of snow, it was a beautiful run.

If there are no running events in Walla Walla, someone should definitely organize one. Running through the wheat fields with the snow covered foothills of the Blue Mountains in the background is unforgettable.

Today we are back on the West side of the Cascades, after blazing over Snoqualmie Pass in fear of the coming winter storm. Christmas is over, but the winter magic is not over. After a few days in Seattle, we will be heading to the Yellowstone National Park.

At Fort Warren, Georges Island

Today I took a trip out to Georges Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands, together with my coworkers--this was our team outing. The ferry ride from Boston was most pleasant. The weather was perfect, sunny and cool. As I stood at the head of the boat with the salty ocean breeze in my face, I felt utter joy.

A Few Days in New York City

A couple weeks ago I spent the weekend in New York City. I went down there to spend time with an old friend from Moscow, who was in the city for just a few days. It has been 5 years since we last saw each other. My friend has visited New York once before, but it was over a decade ago--I was still living in Russia then. This time around she had a little bit more time to devote to this city. We did a lot of walking around Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. We even took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. I feel both happy and sad about the time we spent together. It was great to see my friend, but the meeting also made me acutely aware of how little we see each other and how short our time together was.