070726 Yellowstone National Park

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070726 Yellowstone
I left the Lazy L&B after eating some tasty huevos rancheros. After saying goodbye to everyone I headed to Yellowstone National Park. It was only an 80 mile drive but it took a couple of hours with several spots of horrible construction going on where I had to stop and wait for a pilot car to guide me through the construction zone. In addition to the construction there were several stops to take pictures of the Teton Mountain range on the way.

I was told that the NE part of the park was the best for seeing wildlife, so I was determined to make it there. The drive through the park was incredible, it was probably less than 100 miles, but it took me about four hours to find a campsite, because I was stopping so many times to take pictures of hot springs, fumaroles, rivers, gorges, animals, waterfalls, vistas, clouds, and anything else that looked interesting.

I found out real quickly that I did not like the sulpheric smell that seemed to permeate a lot of the park. Walking through clouds of the noxious gas put out by the geysers was almost enough to not make me see a few…almost, but I forged ahead and stopped at just about every point of interest on the road.

I cannot say enough about the landscape, even though I was only going to have a couple of days in the park I was really excited to hike. I can’t wait until I plan a trip with someone else to hike in the backcountry. One thing that bothered me was the amount of people. One of the things I like about camping and backpacking is that when you’ve worked hard to get to a location it has such a greater impact on you. Seeing waterfalls, herds of bison, elk, and beautiful country right next to the road seemed a little too easy.

That being said, having a bison bull that is probably 7’ at the shoulder cross the road in front of my truck was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. There’s no way it would ever be safe enough to get that close on foot, not that it’s really safe in vehicle, they’re known to smash cars and trucks that offend them. I watched a mother and a calf swim a river from a few hundred feet away. After they got to the close shore she got out and bellowed at all of us tourists to warn us away and then they trotted over to the rest of the herd. As beautiful as it was, seeing herds of a few hundred bison across various valleys also made me sad. It made me thing of a picture I have seen of a man standing on a pile of bison skulls 40’ high, the results of the pogrom against the native americans. I wish I could look over a herd of hundreds of thousands.

The campground I wanted to stay at was full, so I continued east toward the edge of the park. As I drove through a valley dark ominous looking clouds began to collect around the peaks. Luckily that last campground still had a few spots and I camped right next to a creek. Thinking to take a short hike I asked the campground host where a good trail was. He advised me where to find a decent trail and told me to watch out for a small black bear that had been spotted.

With hopes of seeing a bear I quickly made my way back to my site to set up camp. I struggled to put up my tent as wind started gusting across the campgrounds. Twice my tent nearly blew away before I got it properly staked down. Just as I finished putting the tent up it began to sprinkle. I quickly got my things into the tent as rain began coming down in sheets. The clouds settled down in the valley and it was nearly impossible to see more than 30 feet.

I decided it probably wasn’t the best conditions to be hiking in unfamiliar territory, alone. Truth be told I was sort of relieved, the previous day’s 30 mile trail ride had done a number on me. I resigned myself to reading and watching movies in my tent as it poured. (I’m currently reading Carl Sagan’s “Dragons of Eden”, “Shouting at the Sky” by Gary Ferguson, or the newest Dragonlance book by Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman. This night I was not feeling intellectual (Dragon’s of Eden) or humanitarian (Shouting at the Sky) so I picked up the Dragonlance book (for those few of you who know what Dragonlance is, this book picks up right after the Dragon Highlord Verminaard was killed by the companions in the first Chronicles book and tells the untold story of how the companions got the Hammer of Kharas.) I won’t delve anymore into my fantasy geekyness and I’ll just say it’s promising to be a good book, oh and it’s over 500 pages as opposed to the usual 300 page DL books. After it was too dark to read comfortable I switched to my laptop and watch Serenity for the umpteenth time.

In the morning the clouds were still heavy, but the rain had stopped with the sun. I got up and had a simple breakfast and noticed that in a spot near me a man was attempting to dry his clothes over a small fire from a tin can. He seemed to only be weary a sweatshirt pulled low and boots as he tried to dry his jeans and draped the rest of his clothes over his motorcycle. It was pretty chilly so I offered him a cup of coffee. He graciously accepted and introduced himself as “Timber Jack”.

