Showers are not over-rated

July 7th: Happy Birthday Sam! Our day began again with warm beverages. Hunger was really starting to set in and we were all getting very protective of our food stashes. Emily and I bargained over granola bars, and I offered Jacob the peanuts out of my bag of mixed nuts in exchange for 2 sips of hot cocoa.

By this time we had all become accustomed to outdoor plumbing. I no longer feared a bear was waiting for me every time I needed to wander into the woods. Although we all felt the squirrels were making fun of us.

As Charles went to get water, (Sam went too, in an attempt to keep Charles from hurting himself) Emily and I started packing sleeping bags, sleeping mats, packs, and disassembling tents. Jacob supervised, keeping up a running commentary on how badly he wanted Oatmeal Creme Pies.

By 11:30, we were ready to hit the trail. Although the packs still felt VERY heavy, going downhill was so much easier. Where it took us 5 hours to get up the mountain, it took only 3 to go down. I was again the slow one, but I kept a steady pace. We remarked on our way down every event that occurred on the way up. "Look! There's where Mom got stung by a sweat bee in the arm pit!" "There's where Mom fell down and the pack knocked the wind out of her" "There's the rock where mom sat down and wouldn't get up again!"

The trip down was marred only by the fact that I lost my red coat somewhere along the trail. It fell out of my pack, which was upsetting because I had bought it in Norway.

Back at the car we collapsed into our seats and drove the hour back to Lander. The Silver Spur motel awaited - and luckily had a room for us even though we were a day early. Each of us had the BEST shower ever experienced. Sam got his McDonald's birthday meal and I believe I ate the finest Filet O Fish ever deep fried.

Our big surprise was pulling into the Silver Spur parking lot and seeing the F's in unpacking their car into a room nearby. They too had decided that 4 days was plenty. And best of all, they had my red coat. I had left it right at the top of the mountain.

Although I swore I'd never do it again, I'm really glad that our family did this together. We worked as a team, we were so proud of what we accomplished and we learned a lot about pushing ourselves beyond what we thought we could do. And there were no bears. Only really large mosquitoes.

Snow in July

July 6: I was so excited about having a day off from hiking. Charles promised that we would spend the day hanging out by the campsite, laying on the warm boulders, and maybe walking a brief 5 minutes to the ridge to look down the other side. We enjoyed a cool, but not freezing AM drinking tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and eating oatmeal and granola bars. Charles hiked to the stream for fresh water, while Jacob and I searched for firewood and kept the fire going. Emily and Sam slept in. While the kids slept, Charles and I decided that we would surprise the kids and hike out a day early - on Sam's 11th birthday (the 7th). Although we felt a little wimpy for not making the whole 5 days, we felt that we had accomplished a lot on our first real back country camping trip. We hoped the F's wouldn't think less of us. We'd finally conquered the altitude sickness, and had mastered the whole cooking over a fire thing, not to mention had managed to set up our tents without the instructions (Emily proved essential for that engineering feat).

So, when the kids awoke we let them know that we were leaving the next morning - provided that it wasn't raining or something. Although their first reaction was to eat all their food now, we managed to convince the kids to continue to ration food and enjoy the day ahead. Sam was profoundly happy to be able to visit McDonalds on his birthday.

The only morning event that was rather frightening was a nasty fall Charles took while on his way back to camp with more water. Keeping his hands warm in his pockets, he tripped and landed on his head - ripping it open. A lot of blood was involved when he marched into camp, but we fixed him up with melted snow and neosporin.

Charles and I were relaxing on our rocks, when we noticed some really nasty looking clouds out in the distance. As we watched them build we realized we were in for some rough weather. We gathered the kids and had them start putting all the packs, food, and other items into the tents. Charles was smart enough to gather firewood and store it in the vestibule of the kids tent. Just as we finished all the gathering, it started to rain. The kids settled into their tent, and Charles and I zipped ourselves in. As the kids played games in their tent, Charles and I napped. Soon however, the thunder started. Then the hail began. Then I heard Jacob yell "Snow"! Sure enough, we could see the snow start accumulating on top of the tent.

Soon we were heard odd slushing sounds. Charles grabbed his bear spray (always around our necks, you'll notice in the pictures) and demanded that the bear make himself known (Who's out there?). Now my imagination started inventing hoards of bears trying to get in the tent from every direction, and I squealed and tried to center myself in the tent. At this point we noticed that when the ice slid off the tent it made an odd slushing sound. Feeling rather foolish we assured the kids that everything was all right.

Luckily the weather cleared in time for dinner. Despite the snow, Charles was able to start a fire and we ate another meal of noodle soup, rice, and mashed potatoes. It was early to bed in anticipation of our hike out the next day.

We did it!

July 8th:

Lander is really a wonderful town. Backing up a bit, the night before we left to hike into the mountains, we spent the evening at the 104th annual rodeo. And this is a real rodeo, with real cowboys, an announcer brought in from South Dakota, and incredibly angry bulls. People here really appreciate the outdoors, and enjoy it every aspect. They have a real respect for it as well. They hunt and fish, but also protect their resource. The diverse mixture of Native American, Caucasian and Hispanic makes for an interesting cultural atmosphere.

The rodeo we saw was special because it was fell during "Cowboy Christmas". During this 4 day holiday weekend time, a competitor can participate is as many as 5-9 rodeos, possibly collecting a lot of prize money - hence the "Chrtistmas" . A professional can hop on a plane and hit 9 rodeos in 4 days and clean up. They start them young here. Riding miniture bulls (49" tall) there was a 7-8 year old bull riding category. They wear helmuts and padding. Then 9-14 years olds are on slightly larger bulls. I'm pretty sure I would not feel comfortable throwing Jacob or Sam on a bull at their age. They weren't eager either.



