Ilija and I (Austin) got up early, dropped mom off at work and set out for Monument Geyser Basin. Monument Geyser is in the Norris region of the park (between Mammoth and Old Faithful). On our drive down we had to pass a Bison on the left as he was only going about 15 mph. The bison we have subsequently named Fred (and now part of our inside joke) gave Austin the side-eye as he passed going 25 mph, being careful to avoid provoking any sort of road rage from Fred. We got to the trail head early (roughly 8:30 AM) and got ready to hike. I was a little hesitant doing another hike just the two of us due to bears but our neighbor Nate, a park service employee who manages bears in the park bolstered my confidence.
As we got ready, Ilija pulled apart my hiking sticks, temporarily breaking one of them...a bicycler riding by gave us the 'Awesome Dude!' as he found us departing so early in the morning cool! The hike up was pretty strenuous, not quite as strenuous as the Fossil Forest though, plenty of switchbacks. The trail follows the Gibbon River for about 0.4 miles before ascending 600 or 700 feet in about 0.75 miles. The hike up is through new growth all from the 1988 burn (a constant theme in this park).
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