Adjacent Parks

2018-09-08
Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks, WY

I spent last night in a hotel. I had originally planned to camp, but checking the weather a week back it was supposed to be 20 degrees overnight. That's hypothermia territory. My sleeping bag is rated to 40, with my blankets I could push it a little lower, but I don't want to deal with concerns that the water in my car will freeze and burst (or that I would). Of course the forecast is now for 40 degrees, but I have my plan in place. It does mean that I have an hour drive in the morning to get to the park. The town is Dubois, pronounced "dew boyce" and not "dew bwa" like the French would pronounce it.

That brings us to another question you may have: who is at the parks these days? They certainly aren't empty, but as mentioned before most school-aged children are missing and anyone with a job took their vacation last week and therefore aren't on vacation this week. So who is here? Sure, there are the expected smattering of unemployed young folk and a fair proportion of retirees, but the remainder of the people seem to be ones for which last week wasn't a holiday. That's right, non-Americans. The French seem to be particularly well represented, as are the Japanese. Perhaps they have a holiday this week?

Once I packed up the car in Dubois I headed off to the park for my hike. It rained as I was driving over, and I had hoped that it would clear up the visibility. No such luck; it didn't rain hard or long enough I guess. The clouds halfway up the mountain are cool though.

I tackled the Ranger's suggestion of a Hermitage point. It was listed as 9.4 miles but I managed to make it 10 by poking around to take pictures and such. At the start of the hike I met Rick, who was my hiking partner for the first half the trip. He had done the trail multiple times in the past, and so was familiar with just about everything. Plus his spouse is an avid birder so he was adept at identifying the wildlife.

When I hike, I'm not out for a stroll. I tend to hike pretty quickly; typically about 17 minute miles on level ground at sea level at 70 degrees. This is faster than many folks like and I'm usually in the passing position on a trail. I guess you could say that on the Trailobahn I'm a Porsche, albeit a low-end one. (Note that taking pictures will slow that considerably.) However, Rick was a competitive long distance runner who lives at high altitudes (the trail was at about 6000 feet) so there was no question he could keep up and he was kind enough not to press me. Thus it was a great hike out where I learned a lot.

We did see some wildlife, including this one which should also satisfy the request for more bird pictures. Unfortunately the hawk didn't pose very well but this fellow was more accommodating.

After the hike, I situated my gear in the car, but my hatch wouldn't close. It turns out my air mattress had distended in the heat. It has been convenient to keep it at a comfortable inflation and just move it in and out, but physics dictated a different plan today. Luckily it isn't hard to reinflate.

I headed north to Yellowstone, which I think is adjacent. I stopped for my usual sign pictures, but each picture requires 10 seconds for the timer and folks weren't having it. I took 8 or 9 photos for other people who literally lined up to hand me their cameras. But it was the only way to get them out of my pictures so I was as personable as I can manage.

I continued into Yellowstone which has basically a figure 8 of roads plus connectors leading out of the park in the cardinal directions. Heading along the lower loop I took the Old Faithful exit as I was desperately in need of a lavatory or at least a lava-tree. As long as I was there, I stayed for the next eruption of the most famous geyser, hanging out with a nice couple from Illinois.

I then took the time to walk around an look at the other features for about 3 miles. At this point I was thinking that it made sense to take advantage of the evening when the crowds have thinned and was glad to get this off my list.

Continuing down the road I hit another crowd favorite, the Prismatic Springs. I didn't have to wait long for a parking space. To be honest, this wasn't much to look at from this angle so I'm not posting any pictures. I'm not sure why it's a point of interest, but I can check it off the list. Another hike is scheduled for the overlook which should be better.

I sat in a 2-mile elk-induced traffic jam. Everyone is here to see the wildlife, and there were four or five elk on the side of the road trying their best to ignore semi-circle of people with cameras as they ate their grass. Future Chuck reports that the elk were still there the next day, but the rangers were keeping people away. Go rangers.

Hiking Distance: 14 miles