New Year's Eve has long been my least favorite holiday; too much pressure. We had to work, and we were tired from the previous day's ski, so we slept in, did some email, and went to work at 3 p.m.
Several tour groups checked-in to the hotel on Thursday, and I overheard one group making plans to meet before midnight to go out and see Old Faithful. What a great idea--and one that hadn't even crossed my mind (duh) until I heard them discussing it. And at just that moment our colleague popped by to invite us to join her and one of the rangers for their yearly tradition of watching the midnight-ish eruption. The estimations had it erupting right around midnight, and we made plans to meet.
After work we stopped by the employee pub for a beer. They were having a big New Year's Eve dance party, and everyone said we had to see it. We're 50 miles from anything here, and completely snowed in, so people make their own fun, and they bring costumes (Mandi and Nicole--where were you?!)
At 11:30 p.m. we strapped on our skis and headed towards the (closed) Old Faithful Inn. The four of us stayed on the Inn side, set apart from the rest of the crowd, and wondered if we'd see the last eruption of 2009 or the first eruption of 2010. As the clock crept closer to midnight we hoped for the latter. And at exactly 12:02 a.m. Old Faithful erupted, and with the snow and the full moon we could see it clearly.
On New Year's Day we decided to ski to Lone Star, and this time actually make it to Lone Star. We hopped on the 9 a.m. ski drop, which dropped us off at the trail head and let us avoid all those hills we've been practicing on.
New Year's Eve had brought snow, and we were the first ones on the trail.
Or so we thought--this bison sheds hair like I do
Lone Star geyser erupts every 3 hours for about 30 minutes, and we didn't have any posted eruption times. About 2 minutes after we arrived it went off--how's that for perfect timing?!
As we headed back we passed a few groups of guests who recognized us--word had spread that we had seen otters on the trail 2 days ago. Sadly, the otters weren't out today, but other animals seemed to be very active in the fresh snow.
So maybe I do like New Year's after all. Or maybe it's just better in Yellowstone...
Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2010!
I found your blog by following the link from the Yellowstone newspaper. It is fantastic. I make it to Yellowstone every 5 years or so and have always wondered what it would be like in Winter.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is exactly what I have been looking for. I read the Otters entry and jumped back to the beginning and am now totally caught up.
The pictures are amazing. They are enhancing the quality of life for this fiftysomething actuary from Des Moines, Iowa whose kids schedules are limiting seeing these sights in person as often as he would like.
Happy New Year/Decade you two inspiring wonders. I, too, feel like I'm treading those trails and spotting critters with you! Yay!
ReplyDelete