Yellowstone

It was a cold night and I was really glad that Jim had provisioned me up as well as he had. He had lent me a good sleeping bag as well as his winter jacket. I laid the jacket over the sleeping bag, covered my head and exposed not a single part of my body to the outside air. It worked and I spent a relatively comfortable night. I was up at 7am and getting myself together to go and do my volunteering thing. The campsite had nice toilets, so I was able to brush my teeth but no showers. I would just have to make do with clean underwear! I had a thirty minute drive to the volunteer site and I didn't want to be late. I headed off a little early and found the place on the first go. The sun was out, but it was still really cold. The rangers who were setting up provided tea and snacks, it was a good breakfast. I hadn't brought any food with me to the park, other than a huge bag of Trail mix that Jim had lent me. I say lent because there was no way I was ever going to finish it. We had a safety briefing and started work at nine. As one of only two people who had come by themselves I got to work with the top guy, Chris Glenn. He was really cool and interesting to talk to. We spent the day putting in checks on the trail. This entailed digging out a trench for the prepared logs to go into, putting in crushed rock and gravel to keep them in place. Chris chose the four longest checks on the trail, but we got them all down and I felt a real sense of accomplishment. The rangers were kind and thought it was great that I had come to do this. I want to return to this trail in the future so I can say " See that, I did that". It was the best way to spend National Parks day and I got a couple of small gifts as well as a free nights camping and a free day entry to any other national park during the next year. At the end of the day I had my photo taken with all of the rangers, but unfortunately this photo is one of ones that I lost.
When we were done I headed back to camp, I got talking to the America guys from the night before. After the rangers had dropped off some firewood for me I decided that I would go to the hot springs to soak my aches away. The guys said they would come too but stood around so long talking about it I headed out by myself. The hot spring is just outside Mammoth, actually back in Montana and it is a river rather than a hot spring pool. It runs along side a normal river and where the waters mix is a nice temperature. I stayed by the side of the hot river, preferring the hotter water temperatures. Of course I had to wear my bikini but that was no bad thing in this case as there were a lot of people there in very close quarters. I think I am losing my ability to bathe naked with members of both sexes. After about half an hour the guys from the camp ground turned up and I had someone to talk to. When we were done we all headed back to Norris. This is where I get lucky again. The guys, Kat,Matt,Kevin,Arran, Ben and a couple of others, whose names I don't remember, invited me to eat with them. They were having deer burgers for dinner and also offered me beer. Well, I am not the kind of girl who can say no to food, beer and a fire when it's offered, especially when I don't have those things myself, so I didn't say no. I spent the evening eating, drinking and chatting. And if I hogged the fire a little too much, no one said anything. I went to bed a little warmer than the night before. I was kept awake by the howling of wolves which was a little scary. Logically of course I knew that it was highly unlikely that the wolves would venture into camp and even more unlikely that they would come to my tent. However it still sent a shiver up my spine when I heard them. Once I was asleep, I slept well.
I'd expected to be able to have a lie in but as I wanted to get to the west side of the park I needed to make an early start to get over there before the road was closed because of the fire. The guys from the pitch next to me were also heading out and we left about the same time. On the way I got to see bison swimming across the Yellowstone river and walking in front of the car. Unfortunately I also lost these photos as well, but I have the memories. The drive past Yellowstone lake was awesome and scary at the same time. The smoke from the fire was blowing across the road and the sun was completely blocked out by the haze. I got through and went to see "Old Faithful" the biggest geyser in Yellowstone. It was cool to see but I am glad that I hadn't planned my whole around it. After this and sitting in the car on the drive over -I needed a bit of exercise. I hiked to another geyser, Lone star and sat down to wait for it to erupt.According to the tentative schedule given by the park rangers I should have had about an hour to wait. I was there five minutes and it erupted. I think it was better than "Old Faithful" , there were certainly fewer people there. I guess it's better if you can drive up to see a geyser!!
After the hike I had had enough of being dirty and went to the Old Faithful Inn to have a shower. It was good to feel clean again, even if I didn't have clean clothes to put on, except underwear. What can I say? I only have two pairs of long trousers at the moment. That will have to change as it gets colder, especially if I have to wear both at once. I headed out with the plan of going back to the north - east of the park so I could do some more hiking the next day. Unfortunately the road was closed, the fire had jumped the road and they didn't know when it would reopen. I headed south and went to Lewis camp site and found some where to park. I didn't plan to camp that night, I would sleep in the car. I ran into Arran, Matt and Kat, the others in their group had left that morning and returned to Utah. So I got lucky again, I was given dinner, beer and fire so I didn't go to bed cold. The campsite was a little more country than Norris, it only had the one shared chemical toilet, with no light. And all of the tent pitches were among the trees. I've come to the conclusion that I am not really a country girl, not when there is real wild animals involved. And as oer usual I had to get up in the night to go to the toilet, not good.
I got up in the morning, was given my breakfast and said a final goodbye to the guys. I was going to head north and try to make it across to the east of the park. If that was not possible I would head west and return to Spokane. The road was still closed, I headed out towards Bozeman. I was half way there when I was overcome by tiredness, I pulled over, parked the car in the sun and had a nap. It was the best thing I could have done. I woke up refreshed and ready to go. I was making good time when I stopped at a city called Butte in western Montana. Butte is a mining town and the hillside above it is decorated with old mine shaft machinery. It also has the dubious distinction of having the most toxic body of water in the U.S..So I went to see it.
The Berkeley mine was a huge pit mine and to keep it from filling with water, they were pumps working night and day. The mine closed down in 2000 and the pumps with it. The main pit started to fill and as the water level rose it started to flow into the local water supply. The area had been mined for copper and zinc, not what you want in your drinking water. They are now pumping the water through a treatment facility and it seems to be working, so far.
I headed onwards and back into Idaho. I got a shock here, I was on the interstate and saw a set of headlights on the median in the middle of the two carriage ways. I immediately knew that it was a cop car so checked my speed. As I was going uphill, I wasn't speeding, despite this I still almost had a heart attack as he pulled out after me as I went by. I breathed a sigh of relief when he turned off. And it was back to Spokane and a night in a proper, warm bed.