Week 7- Yellowstone National park and Southern Montana

Week 7 (September 21 through September 26) began with a camping trip in Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the United States.  We arrived in the park after a short drive up from Teton National Park.  Up until this point in the trip, there has been no such thing as sleeping outside.  When I talk about campgrounds we stay in, I don't mean camping.  Yellowstone broke that trend on Day 43 of the road trip.  Finally time to sleep in a tent, in the woods.  In order to secure a camping spot the right way by the park's standards, you have to go to the backcountry camping office.  While there, you talk with a ranger who goes over any safety precautions and answers questions. You then figure out a campsite between looking at maps, pictures, and going on recommendations.  The park requires you to watch about a 12 minute video on all kinds of safety procedures and what to do and not to do when…….. you approach a bear.  This is the first area on a trip where this has been an issue and frankly, I don't want it to be an issue.  The safest way to protect yourself from bears while in the woods?  Bear mace.  The park ranger said, "Let me put it to you this way.  A bear has never successfully attacked a human being when bear mace was used properly."  Noted.  The three of us pitched in about a total of 50 bucks and took care of that.  After paying the $12 fee to sleep on the ground in the woods, we were on the way…… hey wait a minute, yeah, we had to pay 12 dollars to sleep in the middle of the woods.  What kind of shitake is that.

The rig was parked at the trailhead while we made the 2 plus mile hike to the chosen camping spot.  A guy who was filling out backcountry camping permits recommended the site to us.  He had been coming to Yellowstone for 30 plus years and said this was one of his favorite spots to camp.  It took us right by a natural geyser that erupted fairly regularly.  (To the best of my knowledge- geysers actually shoot water up and hot springs are just pools of really warm water.)  We set up camp and then went back to watch it erupt.  Sure enough, after about 20 minutes sitting there, this bad boy went off.  I have to say, it was pretty damn cool.  We sat up on the hillside looking down on it and watched it go off.

So we were clearly warned of bears, and were told to make lots of noise when hiking in the woods in order not to scare it.  We did as told on the hike in- clapping, whistling, yelling, telling any bears that could hear that they wanted no part of us.  Fast forward to post hot spring eruption and firewood collection.  Our campsite was right on the water and a wooden bridge connected the hiking trail that led nearby.  We could the bridge through the trees from our campsite.  As Allen and I are collecting firewood right by the campsite, we hear a clunk…….. clunk……. clunk……clunk.  I hear it first and see a massive animal walking across, very slowly.  At first, I can only tell that is it huge, and definitely has dark fur.  

Me:  Allen.  What the hell is that over there?

Allen:  I have no idea, I knew I heard something.

Me:  It's on all fours, what is it?

Allen:  Is that a bear, WHOA that's a bear.  BUB!  Grab the bear mace.

Bub:  (Startled and confused)  What, are you serious?

Me:  Hold on, does it have a tail……. no, I don't think it's a bear, I see no tail.

Hello there, friend

Come to find out, it was actually a bison, who aren't aggressive animals at all.  This guy was no different, as he was only interested in walking slow, eating grass, and being huge.  We walked as close as about 30 yards for a picture or two.  After the minor scare, we built a nice fire to stay warm and enjoyed the boxed wine that made it out to the campsite.  We were right beside a few small hotspring pools.  If these were just a little cooler, we would have had our own personal hot tub in the woods.  We were expecting the weather to be very cold, and it surely didn't disappoint.  By the time we went to sleep, it was a comfortable 26 degrees.  A tent, warm sleeping bag, and plenty of clothes did the trick, and it really wasn't that bad.  The coldest recorded temperature of the trip so far.

Our own personal pool

Frost on the tent, and bear mace on Bub's hip

The Campsite the morning after

The next morning for breakfast it was eggs and bacon before making the trek back to the truck.  We fixed up a rock formation in the river to hold the bacon in order to keep it cold.  While the rest of you are killing the environment using energy, I'm using river water to keep my food cold.  Well that 10 miles a gallon in the truck probably counteracts that.  Okay, I retract my previous statement.  Speaking of river water, being able to drink fresh, cold water from a natural water source is pretty cool.  I'm hoping it was clean enough.  

