Varvel Family: October Adventures

October wasn't as exciting as it normally is, because we aren't currently getting much running in. Too busy focusing on getting the house done, and a few projects on the farm before winter arrives. I still got in a few good adventures though.

Harriman State Park:

Joyce and I spent a morning hiking in Harriman hoping on the off chance that we'd get to hear the tail end of the elk bugling. We ended up getting more than we bargained for. It was a beautiful morning in the park. We enjoyed the misty fog along the river, and the amazing reflections on the lakes. We were about half way into our hike when we started following very large, and very fresh mama and baby grizzly tracks. This seems to be a recurring theme with Joyce. 😅 We were a little freaked out by that, and all of a sudden we heard a big commotion. I about jumped out of my skin, but it was just a big bald eagle flying out of a bush right in front of us! Super cool, but definitely got our heart rates up. Then, just a couple minutes later we heard the eerie sound of an elk bugle. We could tell it was super close. We heard another one, and then saw them run across the trail right in front of us. Of course Joyce takes off running to follow them. 😂 We hid behind a tree and watched two males knock antlers, and bugle for the ladies. At one point, one of them walked right towards us, so we had to switch to a better tree. It was so cool to be that close and hear them bugling right by us. I loved it! Never a dull moment with Joyce.

The mist on the river as the sun was coming up.

Reflections! 😍

Very fresh in the mud!

😳😳😳

Sound up for the videos! It was so cool being right in the mix of all of this!

Palisades:

Steph and I took a much needed trip to the upper lake. I miss when she had Fridays off and we used to do this more often. She made the comment that some runs are more about therapy, than mileage or speed. That's what this run was for me.

Grateful her knee is finally recovered enough to hit the trails again.

There were a few signs of fall left, but it mostly looks like winter is about to hit.

Wolf Flats:

Steph and I are tying to get our on Tuesday evenings for a short run somewhere. This week was Wolf Flats to see the remaining fall colors. We forgot how early it gets dark now, so neither of us brought a head lamp. We finished in the dark.

Fall trees along the river.

It was fun finishing up in the dark.

Ririe Roads:

Just getting out the door had been a struggle lately, especially by myself. I forced myself to do a run by myself, and it ended up being quite pleasant.

Yellowstone: Bechler River Trail:

This was the highlight of our running in October. We took advantage of some unexpectedly nice weather for this time of year, and squeezed in one more awesome adventure. We did the Bechler River Trail. It was 33 amazing miles through Yellowstone. Phil dropped us off at the Lonestar Geyser Trailhead, and we ended at Cave Falls. The different landscapes through the park were fun. We had thermal areas, huge meadows, forests, tons of river crossings, and countless waterfalls along the way. So glad we got to experience this trail!

Tricia-Michelle-Joyce-Jenn-Mark

The Lonestar Geyser is one that one of us had ever been to in the park. It goes off every 3(ish) hours, and each eruption can last for 45 minutes. When we were running there, we kept saying how cool it would be if it happened to be going off right as we went by. What are the chances of that?!? That is exactly what happened! So cool! We knew right then that it was going to be an amazing day!

Just us girls watching the cool geyser!

It was cold in the morning, so the meadow grass was all frosty, and the river has steam coming off. It looked so pretty!

There were so many mushrooms along this trail!

We stopped and watched the cutest pine martin. He was so curious about us.

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We passed so many waterfalls on this trail. I think we counted about 13 of them. This was Twister Falls.

We took a detour off the trail to soak in Mr. Bubbles Hot Spring.

Mr. Bubbles was awesome! The cold river flowed in from one side, and a smaller creek flowed in with scalding hot water. It created the perfect place to soak. I wish we could have spent more time here, but we really wanted to be off the trail before dark. We ended in a big grizzly bear area.

Goodbye Mr. Bubbles!

There were so many water crossings. Some small, but most were pretty big and fairly deep. We locked arms for most of them. Jenn and Joyce went down at the same crossing, so we had to take some time to dry off phones and stuff.

Iris Falls

Colonade Falls.
I could have stood listening to this waterfall for hours.

We went along and through some pretty big meadows.

We had a nice view of the Tetons towards the end.

Crossing a fun suspension bridge.

The sun was starting to go down as we were finishing our last few miles.

We ended at Cave Falls right as it was getting dark. We times it perfectly.

Such a great day! For not doing much training, I was surprised that I felt so good all day.

Sidewinder:

Steph and I hiked up and ran down Sidewinder. I love this trail.

We remembered our headlamps this time.

Buckskin-Rolly Polly Loop:

Steph and I did Buckskin Morgan in the dark the evening after Halloween. It was king of eerie, in all the right kind of ways. I loved it!

Women's Runs:

The October Women's Runs are always my favorite of the year!

We kicked them off with the annual Great Pumpkin Run. We ran through the sand dunes hunting for hidden pumpkins and ghords. Then we had races up the giant sand hill carrying Giant pumpkins. That is not easy!

The Great Pumpkin Run!

Sand hill pumpkin races!

These ladies are seriously the best!

Next was the corn maze and my birthday celebration run. Turning 50 isn't so bad when I have these awesome ladies in my life. Who else would have me dress up like a t-rex and run through a jurassic themed corn maze? So dang funny!

Amanda and Steph dressed as ears of corn! 😂

For the next one, we dressed in pink, and used the downtown streets to spell BOOBS on our Strava maps for breast cancer awareness month. 🎀

The trees around the river looked awesome!

Fall reflections.

One of my favorite runs each year is the costume run! We had two this year, and I'm grateful, because I was only able to go to the first one. We ran through the Rose Hill Cemetery, and then through the neighborhood looking at awesome Halloween decorations.