The plan was to drive to Yellowstone National Park (the nations first national park! who knew?!) backpack for a while then go from there to Colorado and see what there is to see.
A little background on the trip. Around December we said, "hey, lets go backpacking this summer with us and Austin!" "Okay, where? ...Yellowstone!"
Months passed, with little to no planning, until May came along and we decided to "plan" the trip. This basically meant verifying that everyone was still on board for the trip and we made sure it is possible to backpack and do backcountry camping in Yellowstone.
It was. So we assumed there wouldn't be a problem if we arrive in July and tell a park ranger what we want to do. Things worked out well.
I really could talk a lot about all the events that took place from May until now, but I'll save everyones time (everyone is used very loosely in this context. Being that I haven't blogged since November 29th 2009, I imagine no one will be reading this. I lost all of my blog cred.)
- Most importantly, LOST ended. This changed nothing for our trip plans (that I know of), but man... I loved that show.
- Zach and I, along with a slew of other 20somethings began working at Camp War Eagle.
- 4 days into Orientation, I broke the ol' collarbone (now coined as the cambone) playing sports and being an athlete and stuff. Surgery, sling for 6 weeks, not as much pain as you'd think.
- Upon receiving the news of the broken cambone, our good friend Matt assumed the trip was off. So he made other plans. :(
- Doctor Cooper said I was still good to go. Wootsauce.
- Austin got a job. A real job. Jorb. So he couldn't go anymore.
- Zach and I drove to Texas to pick up Kate. This Kate.
- Stay for a day, drive the longest drive of our lives (2 cars TX to MO).
- Leave for Yellowstone!
Blerg. That's a lot of words.
Day 1
Drive to Rapid City. Do the Wall Drug thing. See Mt. Rushmore. Camp at a campsite called "The Wolf People". They sure have gotten a lot of business since the whole Twilight thing. Props to my girl Stephanie Meyer. Ugh, gross.
Day 2
Drive to Yellowstone. Well, just outside of Yellowstone. We got to the gate at 6ish and every campsite was filled. All 2000. This place is crawling with Asians and other variations of tourists. But mainly Asians.
Day 3
Moment of truth. Meet with the park ranger to discuss backcountry camping and hiking. Thank goodness, no problems. We secured 6 nights worth of camping over 40ish miles. Easy enough. Northern Y-rock. Out of the Park, into the National Forest. Gallatin National Forest specifically. Out of Wyoming, into Montana. Begin the trek today. Hike 2 miles or so to the beautiful 2H6.
Day 4
Hike 4 or 5 miles into Montana and arrive at the even more beautiful 2H9. Only complaint thus far: mosquitos. Barf. Much hammocking. This trip is a little easier than I was expecting. I have no problem with that.
Day 5
Hike 6 or 7 miles into Gallatin National Forest (Absaroka wilderness is the cooler name). Not too bad. More mosquitos though. The National Forest runs on a "find your own campsite" basis, which could potentially rule, but in this case water is getting scarce and the conditions are getting a little less comfortable.
Day 6
Preface. We are supposed to hike about 7 miles today and camp once we hit the river. We get to where we are supposed to camp around noon only to find it is the marshiest place on earth. At this point we decided to hike the heck out of our lives and get to the car and figure something out from there. Best bad idea ever or worst good idea ever? Hmm... We make it back to the car at 5:30 and do around 20 miles by the end of the day. We treated ourselves to some noms at the Roosevelt Lodge and decided to sleep in the car. Worst bad idea ever. I slept until 2:30 AM then laid there until 5:30. (today didn't even deserve a picture.)
Day 7
Drive up to Mammoth Springs at 5:30 and see what there is to see. Meet some British blokes planning to swim in the springs. They ask "Is it a myth that you can't swim in these?" We reply "Well, we touched the water and it was warm, but the sign at the bottom says it can melt through boots." ..."Well I guess we just won't wear our boots then!" Banter.
We then drove to "Old Facefull" as the Asians say. Twas pretty cool. I wish it were louder, though. Our plan for the evening is to drive to South Grand Tetons and camp. We took a quick look at the atlas and decided it was out of our way to go there, and it was rainy anyway. So we drove to Estes Park to stay with some guys from Mizzou Zach knows. Along the way we pass through a prospective town for the commune. Fort Collins. That's a topic for another post though. We arrive in Estes at 9ish.
Day 8
We hung out in Estes Park with Chuck and John and others. Played some disc golf. Most importantly we saw Inception. Again, worth an entire other blog post. In short: best movie of the year. Todays picture is just cool. Not from Day 8, though.
Day 9
Wake up at 2 to hike Meeker and Longs. A 13,900' and a 14,200' mountain. 15 or so hours of hiking, but so worth it. Go to sleep at 6:30 and sleep until 9:30. My kind of night.
Day 10
Late wake up. Laundry. Boulder REI and oil change. Drive to Leadville aka Best Small town ever. Free camping for everyone! The way things should be. There aren't any pictures from here on because we don't have the little cord thing. Bummer Ted.
Day 11
Wake up and go to the local Episcopal Church. 28 person congregation. Pretty weird... But they do have a community meal 4 nights a week. Once again, the way things should be. Today we discover Provin' Grounds. Wi-Fi, coffee, and Zach has found a little lady he likes to call leggy. Or Katie. The name we think she has introduced herself as to other customers. Not us though. Neither have the guts to say anything, but "one refill please."
Day 12
Provin' Grounds and the newly discovered bar called "The Scarlet". Check it... 2 for $1 PBR from 3-7 every day. The thing about Pabst here is old men drink it because they like it. Hipsters don't drink it because they act like they like it. Mondays: $1 micro-brews. Plus a free concert. That's all that really needs to be said on The Scarlet.
Day 13
See day 12. Minus half the time being spent at The Scarlet. Plus scoping out our hike for day 14. Also, we decided to hammock through the night tonight due to our 2:00 wake up. It decided to rain but luckily we had the rain fly over us. Things didn't work out as much in our favor as they could have.
Day 14
2:00 AM wake up 3:00 AM hike start. We hiked the 2nd highest peak in the lower 48 and the tallest in Colorado. Pretty cool, but not nearly as cool as Meeker or Longs. We were up and down in 6 hours. And we went slow up. I am a grumpy hiker before the sun comes up. We made it back in time to catch a breakfast deal at this place called Tennessee Pass. Noms. Now we are at PG relaxing, reading, blogging, and planning out the next couple days.
Side-note. There is an 8 year old kid here who is probably the coolest person in the coffee shop. Reading Calvin and Hobbes, drinking an all-natural soda, and sitting in a wicker rocking chair.
He is going to grow up to be a ton cooler than anyone I will ever know.
Next stop Denver. Then Portland! Hopefully, more posts to come!
2 comments:
Thank you for the update. Comments:
1. I'm pretty sure no one that looks like "Kate" lives near here, so you didn't pick her up in Texas.
2. This will be a defining point in your life. Too bad Matt and Austin will lack such definition and clarity (JK).
3. You are in Colorado and under 65--you are not allowed to drink PBR, I don't care how cheap it is.
4. Enjoy Aunt Brenda, Patrick, Catie, Axel and Thor. You'll get a laugh, and a comfy bed. Be sure to ask her about the 70's closet and ALWAYS put your empty beer cans in the dishwasher. I'll bet you don't have cousins with as much ink or such cool names "Axel" and "Thor"--the next one will be Zeus.
5. Have fun in Portland and thanks for taking care of Zachy.
That sounds like an awesome trip. Yellowstone would be the best place to backpack. Cool pictures btw
Post a Comment