At the trailhead- the biggest waterfall of the trip so far.  Snap a few pictures and let's recover.  I'm wrecked.  Camp one night- recover one night.  We drove over to a campground in Yellowstone (one with no plug-ins, so you rely on battery power, and propane to power the lights, water, and heat if needed) and rested for the afternoon.  We went to a restaurant overlooking a lake in hopes of catching NC State play on Thursday night.  No luck on the tv, but probably a good thing. Cincinnati blew us out on national tv. 

You think National Park, but Yellowstone had hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, over priced gas and food, and villages within it.  The park was at least 2 hours from south to north and we ended up wandering around for 4 days in Yellowstone.  The night saw multiple games on Monopoly, if that's possible, and then on to a campground with all the amenities  the next afternoon to grab a much needed shower.

Up next, the famous set of geysers and hot springs in the park.  Just from word of mouth and knowing things, Old Faithful Geyser is what Yellowstone is most known for.   It erupts every 90 minutes, give a take 10 minutes, and we decided to see what that was all about.  The eruption was pretty cool, but there were benches and walkways set up all around it, and there were al kinds of mult-million dollar buildings and hotels around.  It honestly took away from the experience.  I guess all kinds of people want to see it go off and we were part of that group, but you have to think there is a better way to set up something.  Hotels?  Really?  Like, right beside it?

The Visitor Center

A few other geysers were right nearby, and we caught an eruption about 45 minutes after Old Faithful at Castle Geyser.  There were hot springs around too, and the path to the next geyser took us by quite a few.  Even the rocks and ground around the geysers and hot springs can be warm.

Riverside Geyser was expected to go off about 6 o'clock, this being about 5:15, so why not check it out.  On the signs, they give the expected time of eruption and a give or take time of 30 minutes.  So anywhere from 5:30 to 6:30 it would go off.  We arrived about 5:30- nothing so far.  6 o'clock- nothing, waiting.  6:30- waiting 7:00- I'm froze and pissed off, let's walk back to the truck.

Castle Geyser

Hey, you aren't doing anything

For dinner?  Cafeteria style meal.  We all know how cafeteria style food works, a free for all of random dishes and weird combinations of food.  Cafeteria style food ranges from amazing, to pretty good, to decent, to eatable, to I'm not sure what food I'm even eating but I may or may not stop.  This was somewhere in between amazing and pretty good- more on the amazing side.  I had pot roast with veggies, mashed potatoes, and potato salad, Allen put down prime rib with mashed potatoes and Bub had the Thanksgiving meal.  We stumbled out of this place so full that no one could even put together words on the way home.  It was just grunts and moaning for communication for the next hour.  

Day 47 was the last in Yellowstone, and we made it up to the northernmost point in the park, Mammouth, technically in Montana, and yet another state on the trip.  More lava pools and mud volcanos on different stops along the drive north.  After doing a mile or two walk around one, we come back to the parking lot and there are bison up on the hill.  They slowly wander down into the parking lot, right beside the cars!  Most of them aren't in a hurry, and they make their way down the road and into more grass after about 10 minutes.    

Mud Volcano

Hot Springs

Just hanging out with the Bison

We hit a few scenic overlooks of a couple waterfalls before leaving Yellowstone.  It was almost like a parting gift from the park.  Hey, we hope you had plenty of fun, but if not, just take a look at these waterfalls, you might like them.  We headed north to Gardiner, Montana for the night shortly after.  After getting there and stopping to chat with the two people managing the site, they set us up for everything we need at a nice campground, bathroom and showers codes (if needed), wifi passwords, whether they get any cable channels, you know, the essentials. 

When you travel a lot, you get to meet plenty of random people along the way.  While traveling with my mom, meeting plenty of people is just going to happen.  We will be on a flight somewhere and Rachel and I will make sure to put her right beside the random person.  If you sit between her and the random person, you will be in the middle of a conversation the entire time.  It's a better idea to sit on outside and chime in from time to time.  By the time a flight is over, my mom knows every place that this person has lived, what they do for a living, a few random facts about this new friend, as well as their social security number.  Rachel and I refer to her as "the game show host."  "Hi, (insert random person), tell us a little bit about yourself."  

The guy managing the place stops by our camper to talk for awhile after we checked in.  After at least 30 campgrounds on the trip, I have met 30 different people/groups of people running a campground.  You would think there would be all kinds of different people in terms of running a campground.  Nope.  Only 3 kinds

1)  The Dead Serious Type.  These are the types who walk around 15 minutes before checkout to make sure you are about to leave.  There is usually an older guy riding around on a golf cart and a middle aged lady working the counter.  They usually won't engage in a conversation with you but will know the answer to every question you have.  Nice places to stay, but when these people wake you up to tell you to leave, you might call them uptight.  It can't be my fault that we aren't out of our spot on time at 11 o'clock.    

