Operation HOBO: Yellowstone/Grand Teton

Jenny Lake & the Moon, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Operation Hobo refers to my self-challenge to Harness Outdoor Bedspace as Often as possible.  I managed 90.8% success this summer, spending serious quality time in my hammock.  This, and my plan to head to Yellowstone National Park were the only two goals I had for myself for Summer 2012.  I'm a lucky lady; I got to accomplish both!

Thursday August 30th, 2012 Grandview Campground, Idaho

DAY #8: Almost to Yellowstone

The morning started with a drive through Parkview, Utah.  The scenery was breathtaking, and I got great gas mileage coasting down the pass.  Some of the deciduous trees were already turning at the higher altitudes, which meant I got a glimpse of autumn even though I left the beautiful Midwest right on the cusp of colorful foliage season.  (Yes, I did say the words beautiful and Midwest in the same sentence).  

Mr. L and Me

Once I arrived in Salt Lake City I got to reunite with Justin, a.k.a. Mr. L., one of my favorite Ohio transplants and outdoor enthusiasts.  Notable moments from the beginning of the reunion tour include him losing, then finding his wallet me and getting a great deal on a case of coconut water at a big-name bulk store.  Pretty exciting stuff.

It's great hammock sleeping weather tonight, with the exception of the bear forecast.

The campground host told us that they chased out a grizzly two days ago.  

I have this paranoia that the grizzly is going to attack me in the middle of the night the way great white sharks do, jaws open, ramming me from underneath to stun me first, then chomping down on my hammock-entangled body with one bite.  I've got the bear spray in the pocket of the hammock and hope that my vivid imagination is tired enough to stay asleep.

Saturday September 1st, 2012 Tower Falls Campground, Yellowstone NP

DAY #9: Yellowstone National Park, Ahoy!

Look for the steam in the background.

We made it to Yellowstone National Park via the great state of Idaho and the West Entrance.  We got an 8am start (my earliest departure from any campground in a long time) and made a pit stop at the local Lower Mesa Falls in the Targhee National Forest where we'd stayed the night prior.  Right after this excursion and before crossing back into Wyoming, Justin and Mark saw a moose in the river across from the gas station.  I very pretentiously skipped the wildlife viewing, expecting to see a bunch of moose in the park.  Mistake.

Our first stop was to secure caping at the Madison Junction Campground.  We got one of the last sites at 10:00am. The concessionaire worker said we were lucky, even this early in the morning!  Labor Day presence in the park was predicted to be pretty extensive.  We thanked our lucky stars, put our registration stuff in the car, moved on to Old Faithful since we had the campground situation figured out and go the cameras ready.

X-tremely good photography.

I am a jerk for saying this, and I take complete responsibility for my own destiny, but I think I might have missed some of the gems of the thermal areas.  We did get to see bubbling mud pots, steam vents/ fumaroles, empty geysers and colorful hot springs.  However, National Geographic has captured so many pristine examples of these amazing supervolcano side shows that it's a little underwhelming to see them in person without polarizing filters and color-enhancement.  The bacteria responsible for the crazy colors is fascinating, and I understand that it lives in extremely sensitive conditions easily affected by the zillions of tourists that walk on super accessible boardwalks.  It's just a little bit of a spoiler that there's so much more orange and brown compared to blue and neon green in the promotional brochures.

My supervolcano hot spring isn't pretty enough.  This is what some might call...a "first-world" issue.

Prissy judgements and egg-salad odor aside, it's easy to go down the rabbit hole pondering whether or not the supervolcano is ready to blow.  They say it could happen any second (in the next 500 years).  There is plenty to appreciate in the meantime.

We hiked Fairy Falls, a 5.2 mile out-and-back trail, then headed back to the campsite for dinner.  After a blistering post card-writing spree, I snuggled into the hammock to keep reading Born to Run.  I fell asleep about fifteen minutes into reading and woke up probably a half hour later to sprinkles falling from the sky and a raging headache.

On the sliding scale of tolerable to terrible, it was probably 80% of the migraine I got at Glacier National Park earlier this summer.  Instead of feeling terrible the whole night, I decided almost immediately to take the prescription I was smart enough to bring along on this trip.  I also decided it'd be prudent to setup the tent since the rain became more steady.  I climbed in and zipped the fly closed as lightning splashed across the sky.  Grateful to be out of the increasingly torrential downpour, I fought nausea as I tried my best to ignore the migraine.  Good news, I didn't have any irrational grizzly dreams!

