Fairyland Basin, Part 3

About a quarter inch of rain drummed on the tent during the night. By daylight, the rain had stopped and the sky was clear when the group started the day's hike about 8AM.

They stopped for photos at Coffeepot Springs, which bubbles at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts. A clear creek in a meadow above the hot springs provided good water to refill the drinking bottles.

The approach to Fairyland involves a four hour hike followed by a steep 1000 foot descent from the surrounding 8000 foot terrain to the confluence of Broad and Shallow Creek. (The destination was a total of about 17 miles from the Artist Point trailhead.) Steve had marked a track on his GPS where he thought the descent would be easiest. They had no problem finding a break in the conglomerate cliffs. At the point they went down, the slope required careful foot placement but was walkable.

Can you see the castle-like structures?

The yellow carpet leading up to the geologic turrets is made of yellow monkeyflower.
Steve is giving a thumbs up to the camera as he stands beside one of the geyserite cones, formed by mineral deposits over eons of geyser activity. This part of the formation is inactive now. The soil around the tall cones is sandy white and smells sulfurous.

A robin found a lookout on a handy geyserite tower.
Warm water was actively flowing out of this 3 foot tall cone in the same vicinity The hole on top gives it the appearance of a mini-volcano. The green stuff is algae that grows on the wet sides. When the currently inactive Fairyland cones were forming their unique shapes, perhaps they looked like this.
The ranger had told our hikers they were the first ones to travel to the area this year. Our boys saw no trash , footprints, or other sign of human presence. Other than the robin, they saw no animals in the basin, either.
In all, there were about 20 geyserite cones, some up to 10 feet tall. There were also some near boiling springs on the edge of Broad Creek.
After they'd explored the area, our hikers had lunch and took their boots off for a siesta.

Their mission was accomplished. Now all they had to do was find their way back to civilization. And continue to avoid the bears.

To be continued...