Fairyland Expedition Day 1

Our odyssey began mid morning from the Wapiti Lake trail head just south of Canyon Village. We started out across the north end of Hayden Valley, which is a huge expanse of rolling hills covered in sage, grass and wildflowers. It is referred to as the American Serengeti for its awe-inspiring herds of bison and elk. After a few miles we left Hayden and continued on into the forested hills to the northeast.

In the forest we found grizzly tracks on the trail and met a charming pine marten. We hiked a total of 5 miles to 4M2, the back country campsite that was to be our jumping off point into pathless wilderness. After lunch at 4M2 we punched in the coordinates for Whistler Geyser into our GPS units, pulled out the compasses, crossed our fingers and set out to the northeast. About two miles later we found ourselves at Whistler. We explored and speculated about which thermal feature was actually Whistler. The guys and I hiked up a dry creek bed into an area that reminded me of Roaring Mountain.
It was flanked by enormous boulders with passages between them and to the west another thermal feature that looked like it had exploded. We regrouped with Pilar and followed the stream out of Whistler into Joseph's Coat Hot Springs. Joseph's Coat is a very large network of thermal valleys on Broad Creek named for its colorful, striped slopes. It is a living geothermal Coat of Many Colors.
At Broad Creek we split up to search for 4B1 our campsite. 4B1 is reputed to be one of the hardest to find back country sites in America. Pilar and Andrew searched to the southwest and Stephen followed me over some ridges to the south.
From the top of the first ridge I saw a beautiful blue green lake. I thought it would be hot but when I got closer I found that it was cold and stagnant. I continued up the second ridge and decided it was a bad place for a campsite. As I turned around and headed back past the lake I noticed four stumps that had been cut level with a chainsaw right next to Broad Creek. I'd been told that the site was 3-400 feet from the creek, but I decided to check it out anyway.
The stumps turned out to be seats around the fire ring. A little ways off was a neatly painted sign "4B1." I yelled for Stephen and together we went back for Pilar and Andrew and the backpacks.
After we set up camp everyone was tired and napped on the meadow and on logs. I must have been running on the joy of discovering 4B1 though. I was still full of energy so I set out to explore Joseph's coat.
I went back up the white slope where we'd popped out at Broad Creek and took some pictures of the big fumarole there.
Then I went back past the blue green lake and found another big fumarole that had coated the trees around it with white powder. They looked like ghostly flocked Christmas trees except for the bright green new growth.
Down by the creek I found some sulphur springs and a set of coyote tracks.
For dinner we had freeze-dried meals from the employee dining room. You just add boiling water, reseal the zip lock it comes in, let it sit 10 minutes or so, add the sauce powder, shake and squish to mix it and voila! A surprisingly good meal!
That night I had nightmares that one of our party would stumble in the dark into the thermal area 20 feet from the tents, break through the crust and be boiled alive. I had pointed out the thermal area to everyone so they would know, but I was still worried. The next night Stephen was surprised to see steam rising from one of the springs and we all laughed nervously when we realized he hadn't understood anyway!
Me as a Dr. Seuss elk-antlered creature.