DAY #10: 10 Highlights

Highlight #8: Hiking in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

10. The dusky grouse.  It's a bird, chicken-esque to the untrained eye, and it was the first time Justin had ever seen it.  Self-admittedly, my hobbies include watching Justin birdwatch.

9. Showering.  Taking a shower at the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge/Hotel was one of the fanciest showers I'd had in a week and a half.  For $4.32 I washed all my dirty laundry plus me!  They even provided towels so I didn't have to get mine all soggy.

Mt. Washburn Friends

8. Meeting Jen & Lorraine.  They'd spotted a mama bear and her cub ahead of us on our Mt. Washburn hike and decided to befriend us.  Whether it was Mark's stature (he's 6'7"ish), the bear bells I'd convinced Justin to leave behind right after they passed us in the parking lot or our can of bear spray, it was great to have some more friends to be paranoid with.  The hike was beautiful, and we got to see a yellow-bellied marmot and a solid view from the fire lookout tower at the top of the trail.

7. Playing Rummikub.  Justin and Mark humored me and played one of my favorite travel games since we got rained on for the second night in a row.  We hung out inside the Taj Mahal, i.e. Mark's giant Coleman tent.  We realized after a very competitive, very long round that I was missing five tiles (making the game way harder than it needed to be).  Hey, it happens.

6. Drying our stuff outside earlier that day.  We used one of Mark's ropes to string 30' of clothesline at the Tower Campground.  For some reason, it's a huge morale boost being able to start the night out with dry gear, even if it did end up raining again.

Closeline at Tower Falls Campground, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming

5. Eating food dessert.  Nichole knows.  I exercise because I like it...and because I know it's good for me.  Bonus, it makes eating vacation desserts (like Sally's homemade granola and Mark's wife's brownies) even better!

4. Realizing I had a giant splinter.  I'd been having a lot of discomfort in my left pinky toe the whole week I travelled by myself, and I was super bummed out that it was going to be too tender to hike on this leg of the trip.  Once I removed this ridiculous splinter buried in my foot, I got almost immediate relief!  I have no idea when I got it, but what a great surprise!

3. Driving through mountain passes.  Right before we caught our first glimpse of the Mammoth Hot Springs area we passed over and around a narrow set of cookies and cream-colored granite pinnacles overlooking a groggy valley.  You can't imagine beauty like this until you see it once in person.  Ironically, I was too busy drooling over nature to get a photo.  Where's Jason to document my travels when it counts!?

2. Connecting to myself.  I appreciate every time I laugh from the belly or get to feel how tired my big toe can get from walking.  I don't always take the time to give the time or energy to these details, and it's really peaceful when you realize those are the moments flooding your brain (as opposed to work details, etc.)

Uncle Traveling Matt,
an inspiration.

1. Mailing postcards.  In no suspenseful order, my number one highlight of traveling is sharing it with others.  I always enjoy finding some way to connect my family and friends to my journeys.  I feel ridiculous amounts of honor and gratitude for my ability to travel, and the only thing that bums me out when I wander around doing cool things is my wish that I could share these moments with everybody I know and love.

I secretly hope that my nieces and nephews have a collection of postcards from Crazy Aunt Amy that they can look back on when they're older to use as inspiration for following whatever dreams they have.  I aspire to be like Uncle Traveling Matt from the Fraggle Rock era.  He's a little weird, makes an appearance every now and then, and people feel connected to him through adventure.

Sunday September 2nd, 2012

Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

DAY #11: Goodbye Yellowstone, Hello Grand Teton!

We woke up quite chilly in the Tower Falls Campground.  Since it rained most Saturday evening, we all went to bed early enough to wake up (un?)fortunately refreshed at 6:15am.  Reluctant to brave the chill of the soggy morning, Mark made some coffee while I tried to convince my marginally-functional hands to shake some of the water off the tent before packing up dripping gear.

I'm cold, shocking.
Upper Falls at the Grand Canyon
of the Yellowstone River!

The mood warmed up quickly as we stopped by Canyon Village to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.   It was absolutely breathtaking to have a sheer cliff up in your grill. 

