Epic Roadtrip Journal: 6/16/11 Yellowstone National Park

I got up alone to see sunrise this morning. Apparently normal human beings need a decent amount of this thing called "sleep." Weird. I'll sleep when I get back to Boston. Instead, I walked down to the lake (carefully avoiding the mounds of buffalo shit seemingly placed methodically enough to force me into a maze-esque adventure), and although it was overcast, there was an opening in the clouds just above the mountains to see the Sun and amazing colors. It was really pretty seeing the lake, mountains, and orange just above the mountains. I made the right choice - sleep can wait.
When I got back to the tent, everyone was content to continue sleeping, so I drove to the spot where the Grizzly lives. I saw the mother again, a bit closer this time, but still a ways off. I also saw a white and gray wolf. BOOM! Cross another animal off the list. He was pretty damn swift: just trotting, but he was going really fast. Also: definitely a lot bigger than a dog. I'd say the morning has started out pretty great.
Some of the hikes we intended to do today were closed due to too much snow or bear activity in the area. So we sent some postcards and then dropped Nads off at the lodge while the rest of us went on a hike in which the trail was actually open: Elephant Back. This proved to be highly ridiculous, because it was 100% snow and mud; at some points the snow was as deep as our knees. (THAT IS TOO MUCH SNOW FYI). Still fun, but definitely more arduous. We kept having to take layers and winter hots off and on as we worked up a sweat and then got blasted by a frigid wind. It took us a while, but we finally made it to the top (a fair amount of trailblazing was involved).

It was at least 5 miles of THIS

The view of the lake was great; we could even see the backed up cars at another area where another Grizzly was spotted. Counting the previous bear's two cubs, this brings the Grizzly count up to 6. How fucking awesome is that? THE ANSWER IS "EXTREMELY." (ps. there is speculation among the group as to whether this bear was the same as the other one at it's "usual" location. I contend that it was NOT the same bear, because we saw bears at both locations within 10 minutes of each other, and as far as I know, Grizzlies don't have the power of apparition, so I'm going with different bears.).

This bear is not in a mauling mood right now, so I got up fairly close

We then finished the hike: sliding down mounds of snow, trailblazing and sledding past switchbacks. We finally made it back to the car with about 5 lbs of snow/water in our boots. Seriously, I wrung out my socks after: it was probably 5+ gallons of water. That is a believable amount, right?
Then we picked Nads up, went back to the campsite, and built a fire to cook our lunch of hot dogs, grilled cheese, and smores. I'm not a huge fan of smores. I don't know why; on paper they seem pretty awesome. I think it might be because I'm partially OCD and hate dirt or grime on my hands, so it might be that I hate how they are the stickiest snack in the world. Weird. Anyway, we're probably going to go seek out showers and a place to wash our clothes (Colleen might literally run away if we don't wash the stink out of our clothes by the time we meet her).
And now I'm bored waiting for laundry to get done. The showers are closed for cleaning, but I am LEAPING in once we throw our stuff into the drier. We stopped at a little lake lookout briefly, beforehand. It was a great view, but we all went a little nuts when we learned that we had about 10 seconds of phone reception finally. I called my Dad, but lost reception midway through. I swear, once we get into better phone areas, I'm going to go NUTS. I've liked not having access to phones or internet, but it gets frustrating having to deal with 60-some emails when I finally DO have reception.
When we got back to camp, we organized the back of the car (it looked like 40 tornados had gone through - it was time to rearrange) and started another fire (apparently the smoldering ashes weren't good enough for a passing park ranger while we were gone, so they dumped a bucket of water into our fire pit. Some propane helped start the new fire though).

FACT: cooking over a fire is always a group effort

We used Scott's pie irons to make sandwich-pizzas and pies (they sound weird but are really good: little irons where you toast bread and filling). After a few Montana beers, I was feeling not as freezing as I should have: it is about 40 degrees. We've been playing an intense game of Spades in the meantime, where Nadkarni and I just won an incredible hand, so I'm going to get back to the tent to finish it.
Spades game update: it is now snowing outside. Nadkarni and I barely lost the game, but I successfully pulled off a blind nil. I'm calling it a win.
To finish this post, Scott and I made some scientific sketches of a Grizzly bear. This is so that when future generations find my journal, the Grizzly bear species will be documented:

