May 8

Today I had to work a breakfast and lunch shift. I was cut early from breakfast, but went back and worked lunch, still really slow. Greg was on lunch with me, and we decided to go for a run/hike after our shift since it relatively nice out, sunny and nearing 50 degrees. Me, Greg and his gal Lauren all ran down the trail that extends from Old Faithful for a couple miles stopping at all the different geysers and sites, then hiking into the woods for a while. Didn’t bring my camera, and I should have. The views were amazing. We ended up on a high hill overlooking a large geo thermal area and all the steam coming off each scattered for miles, with rolling forest hills behind them. Incredible. We were actually looking for bears in the woods for a while. This is getting ridiculous. Still nothing on the bear front. I don’t even think I have seen bear shit now that I think about it, not even a paw print in the mud or snow. So lame. Someone said that I am going to see one when I least expect to see one bc I am looking so hard, they are probably right. I am gonna be getting out of the shower and a bear is going to be shredding my towel. After Greg, Lauren and I went for our run/hike, we ate, then Greg and I were going to go use the internet at another dorm, but it was still nice out with plenty of daylight, so we decided to go for a “short drive.” This short drive turned into a 5 hr excursion. We started at old faithful, went north (south is still closed) looking for smaller roads that were actually open to get off the main drag to get back in the woods (its crazy how many roads are still closed inside and entering the park, so finding one that is open that actually leads somewhere is rare and a major score). We drove about 15 miles which takes about 30 minutes in the park even with only a very small fraction of visitors compared to the amount that will be here in a couple months, and found Fire Hole Canyon. There was a 2 mile road that ran along Fire Hole river, pictures above. It was so awesome. We found a hot spring swimming hole, a great waterfall that Greg is obviously excited to be in front of, and a great little spot to chill by the water, 2 miles worth. When we got to the end of the 2 mile stretch, it was only 6 or 630, and we had all our Yellowstone maps and info with us bc we were going to the dorm to use the internet to plan specific trips over the next 5 months, so we decided to explore further, it would be a crime to waste such precious weather. (I don’t know if it has to do with the mountains or the snow still on the ground, but on a clear day it stays light out until 9 or 930 already, and I assume its only going to get later as we get further into summer, but this place’s weather is super unpredictable, I don’t even try to apply weather norms I have learned over 28 yrs anymore). We looked at a map of the park and decided to head for the mountains and go for Canyon Falls. We thought we heard that the road leading to Canyon had opened that day for the first time since we have been here, so we thought we would drive for about an hour and give it a shot. Pay dirt. It was open. We just kept climbing once we turned, very strange how much more snow they get up there and its really only 40 – 60 miles away. I thought it was bad where I was staying, around Canyon area the snow must have been knee to waist high. I should probably mention that Greg was only wearing gym shorts and crocs and I was in tennis shoes and sweats bc we were just going to go to a dorm for internet. Totally unprepared, so I left the car running whenever we got out, just in case Lola decided to be a bia. The roads were a little snowy, but being from STL its no big. I think Greg was a little nervous bc hes from Atlanta, but hes too big of a hard ass to say anything (I know for a fact hes a hard ass bc after our run, there were bison scattered all over our dorms lawn. One HUGE bison was right by the sidewalk. I was thinking “Can I just walk by this dude?” so I stopped and was gonna walk around him a little bit. Not Greg. He just walked on the sidewalk like that bison better move his fat ass. I mean he was within 5 ft of a 1000 - 2000 lbs horned animal. Not saying it was smart, just saying hes got balls). So Greg and I pull up to a very snowy (and unfortunately foggy) Canyon falls. One other car there. I will bet that is extremely rare. Greg and I get out and go to the look outs, pictures above. The other car belonged to a blonde twenty something Canadian couple touring the US, mostly national parks, buying wine in napa, etc. 2 months on the road. They win. They were really nice so Greg and I ended up hanging out with them for quite a while overlooking the falls. They were talking about their travels and asking about our future ones. It was a lot of fun, so much so that we didn’t even notice how dark it had become. It was about 830 or 9, and it had gotten dark earlier than usually because of the clouds in the mountains where we were. Didn’t plan on that. So Greg and I just took it slow on the way back. The park is a little creepy at night with the steam from geo thermals coming up out of the trees, from under bridges, not knowing if you turn a corner if youre gonna T-bone a herd of buffalo, but we made it safely. We did go to that dorm in the end, but were too beat to plan anything, so we just went back home and crashed. Good day in the Ystone. Just a great glimpse of what is to come here. And it better involve bears.