Next, we headed down to see a few more thermal features including Sulphur Cauldron and Mud Volcano.  A lady said she saw a moose, and the prospect got the guys and me pretty excited since I'd been trying to see one ever since West Yellowstone.  No luck.

After some of the best dill pickles I've had in a long time, we left Grant Village and got some photos on the way out of Yellowstone.  On to Grand Teton!  As of this entry, Jackson Lake has officially blown my mind.  I wonder if Teton NP is going to knock the metaphorical socks off of Yellowstone in my mind...we shall see.

Tuesday September 4th, 2012 Deer Run Campground, Utah

Day #12 Recap: 10 Days of Camping for less than $100!

Day 1- Nasser's house Toledo, Ohio (inside, free)

Day 2- Dad's Hotel Donation Alexandria, Minnesota (inside, free)

Day 3- Theodore Roosevelt National Park ($12)

Day 4- Wrinkled Rock Campground, South Dakota (free)

Day 5- Glendo State Park, Wyoming ($17)

Day 6- Deer Run Campground, Utah ($13)

Day 7- Rockport State Park, Utah ($20)

Day 8- Grandview Campground, Idaho ($18 split 3 ways)

Day 9- Yellowstone NP Madison, Wyoming ($20.50 split 3 ways)

Day 10- Yellowstone NP Tower, Wyoming ($12 split 3 ways)

Day 11- Grand Teton NP Colter Bay, Wyoming ($20.50 split 3 ways)

Day 12- Grand Teton NP Signal Mountain, Wyoming ($20.50 split 3 ways) 

My "rent" for twelve days: $93.00

Goodbye Yellowstone!

So, if I keep up my transient lifestyle, I should budget about $300/month to jump campground to campground for a while.  It makes a potential $500/month commitment for solid walls, a roof and hot, running water seem like a pretty reasonable deal this day in age.  I wonder what will happen when the shock of reality sinks in when I start looking for a home in the East Bay.

Anyway, Epic Grand Teton Adventures.  We woke up in Colter Bay, ice cold.  Okay, not literally.  It was uncomfortable.  I put on my jeans over my long johns, wore the socks that come up to my knees, my argile base layer, my soft shell (hood up), down jacket, plaid hat, elbow-high fingerless glove/mittens and sandals.  I probably should have worn my warmer shoes but I was in a haze from the cold humid lack of warmth.

We got out of the campground and went on a wild cheese moose hunt at Jackson Lake Lodge.  No cheese moose, or regular moose for that matter.  The maintenance guy who scared away the birds Justin was quietly observing told us to check out Moose Junction (duh) as the Lincoln Sparrow flew off into the distance.  Then, we went over to the Signal Mountain Campground to secure a site for the night and meet Amy and Rachel, more friends of Justin and Mark's from their job at Best Friends Animal Society down in Kanab, Utah. 

Taggart Lake Trail, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

We made our oatmeal and coffee at site #79 while we setup camp to give everything a chance to dry during the day.  Then, we all caravanned down to the Taggart Lake trailhead.  Our hike was absolutely gorgeous!  We got epic views of all three Tetons and sat next to Bradley Lake for a snack before taking the loop over to Taggert Lake.  Then, we headed back to the parking area via the Valley Trail and Beaver Creek trail.

Raychel, Amy, Amy & Rachel

A highlight to end the hike was convincing Amy and Rachel to take a photo with me to send to another very important Raychel in my life.  And to answer your question, I did Photoshop Raychel into our picture to turn my vision of a Raychel, Amy, Amy & Rachel photo from a dream into a reality.  It seemed appropriate to the occasion and the company.

After stretching our legs and walking the multi-purpose path back tot he picnic area that served as overflow parking, we got some lunch at Dornans convenience store outside of the park.  $4.53 for tortellini, goldfish crackers and an avocado.  Yum.

No luck spotting any moose as we took the scenic drive along Wyoming highways outside the park.  We re-entered at the Jackson Lake Junction and enjoyed the campground for the night.  Justin and I hung out and ate some penne with alfredo sauce before heading over to meet up with Amy, Rachel and Mark at their campsite.  Rachel had the best old-skook Fisher-Price cassette player ever.  It came complete with her mix tapes of Elton John, Pat Benetar and all the hits.  They also had the most comfortable campfire chairs ever.  It was lovely hanging out.

Shh...don't tell Yellowstone, but I like you more!