DAY 14: Yellowstone National Park

This picture, at left, is what I woke up to this morning. Apparently the eating right outside my car door was choice this morning. I have since rechristened this campsite Elk Butt 3. In other good news, waking up meant that I have survived my first solo camping. Slept pretty well, surprisingly.

Decided to drive into the Lamar valley and find the famed yellow nissan xterra belonging to Yellowstone’s most prominent wolf biologist, Rick McIntire. I have been told that wherever he’s parked, wolves won’t be far away. On the way, stopped and had a little self-guided trail walk, quite lovely. Also saw some bighorn sheep on the side of the road! Once I had crossed the Lamar River bridge, I noticed a bunch of cars pulled over (and we know what that means don’t we.) Although the xterra wasn’t present, I caught the license plate of one of the trucks: DRUID6. I happen to know one of the wolfpacks is named the Druid pack, so I felt this was a good sign! Several people with large spotting scopes and cameras with telephoto lenses were hiking up the hill across the highway, and one of them told me a pack has been spotted with a fresh carcass. (!!) Although it was very far away, I could make out a pile with dog-like figures standing over it. A few people let me look into their scopes and I was looking straight into the face of a black wolf with a bloody muzzle, as it stood over a bison. A few minutes later, a yellow xterra pulled up. Ha! I watched for a long time, until it began to rain. Pic below: my camera was put to shame by the telephoto lenses. The best I could do was a shot of the shooters. (Wolf site directly to the left of the tree stand on the right.)

I pulled back on the road headed towards camp, in case the rain turned into a storm. Not long after, the rain began to let up and I again saw cars pulled over. This time: a black bear! And later: a pronghorn antelope! A pretty good safari day by any standards.

Back in Mammoth, I was long overdue for lunch, so I found a spot near the hotsprings and made some food. Peanut-butter banana sandwich with organic hot cocoa mix sprinkled in there for some fun. A very filling meal, which I walked off on the paths around the hotsprings. Pretty crazy stuff. Smelly, too.

I checked out the other buildings in Mammoth, scouted a coffee stand for tomorrow morning, and inspected the general store and the hot springs hotel. Have suddenly become overwhelmingly tired. I knew the CA support crew would want to know if I survived the night on my own, plus I had a lot of bragging to do about my wildlife safari, but have not gotten cell service since Old Faithful. Decide to drive towards Gardiner until I get service to check in. While I was close, filled up on gas outside the park.

Got back just in time to reclaim Elk Butt 3 for the evening. Campsite filling up quick tonight. Decided I need to get out and have a bit more exercise, so I hiked a trail up a nearby overlook and down close to Lava Creek. The wind was so strong, it almost blew me off the hill. Tried to do a bit of drawing, but the chilly wind made it a pretty unpleasant experience. I had my back turned to Mammoth area for awhile as I was drawing, and when I chanced to look over my shoulder, I had to do a double-take: A huge, dark storm was almost right on top of me! I jogged as fast as my little elevation-weak lungs could gasp and got to my car as it began to pour. At 4:45, settling in for a long evening in the Matrix.

Luckily the sun managed to shine through the rain and I kicked back with some snacks and a pillow and read as the rain drummed on my car. Rain let up around 6:30, did a lap around the campsite to see if anyone had a bonfire going so I could escape my car for a bit and still stay warm. As most of the other campers here are retitrees in RVs, there was only one campfire to bum from. A 21 year old from Alabama who had just driven up for a summer job in Yellowstone. Reminds me a lot of my little bro, if Pete had a thick southern accent.

Climb back into the Matrix-pod at dark (sun doesn't set til nearly 9pm here!!). Thinking about launching next leg of trip tomorrow.