Day 8

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States: Wyoming
Miles driven: 422
Miles hiked: 0
Slept: My tent in Sink’s Canyon State Park, Lander, WY.
10 words or less: 211 miles, missed Old Faithful by seconds, 211 miles back.

What an A Hole

I was up before the sun today and found out the rustling in the brush from the night before was from a family of ferocious bunny wabbits. Laughing it off, I decided, hell, I’m so close to Yellowstone and I’ve got a day to kill before meeting up with my backpacking partners, why not go? It wasn’t on my original agenda, but what’s a couple hundred extra miles, right? Ha, haha, hahahaha, oh my, hahahaha. I headed out at 6:30am.

Six hours later I arrive in Yellowstone. Six hours! If you thought interstate road construction was a bite in the ass, try mountain road construction through a forest. One lane of traffic at a time had to be guided through by a pilot vehicle, stopping often to give right of way to bulldozers and backhoes or weaving perilously between them and vertigo inducing cliffs. The drive was beautiful though. I passed through the Shoshone National Forest and beside the Tetons, still intimidating even though clouded in wildfire haze. At the entrance gate to Yellowstone I bought an annual pass to allow me entry into any of the National Parks and asked the Ranger “If you had only 90 minutes to explore Yellowstone, where would you go?” I’d done the math on my drive time and realized to get back through all the road construction and return to my camp by sunset (why I left my tent there, I’ll never know), I had an hour and a half to sight see. The Ranger looked at me and said plainly and confidently “Old Faithful. Go.” He gave me a nod and a map. I go. I only stopped once to take a picture atop a pretty gorge.

Though I’d entered through the less trafficked South/Moran entrance, the roads quickly stacked up with fellow tourists, all clogging the way to Old Faithful. At the parking area, I took a much needed potty break. Emerging from the bathroom, I walked across the street toward the viewing area and caught a little glimpse of a plume of steamy smoke through the thick trees. That must be it! I’d made it…awww, shit. Within seconds hundreds of people were walking toward me.

“Missed it, didn’t I?” I asked a little old man.
“Sure did.” He smiled a conciliatory smile and teetered off.

CRAP! Ninety minutes until the next eruption? Oh, ok. Sure. No problem. If you listened closely, you could hear the sound of my heart sinking as it plopped down into my gut.

I took a couple photos of me and Pat in front of the pathetic little poof of smoke coming from Old Faithful’s hole, hopped in the car and headed back to camp, 200 miles and 6 road construction filled hours away.

The landscapes around Lander vary so widely.

Back at Sink’s Canyon, after pouring myself a much needed margarita, I had a chat with some guys and their son who were looking for an open campsite that would fit their big truck and 4 tents. I offered to move my tent and let them have my spacious, rabbit infested spot. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to have any trouble staying at another campsite, so I headed up to the campsite hosts place and wow, what a bus and what a guy! He was an Arapaho Indian, or at least I think that’s what he said, and a totally awesome hippie. After he invited me into the most bad ass schoolbus home I’d ever seen, we chatted for a good hour about our travels, adventures, rock collecting and life in general.

The Popo Agie river rolling into the sink.

After hearing of my car trouble, the sinus infection from hell and my failed bids for Long’s Peak and Old Faithful, as well as my generosity with my campsite, he complimented my ability to keep a positive attitude. It hadn’t occurred to me that I really had done that. Me. Kept a positive attitude. Shocking, I know. He sent me on my way with a bundle of sage to burn in my tent and a crystal he found in the desert that is supposed to promote well-being. I was to carry it in my backpack the rest of the trip, he ordered. Judging by how much difficulty the Bunny Mobile was having getting up the steep mountains, I decided to leave the crystal on my dashboard. Bunny needed it more than I.

: Not me. Well, not yet anyway.

: Old Faithful, spritzing a little. What a let down!

: Pat takes a load off at the Lodge in Yellowstone at Old Faithful.

: Part of the Tetons in the background.

: A thick haze made seeing the Tetons pretty tough. I had no place to safely pull over when they were closer and clearer, so I took this while driving.