2)  People who have their stuff in line but happen to be the nicest people in the world.  These are still nice campgrounds and the people working there are so helpful.  You stop asking questions because they try and help too much.  If checkout is at 11, they come by the camper at 12:30 just to make sure you are ok, not to tell you to leave.  The bathrooms are always clean, they always have brochures on places to go, and can give you a recommendation on anything.  What a campground run by my Mom and Rachel would be like.    

3)  People who are a little scattered brain and don't quite know what's going on.  The office may close at 5 or earlier, or they won't arrive until after checkout time the next morning.  You show up in the office in the morning, tell them you came in late the night before and want to pay for the spot.  "Oh, you came in last night?  And in what spot?  That will be, ummm let's see, I don't know, say 30 dollars."  The bathrooms are hit or miss, some are perfect shape, others are sketchy.  You can stay as long as you want the next day before these people say anything to you about leaving.  Good thing is, these people are usually easy-going.  What a campground I ran would be like.  "You have been here for a week?  Ahhh just give me 50 bucks."  

The next day was a traveling day.  Headed north towards Glacier National Park in northern Montana.  It's a Sunday though.  Let's drive a little bit and hey, let's stop at this random bar for a beer or two, some food, and football.  Being on the road, it is hard to actually watch any games.  Radio and phones are one thing, but getting to watch a game live is something else.  We caught the 2nd half of the Bears and Packers game with a group of fans for each team in the middle of Montana.  I was also talked into trying something new for the first time- fried chicken gizzards.  It was somewhat strange, but pretty good with ranch dressing.  A little chewy, but definitely worth trying.  However, I'm not sure I would order it again unless the options were limited.  

We stayed in Helena, Montana that night and planned to get the truck checked out the next day.  Going up steep hills, something was definitely hissing in the engine and the gears just weren't working right.  I found the nearest Ford dealership and had them look at it.  The service department said they could check things out that afternoon.  We towed the camper there because we were planning to head north after.  What do we do with the camper while the truck is being serviced?  

"See, I'm towing a camper and I'm sure that needs to be unhooked before you guys take a look at the truck, right?"

"Yea, you're going to need to unhook it."

"Do you have any suggestions for a place to leave it?"

"If it were me, I would unhook over in that bowling alley parking lot next door and leave the camper there."

"Wait a minute, haha, there is a bowling alley next door?'"

I don't know how many car dealerships you have been to, but I have never seen a bowling alley right beside one.  At least this gives us something to do instead of the alternative route for the afternoon..... sitting inside the camper staring at each other with no idea what to do.  The day rotated between the parking lot and bowling alley.  We brought the fold up table outside, brought out some chairs, and enjoyed a sunny day in Montana- in a parking lot right on the street.  From an outsider's perspective, I can only imagine what I would think if there were 3 guys sitting outside a camper in a bowling alley parking lot on a Monday afternoon.  A good motto to live by when traveling- "We will never see these people again, who cares."  Try going somewhere with that perspective, it is very entertaining.  Try talking with an accent, wearing things that don't come close to matching, and just try to look and act as unusual as possible.  I haven't tried this one yet, but what about completely making up a new backstory to tell everyone.  

I managed a 154 and 147 in two games, much improved from the Wisconsin bowling outing a month or two ago.  Bub was streaky, starting out with 3 strikes and about 10 strikes total over the two games, but not many spares.  Allen slung it around for a game, and then figured out that spinning the ball violently works for him.  We hung out in the camper after playing Cruising USA in the arcade and awaited the news on the truck.  No problems!  The guy said that all the mud caked underneath the truck could be causing the noise.  If the noise comes back, I will just keep turning the music up until I can't hear it anymore.  That off-roading in Canyonlands proved to be a little too fun.  

Up next, Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park in Northern Montana.  What more can you ask for than to be able to travel 15 weeks across the country with two of your best friends, stopping to see the majority of your family along the way, and having your girlfriend and other friends fly out to meet you along the way.  This is just too cool, man.  Thanks for making it all possible JHW3.