Epic Roadtrip Journal: 6/14/11 Yellowstone National Park

The day started fairly cloudy, so I opted to continue sleeping rather than try for sunrise. We woke up and had a quick breakfast (everything we owned was still sopping wet, so we just dealt with it), and started our day of adventures at about 8am. (We pack so much into each day that at this point in the trip it is just starting to be a grind writing in the journal. I was just jotting down what happened just to have it written down so I could go to sleep sooner. WHAT A BABY.)
We drove around towards Prismatic Spring (for the life of me I can never remember that fucking name), stopping at a bunch of places along the way. A lot of geothermal sites, including a few with hot, bubbling mud. I felt like I was in some prehistoric time, and there probably should be dinosaurs walking around all over the place. It was odd that there weren't, so I learned to be happy with just the bubbling mud. Oh, it was the Artist Paintpot area. I'm good at remembering things. We then went to the Fountain Paintpot, where Nadkarni decided to throw litter into the scalding, growing bacteria that form the beautiful red colorful terraces (she accidentally dropped her trail map, but that didn't stop me from giving her shit for it). The geysers, bubbling mud pits, and fumaroles were awesome. One was called Spastic or Spazzing Geyser, I don't know the actual name, but I know that it was apt as SHIT because the geyser was spritzing out water in crazy directions.
We then made it to the Prismatic Spring area. It is a huge, intensely colored pool that Yellowstone is well known for. Seeing it on it's horizontal axis is interesting, because there is a lot of steam coming off (into us, so pictures were basically impossible), and the steam is colored the blue and orange of the actual spring.
After a quick PB+J AND buffalo jerky lunch, Alex, Scott and I started our nearby hike to Fairy Falls. We saw a lone buffalo close by right at the trail head, which I promptly threatened and warned that I was eating it's brethren in jerky form. The hike was really nice: perfect weather through a forest of young, super-green trees (that's a color, right?). The falls were great: about a 200 foot fall where I proceeded to climb up to the base and dance around in the mist. Refreshing AND dangerous - perfect combination.

I'm not sure who invented waterfalls, but you, sir, are a genius

We hiked back and up a hill to get a higher elevation view of the Prismatic Spring. Without exaggeration, it was in the top 5 most beautiful views I've ever experienced. The colors were so vivid and amazing. I had a hard time believing it wasn't a photoshopped poster someone had put in front of me. The bright blue and orange were beyond words... so I'll stop now.

The photos look like absolute shit compared to the real thing. It was mind-blowingly amazing.

We then drove around the southern side of the park toward Yellowstone Lake. There, we stopped at some lookouts we hadn't seen before and basically rocked out to some music and a picturesque drive (but seriously, those two CDs were starting to get pretty old).
Alex, Scott and I took a short hike near the "Lake Thumb" - it was an insane view of the lake and surrounding mountains. We also trudged through snow to see a couple elks REALLY close up. About 15 feet away. They are enormous. I don't understand how these animals are not afraid of us. I mean, I could literally walk up to it, pull a gun out, and shoot it's face off. These things have some serious balls.

"Holy crap he just looked at me!"

But we left the immense valley to continue our drive back to camp, along the gorgeous lake. We saw a HUGE Grizzly bear on the other side of the Yellowstone River. It was immense. I saw it swim partway across the river to an island, hoping against hope that it would come at me and we'd be able to battle, but alas, not this time.
We just finished a foil dinner - ground beef, carrots, and potatoes in foil pouches on a fire. Pretty damn good. I'm amazed I was able to get the fire going with wet wood right next to the snow bank though.
We just got back from our excursion from the Grand Canyon, just near our campground. We saw a bit of sunset at Artist's Point on the south rim (after a fiasco of trying to see it from the north rim, but facing the wrong way). Without fog, the canyon is JUST LOVELY. We saw the sky and clouds change to purple, orange, and red colors as the full moon came up. It was a pretty great evening.
Some notes about Yellowstone in general: unlike other hikes or parks, like hiking near Boston, Yellowstone isn't a monotonous hike with interspersed "holy crap this is an amazing view" locations. Yellowstone, every single moment of it, is "fuuuuuuuuuck this is beautiful and green and amazing and gorgeous and pretty and gorgeous again! I need to look up more synonyms for gorgeous!" Everything, every moment driving, every step while hiking, is just amazing. The smell of the trees, the views, the animals, they all make me think I need to reevaluate my life because the best I have to compare is a grey, overcast drive to shitty Lynn, MA for work every morning. I WANT GRIZZLY BEARS IN MY OFFICE.
Also, we've been doing thorns and roses for each day, and Alex and I had an epiphany together when we decided our overarching "thorn" for the canyon campsite would be "fucking freezing water in the sink." Seriously. The thing I dread the most each day is washing my hands in frigid ice-water.
Due to the fact that I am terrible at remembering things, I just thought of this. Earlier, while driving, we saw a coyote just hanging out in a field. He was waiting above a Pikachu hole (small rodent called a Pika, so I just took the next step in naming it Pikachu). Maybe he got one?

This guy is SO INTENSE

Also, whenever Alex yawns, we all lose "the game." It is terrible. He just learned about The Game, and now we all have associated yawning with The Game. Shit.

Epic Roadtrip Journal: 6/11/11 Grand Tetons National Park

Continuing to day 2 of the roadtrip. Holy shit, I have no idea if it should be roadtrip or road trip, and I keep flip-flopping. THIS IS SLIGHTLY ANNOYING TO ME.

