Aug
1997
Bechlor River Drainage Yellowstone NP
Posted by Carl Hutzler
Following our successful climb of the High Unintas in Utah, we decided to go a bit farther and venture into Yellowstone National Park for our next adventure. We planned to start near the Old Faithful geyser basin and trek through the backcountry to the Lone Star Geyser. Once beyond that we would explore the Shoshone Geyser basin and continue over the continental divide into the Bechlor River drainage and on out to the West almost exiting the park into Idaho.
We would need a shuttle for this 30+ mile one way trip as the drive back was over 3 hours each way! And without a car at the end, that would make for a long end to a long hike. So we enlisted the help of David Hansen’s father and friend who live in Rexburg, Idaho.
We set out from Salt Lake in the morning and drove to Rexburg and stayed the night with David’s father. He made us feel right at home. Amazing how much David and his dad are alike. They both have that deep “radio personality” voice. Fun to hear them talking together. Anyway, for breakfast we got some home made hash browned potatoes…not just potatoes….Idaho potatoes! That got us ready for the 3 hour drive into Yellowstone.
Brad, David and I piled into David’s father’s pick-up truck for the trip up to Yellowstone. David’s father is a geologist so we got a great 3 hour overview of the history of the land we were driving around. One of the more amazing facts is that Yellowstone National Park is sitting on top of one of the largest volcanic calderas in the world. In fact, it is a “Super Volcano“. The last time it blew some 2.1 million years ago, it deposited ash as far away as the Texas gulf coast! With this handy information in hand, we drove towards the caldera!
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