Observation Peak

Sometimes, the longest hikes can leave you with memories you will never forget. Recently in our travels, we stayed with my dad’s old buddy Pete, who is now a Yellowstone Park Ranger.

Since Pete was letting us stay with him, he suggested that we go up to Observation Peak, and spend the night. We set off on Thursday afternoon and began the 5.6-mile hike.

After a few miles of walking through trees, and tall grass, we took a break and filtered some water at a creek. After making it past meadows, lakes, and over large hills, we reached the peak. We got to the top and set up camp. Ella and I, climbed on rocks, as the adults set out air mats, and cots. We ate dinner in the light of an oil lamp, which consisted of a meal of Mountain House (dehydrated food) lasagna, and pad thai. After dinner, we brushed our teeth and looked out at a huge lightning storm on the horizon. We looked up and saw the stars, shining clearly in the black night. Then we curled up in our sleeping bags, for a good night’s rest.

Breakfast greeted us with granola, and biscuits and gravy. (Mountain House of course.) We left the peak the way we found it, chopping wood for the next fire, erasing any trace of coming, and packing up our trash. Then, we started the long walk back home. The downhill was really hard on our hips, mine, especially because I didn’t have a proper backpacking backpack. We took a few breaks, every once and a while shouting, “Hey bear!” just in case. At the junction, we took the Dunraven Road Trail and made it back home for a relaxing evening. Overall, the hike was really nice but harder for me and Ella, though the view was amazing and worth all the hard work.