My Husband Hiked to Union Falls

So my husband hiked alone to Union Falls in the Bechler region of Yellowstone National Park yesterday. Prayed my guts out because 16 miles is a long time to be alone in Yellowstone's back country.

He also had to ford a swift and "deeper-than-I-thought" river, twice of course. And he never carries as much water as he should. So I made him promise to tell a few other rangers about his plans. I also made him promise to text as soon as he had reception.

Well, it was a beautiful day and he didn't see another soul for the first six miles. I take that back. Squirrels have souls. When he arrived at the falls, he gasped audibly because they are so amazing. Union Falls is where three rivers spill down together from a height of 250 feet. He had the whole place to himself, but ended up spending just 25 minutes because sooner than later, you realize you still have 8 miles to go so you had better get started.

He told me, and I believe him, that his first thought was that he wished I could be there with him. Awww...love him.

While "out that way" he visited another warm-water soaking pool he's read about in a guide book and then he stopped at West Thumb to stretch and walk around the boardwalks which added another mile. His grand total for the day was 17.2 miles! I'm not sure I would have been motivated to throw another mile in all for the sake of stretching.

He decided he would order a pizza from the employee pub to take back to the apartment for dinner. This is a splurge for the budget but I don't blame him one bit. It was a little early for the pub to open, but he waited patiently. Turns out they're not baking pizzas anymore because their oven has asbestos in it and the NPS put a LOCK on it! Hilarious. They haven't had internet at the VC for like 3 weeks now and the pub doesn't have an oven. So he went to the Lake Lodge cafeteria and ordered the small plate version of their turkey dinner. It wasn't pizza, but it got the job done.

He texted a photo of the falls. I wish I could have been there too, but I am thrilled that he got this amazing hike on his list of "getting to know the resource." I'm also thrilled there were no bear encounters and that he managed to keep himself off the evening news.