We talked for a while as he dried his clothes and I packed up my gear. He was an interesting man with many stories to tell about his travels. He showed me his makeshift stove/candle/lightsource/warmer and explained how to make it. Apparently it’s just a large metal coffee cup, or a can, or what have you, filled with melted wax about 2/3 of the way, then you take a piece of cardboard as wide as the cup is tall then roll it up so it fits in the cup. The wax soaks up into the cardboard, which then acts as a wick. Jack said it was best to drill little holes in the side so it doesn’t suffocate itself and that it would be good for many uses.

After breaking camp I decided to drive across the park to the west and head south so I could get a mostly complete circuit of the place. I didn’t need to be back in Dubois until the evening to hang out with some of the wranglers from the L&B and other ranches that I’d met during Tuesdays festivities.

Driving through Yellowstone in the early morning hours, the clouds still sitting sluggishly in the higher valleys, listening to Cat Stevens was an incredibly peaceful experience. (Thanks Gary for giving me the external drive case so I could keep ALL of my music!) It’s experiences like that, that keep me wanting to stay out here doing what I’m doing instead of going back home to see my friends and family and return to my comfortable life. As of last Monday the 23rd I was officially gone from Arizona longer than I ever have been (2 weeks)!

I’d have to say the second day in Yellowstone was better than the first, better animal sightings, more geysers, cooler waterfalls, and more beautiful vistas. There were so many things to see that I had to rush through a few. At Mammoth Hot Springs there are the “terraces” (see image). The sign for the location said to allow at least 2 hours to see all of the terraces. I didn’t have two hours, but they looked really cool and I wanted to see them. All of the terraces are on thermal ground, meaning that there could be cracks or holes in the ground where scalding water or noxious gases could escape if you walked on it, so there were boardwalks across the whole area, making little paths. It was pretty early and there weren’t many people there so I decided to see the area and get my exercise at the same time. I ran the whole trail and saw every point of interest in about 25 minutes. I would get to a spot huffing and puffing after having ran up or down several flights of stairs to have people give me the strangest looks. A little kid asked me why I was running and I told him a bear had been chasing me. Worriedly he looked down the stairs behind me.

Paintpot Geysers were probably the coolest geysers I saw, I liked them better than Old Faithful because they were constant and produced much more water (although they weren’t as high). Some of the pools in the Paintpot area were such a beautiful blue-green, it reminded me of Havasu Creek in the Grand Canyon. Other parts were a beautiful rust colored brown-orange…just amazing.

I got to Old Faithful about 11 and it didn’t erupt for about 40 minutes. There were SOOOOO many people there to see it. Standing there surrounded by so many languages, accents, and so many different looking people was interesting. When it finally erupted it was pretty impressive, the geyser shot what seemed to be a hundred feet into the air. Huge plumes of noxious sulpheric gas billowed to the south and as it reached the crowds they ran, gasping for clean air. It was funny and yet I could imagine some idiot trampling a kid or old person trying to get away from the horrid rotten eggs smell.

It wasn’t long after Old Faithful that it started a torrential downpour. Traffic slowed way down. Luckily it only lasted for about 30 minutes. After stopping to snap some shots at a few more waterfalls I made it out of the park and headed back to Dubois.

I got into the small town and got a room at a small hotel that I had previously noted had Wi-Fi and was practically right next to the Rustic Pine Tavern, one of only 2 bars in the 900 population town, which not probably had more like 2,000 people due to tourist and the summer work staff at the surrounding ranches.

I hung out at the bar and met Bill, a man who operates a dog sledding touring company in the winter months. After talking to him for a while and learning about his business, I may have a job opportunity in the winter if it gets too cold for me at SUWS. I know it gets just as cold or colder in the Jackson Hole area where he operates, but his trips are usually day trips and when they do have overnighters they stay in yurts (Yurts are kind of like permanent tents with stoves and are pretty warm and spacious). So, basically as long as the dogs agree to me Bill said I could have a job in November.

The rest of the night was your basic touristy cowboy town fun, when I met up with friends, we went to a rodeo for a few minutes (I had to bite my tongue instead of cheer when a guy fell off a bull). We went to the other bar…the Outlaw Saloon and then climbed the local hill to overlook the town.

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