Hiking up Mount Washburn - in the distance are smoke clouds from🔥 in Idaho

Made it up the first step stretch up Mount Washburn

First wildlife on the hike: Dusky Grouse. They weren't skittish at all

Type of Bolete mushroom - editable, at least by bears, bison, chipmunks etc. Related to porcinis

Mount Washburn in the distance. The one with the fire watch station on the top

The black 🐻 digging for more food to fatten up

Digging for food to fatten up for the winter.

Views from Mount Washburn towards the west.

View from the top along the trail we came up

Made it all the way to the top of Mount Washburn

Yellowstone - Mount Washburn hike

September 5, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

Day 2 of our Yellowstone adventure.
Hiking Mount Washburn up to 3115m, the toughest hike of the week .

We set off early from the Canyon Village (meet at 6:15) to beat the crowds and the sun. Good strategy as we managed to hike up mostly in shade and cool(ish) temperature.

Gorgeous views over Yellowstone National Park all around. Sadly I forgot the names of the mountain ranges already.

Views got worse during the day with smoke blowing in from the fires in Idaho but still a great place to be.

Made even more exciting by seeing a black 🐻 gorging on pine nuts (only saw moving branches to start with) but got lucky by him descending the tree as we made it up the next switchback

A few more titbits ...
👆The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule.
👆 Yellowstone was established 1872 and covers nearly 3,500-sq.-mile area atop a volcanic hot spot / super volcano. There are:
👉 nearly 300 species of birds, 16 species of fish, five species of amphibians, six species of reptiles, and 67 species of mammal
👉 more than 600 lakes and ponds
👉 over 10000 thermal features - hot springs, mud pots, geysers and steam vents
👉 over 1000 miles of hiking trails - we will only do a minute fraction of it.Read more