July 3

What a day! I woke up at 640, hit breakfast, then hit the road. Billings is not a pretty place in the daylight. Too many factories, refineries, plants…I don’t know what they do there.

I left I90 for SR212S heading for Laurel, Red Lodge and Cooke City. The Beartooth highway awaited after a few more miles of farms (which gave me another opportunity to make a pitstop before we got into the mountains). I’ve peed in the woods in Montana and Wyoming now.

On the Beartooth Highway, you start slow, but then you keep climbing and climbing and climbing. The sights are awe-inspiring: deep green valleys with snow-capped mountains towering over them. I can’t really say anymore about the sheer beauty. You’ll just have to check out the pictures. Up and up…I’m on top of a mountain that is completely covered with snow. Then I see an active tow lift bringing people up. It totally had to be a black or double black diamond. I was too much of wussy to get close to the edge. I picked a different route back to the car, and lo and behold, I broke through the hard crust of the snow up to my knees. Ouchie. But I had my big girl panties on, so I soldiered on. I saw all these people skiing the next backcountry drop and then WALKING back up…that is some craziness.

The drive kept twisting and turning but there were always beautiful sights. I saw some ice-blue pools trying to defrost. I saw a red fox. And beautiful views of the mountains. I’m sure it took me way more time, since I was always stopping to look. Finally I came out of the mountains proper and hit Cooke City, which is sort of touristy but also sort of authentic. I guess that happens when you’re all there to enjoy nature. After that, I went through the hallowed Northeast Gates!
I was amazed at all of the wildlife that I saw right off. Bison everywhere. Elk, voles, marmots…Wow. And Yellowstone is so majestic…its scope defies explanation. Today I went though the Roosevelt-Tower District to see Tower Falls. All the rivers and creeks across the states have been going OFF due to the late thaw of a bigggg snowpack. So all of the waterfalls or rivers I saw were pumping at high volume.

After that, I headed over to Mammoth Hot Springs. It’s a cute little village with foodservice, a historic hotel and a national parks center. I started out with the lower terraces of the geothermal area. It reminded me of Tallulah….lots of steps. There were some very gorgeous springs and terraces. Some were shocking orange and some were baby blue. They all stank. And you could feel the heat billowing up from them, if you have any doubts they’re hot. But you’re too caught up with the sights and mentally daring yourself to touch the water that you forget about the smell. I took lots of pictures.

I always think strange things when people are speaking foreign languages around me. First I try to guess what language they’re speaking. I was behind a French family today, listening to the conversation and wishing I had the guts to engage them. Instead I held an imaginary conversation with them in my head.

Bonjour.
Bonjour, comment allez-vous?
Tres bien, merci. Hereux, mais fatigue, bien sur.
Tres bien, nous aussi. Bon soir.

Silly, I know, but it helps me keep my French vocab active☺

After walking around Mammoth and its bison and elk population, I decided to head down to Norris to see if I could find a
campground. The bison was calmly grazing right behind the diner, next to some cabins. He wasn’t bothered. And the elk cross the road wherever they want. They don’t give an eff—kind of like honey badgers (youtube it).
I headed down towards Norris, but as soon as I got into a mountain pass, I see a disturbance at the end of the road…a lot of people have stopped. Then, in the opposite lane, a herd of bison came stampeding along. Bulls, cows and yearlings. It was so special—probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen. Then I saw Indian Creek campground, which is very nice and quiet. I got my spot then headed back up to Mammoth to have a bit to eat. The bison was still there, practically looking into the dining room window…so nice wildlife to look at while I ate.

I’m going to digress a bit, but I saw elk, bison and black bears today. In every instance, people were clamoring to get as close as possible. A Ranger had to turn a lady and her younger kids away because they were too close. I just don’t understand the mentality. This is not a zoo. Clearly the animals are wild and do whatever they want to do. Why would you push your 6 year old towards a doe elk and her baby? No good can come of it. Also why would you shout or make weird noises? It just scares them away. Case in point, some grizzly yearlings that I saw got spooked by people and ran off. And then tonight, a grizz must have crossed the street in front of a bus, because everyone was stopped, getting out of their cars in the dark to stalk the bear for some pix. Downright Darwinian.

I left Mammoth and went down towards Norris because I heard someone had seen wolves in Gibbon Meadow. On my way there, I came across a rock climbing class, so I watched that for a bit. Very cool, but not for me☺
The ride to Norris was fine…pretty views of lakes, some thermal features… But I was trying to push through to get to Gibbon before dusk really set. Once I got there I walked around for a bit, but didn’t see any wolves…just a few bison. It was a really pretty sunset though.

On the way back I stopped at the Artist’s Paintpots on a whim. They’re mudpots, hot springs and fumeroles—geothermal features. I have never had so many mosquitos attack me at once. I started running down the long entry path to try to get them away from me, so the sightseeing suddenly turned into a workout☺ I got there, took pictures as fast as I could (and I’m sure they would have been much better with direct sunshine) and got the hell out. It’s too bad because I was enjoying not seeing great masses of people everywhere. I had it to myself. Then I jogged back down the not-short entry path and dove into my car. The natural bugspray was for shit. But Laura and Kate will be impressed that I jogged for probably 15-20 minutes. On vacation.
So I might have malaria. So have some vodka tonics waiting on me when I get home. Also, I may have poison ivy from my tromp through the meadow. Lucky me☺

I’m all bedded down for the evening…just wanted to write shit down.

As I reflect on the day, I’m overwhelmed at the animals that I saw…rather close up, even. I can believe the size of the park and the varied terrain. It’s just so gorgeous, down to the smallest meadow. This is what gives me a feeling of the numinous, of being in awe of something so magnificent it’s beyond comprehension. These are the rare times when I feel really engaged in spirituality. I do believe that there’s something out there with a plan, but it’s just unknowable. Otherwise what would create such unspeakable beauty…or more exactly the feeling in my chest when I encounter unspeakable beauty. Anyway, Yellowstone makess me feel close to the universe; it makes me feel grateful and humbled.

I’m hoping to do some longer trails tomorrow. Just debating on which one(S).