FAIRYLAND EXPEDITION III

We met our crew at the Canyon Backcountry Office two days after the wedding. They were great! The "Geezers" turned out to be awesome and incredibly fit. Here's the crew: 'Runner' Dave, 57, 'Rustic' Dave, 54, Marvin, 4? and Michael 'the Excuse Caboose', 24. Runner Dave is an ultra runner who does 50 mile trail races like they're a walk in the park. Rustic Dave sells knives that he makes by hand, Marvin builds houses and Mike works in the laundry at Flagg Ranch. We hit the trail at 10 am and got into 4B1 at about 3 pm. Everyone loved the SteriPen. It was so easy to use compared with the arm workout pump and sit and wait methods of water purification. We went to bed as soon as the sun set to escape the mosquitoes and rest up for day two.
We woke before dawn and set out around 7 the next morning. We hit Coffee Pot Basin around 9 am after a minor navigational error. We'd gone up the "Chimenea Rock" which took us through the live forest.
The hike between Coffee Pot and the Promontory seemed to go on forever. Jeff did a really good job of navigation with the map and GPS. We were surprised to find that the Promontory had several drops of burnt, forested slope before we came to the craggy cliffs we were expecting. We spotted a mountain goat and her twin kids perched on a cliff across Broad Creek. We found the chute, a rock slide, that would deliver us into Fairyland. Marv and I went ahead to make sure it was the right way.
The faintest of trails wound down the slide and as I edged my way down, I found clouds of silvery white fur tangled in brambles. We were following a mountain goat trail into Fairyland Geyser Basin! Fairyland came into view from behind the 'Cliffs of Insanity.' In that moment all of the miles melted away and at last I found myself in Fairyland. A little patch of yellow monkey-face flowers bloomed at the base of the cliff.
In the basin, several of the cones were flowing while others stood dry and bright white. One looked like a tiny active volcano with orange and green algae 'lava' flows. Off in Shallow creek, a pair of perpetual spouters bubbled cheerfully. Also on Shallow Creek side I found a small emerald pool and a beautiful white cone with tiny terraces like a mini Mammoth Hot Spring. We thought briefly of visiting Golden Fleece Falls, but it was hard to say just how bad of a climb it was above the basin.
People asked me afterwards, "It was so difficult, was it really worth it?" I guess if you have to ask you may never understand. There is something truly magical about following a rumor of a lost paradise deep in the wilderness and, after great struggle, discovering it for yourself. In this day and age of instant communication on a crowded planet, it's nice to find yourself deep in the wilderness, beyond the reach of cell phones, where only the clatter of mountain goat hooves and the rush of waterfalls break the silence.
We made it to the legendary Fairyland Geyser Basin and back without incident or injury. After a total of 100 miles of trying, it was a sweet victory and a dream come true for me. And what a great way to start our marriage! FAIRYLAND IS REAL!