We started our morning by waking up at 4:30am in Salt Lake and I started driving through the incredible mountains toward Grand Teton. Our drive, about 6 hours total, was our first grand adventure. We drove in and out of Wyoming, driving along the western border of the state. We cut back into Utah and into Idaho sporadically - it was super hilarious because I was really excited and awake and screaming with intensity while everyone else was napping. It was a fun drive to say the least. We actually ended up in the MIDDLE of a cattle herding. WE WERE ACTUALLY COWBOYS! Cowboys were riding around on horses by our car as cattle swarmed around us on the highway. It was truly epic. Hysterical moments include a bunch of cows shitting/pissing right in front of our car, on calf FACE PLANTING in front of us, and me saying "I think we're helping!" to one of the cowboys (cowgirl actually). Apparently we should have driven right through with no regard for the cow/horse/herding dogs' well-being. It was a fun little adventure.

Hahaha look at how excited I am

We later had a superb breakfast at "Bubba's BBQ" (how could we not?!) - great biscuits, gravy, bacon, etc. Our last stop before the park was to go to an Avis at the Jackson airport to replace our faulty GPS. It was giving us shit all morning.

So when we finally drove into the park and passed by the entrance sign, the hill next to us abruptly ended and the Tetons suddenly came into view and they were INSANE. Seriously, every time I looked at them I was in awe, because they are among the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I was literally screaming at the top of my lungs. I must have looked like a crazy person. I mention it later in the journal, but this moment is among my favorite on the trip. It was just so "THIS ROAD TRIP IS GOING TO BE AWESOME STARTINGGGGGG... NOW." It was a perfect way to start the trip: me screaming from excitement from the awesome and intense view that was shoved in my face.

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the extreme awesomeness of these freaking mountains.

After calming down and setting up our tent, we decided to go for a hike to the Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point (how can you pass up a place called "Inspiration Point?" It basically says "this view is going to be awesome. come look or you are an idiot."), on the other side of Lake Jenny (we were camped at Lake Jenny: right at the foot of most of the Teton mountains). Alex, Scott and I hiked around the lake while Nadkarni, still not 100% from ACL surgery, opted to take the boat shuttle over. We came across some chipmonks and marmots and eventually, after hiking through a ton of snow (IN JUNE), we came to the Hidden Falls. They were really amazing, but at this point, the immensity (hahaha I just tried using the word "immenseness" and learned that it actually isn't a word at all. Fail.) of the Grand Teton mountains might already have me overwhelmed.

Alex and Nads went back down to take the boat over, so Scott and I decided to hang back and bushwack our way to Inspiration Point (the bridges to get to it were closed. Pffftt, like that would stop us). It was fairly easy actually, so we took our standard "jumping" pictures amidst an awesome view. Yes, I managed to pull a hip flexor jumping. We then made our way back down, where we saw a MOOSE right next to the trail. I found it and warned everyone behind us on the trail to stfu as I excitedly took as many pictures as physically possible. It LOOKED at me! It was amazing. That was the highlight of my day - the first moose I've ever seen in the wild. Possibly the first moose I've ever seen. I'm not sure how I managed to extract myself from that situation without shitting my pants.

OMG MOOSE!

Making it back to the campground, I figured it was immediately time for another adventure (obviously). So I hustled everyone into the car for a lovely scenic drive. We saw some caribou (I actually think it turned out to be elk. We saw about a billion elk in Yellowstone, so it's not all that crazy) as we stopped at a few overlooks, including a stop over Lake Jenny. I walked into the water for a bit, but it was 42 degrees F, so my feet were numb for a while.

That water is so fucking cold

Regardless, we continued on to drive to the summit of Signal Mountain. It was a gorgeous, spectacular view of the Teton mountains and the nearly unending valley on our other side. We even saw some buffalo! (It was really far away, so it doesn't count in my book). Then we took a few graphic photos consisting of a lake that definitely, definitely looked like a penis, and drove back down the mountain. However! We saw a GRIZZLY BEAR on the ride back down. Just for a moment, and the pictures we took aren't great, but it was an enormous bear. It fled down the mountainside before I was able to leap out of the car to give murderous chase. My adrenaline was going like crazy. We saw more huge caribou (most likely elk), but whatever. Grizzly Bear! Holy freaking crap. It was the real deal. Fuck.

Penis Lake. If that's not it's actual name, it should be.

Anyway, we made it back to camp to put some warm clothes on (it is freezing as I write this now! I've got a winter hat, sweatshirt, and gloves on!), start a fire, and begin making dinner. We had baked beans (duh), canned vegetables, and bratwurst (yep. Two bratwurst nights in a row. Deal with it). We also enjoyed some fantastic Utah beers. That basically brings me to right now. I grabbed the food up on my frisbee/plate, looked at the mountains during a cloudy sunset (still awesome), and am about to partake in some much needed sleep.

Going out west tomorrow. BRB.

In less than 24 hours I will literally be on a flying machine hurtling in the air at 500 mph towards Salt Lake City. I am so amped right now.  In less than one week I will be fighting a Grizzly Bear.

It is fairly difficult to focus at work today because I'm super pumped and my stomach is all rumbly like it's made out of tectonic plates and dild-... vibra-... shake weights. Instead of focusing on things like turbine temperatures, like I'm supposed to, all I can concentrate on is calculating the amount of pepto bismal I should take right now so that I don't unleash semi-digested liquid fortune cookies (read: my breakfast) all over my keyboard and monitor. I'm thinking it's somewhere around a quarter of a bottle.