Back to the hike. We did it! We left Sunday (July4)around 11:30. It took awhile to drive to the trail head and get situated. I was very nervous about the hike and rightly so. I was prepared for 4 miles, but in reality it was 5. And it was all uphill (except for the part where we had to cross an ice cold stream!) with a 25lb pack. We walked from 6000 ft to 10,500 ft. (That's 1 1/2 Monte Sano's for those of you counting) The views were spectacular (I'll add pictures later) but the climb was brutal. I really didn't think I'd make it. Jacob gave up twice, but he's a real trooper and once he got it in his head he wasn't allowed to give up, he really gave it his all. The mosquitos were swarming midway up the mountain and this got to us all.



Mr. F had to carry my pack twice, once for about 1/8 of a mile and once for about 1/4 of a mile. I had real problems catching my breath due to the altitude. I fell once and the pack knocked the wind out of me and I had to sit and concentrate on breathing for a long time. Charles helped me focus through this all. But, in the end it was well worth it. We made camp by 6:00pm. Charles and I had a two man tent, and the three kids shared a 3 man tent.

We set up camp at the top of a pass between mountains (the Wind River Range, part of the Rockies). There were snow banks nearby for wash water and a fresh water stream for drinking water about 15 minutes away. We soon had a fire going and our dinner of noodle soup, instant mashed potatoes and lipton rice. The only unfortunate thing for me was that I developed a mild case of altitude sickness..headache, nausea, general ickiness. So I crawled in my sleeping bag early. It got very cold that night, and my zipper on my bag broke, so I was feeling a bit discouraged.



The next day I felt loads better. When I got up, Charles and Mrs. F had started a fire and got water boiling for oatmeal and tea. The plan was to move two more miles in to a series of lakes, so we would be closer to drinking water and fishing (Turkey Jerkey as a lunch meal gets old quickly). The problem with moving camp, was that even though we would be walking down into a valley, that meant we would eventually have to walk UP again. I was totally opposed to ever walking up anything ever again. So, it was decided that the F's would pack up and hike two more miles in, and we would leave our camp where it was, but would accompany them to their camp for the day and to fish. For some reason it took us two hours to hike two miles. I was still a little woozy. Jacob was not into the hike at all. But when we reached the spot, it was idyllic. A series of lakes led to a roaring stream and you could actually see the brown trout swimming around the bottom. All the kids caught fish. I remain the only fisherperson on our trip NOT to have caught one! The skies were clear, and the sun was warm. It probably reached 65 degrees. Around 4:00 Charles and I decided to head back to our camp, anticipating the trip to take about 3 hours, sinice it was uphill. In realilty it only took us an 1 1/2. The only really scary part was that we lost the trail abd were lost for about 45 mintues. I had images of us huddled together while search planes flew overhead. Us eating berries and roots, the children rasied by bears. But in the end, we found the trail and were home in time for dinner. We ate - instant mashed potatoes, noodle soup and lipton rice. Melted snow served as dish washing water. Once again I headed to bed early, not feeling great after another high altitude hike uphill. I fixed the zipper on my sleeping bag and was actually warm all night long!

Lander, Wyoming

July 3 - Lander Wyoming is a really great little town. It feels both "Old West" and aging hippy-like. Organic food is found next to the beef jerkey. When we arrived last night, Mr. F met us at the Silver Spur Motel where we were to spend two nights before leaving on the "big hike". It's a nice little motel. Very old school - Route 66 like. Lot's of characters hanging around their open room doors. Or as Emily and I dubbed them "creepy dude 1" and "creepy dude 2". Mr. F had spent 7 days in the same area we were planning to hike to, so he could provide some valuable insight into what we were up against. Apparently, his group had run into 8 foot snow canyons while hiking upward. Hmm. But they melted by the time he hiked out, so we could look forward to a very wet trail and mosquitoes.

While the kids swam in the motel pool, Mr. F helped us revise our hiking checklist. We needed water purification tablets. Having gone through a bout of Giardia with Sam once again I was NOT going to risk it. We needed mosquito netting for our hats. I needed a new reel so I wouldn't spend all my time untangling line. Water shoes for crossing streams that would be high.

We spent today shopping for these items and doing laundry - again. I got a fishing license. I repacked my pack. I took out clothes and added a camera. I stuck some Benedryl in - just in case. I can barely lift my pack and I don't know how I will hike it 4 miles tomorrow (up to 10,500) and 2 more miles the next day. I'm carrying 2 changes of clothes, a sleeping bag, a 2 man tent, food for 5 days, a fishing rod, a water bottle, water shoes, mosquito spray and netting, personal hygiene items such TP, toothbrush and paste, soap, etc. And of course bear spray. Well, pepper spray and a whistle.

There won't be another post until I hike out on Thursday.

Old Reliable

July 2- A six am wakeup call followed a night of fighting over the covers with Emily. Exhausted we were on the road by 7 en route to Old Faithful (or Old Reliable, according to Phineas and Ferb, whose trip out west mirrored our own). We bribed the kids to get up with the promise of a breakfast at the famous Old Faithful Inn and we delivered on it. The Inn is a beautiful tribute to the foresight of the men and women who worked so hard to set the land aside for generations to enjoy. The Inn features a veranda overlooking Old Faithful, an expansive dining area, a large gift shop, renovated bathrooms, and rooms of course. After breakfast we dashed outside to see Old Faithful erupt from a front row bench - a reward for getting up so early. Having seen it 39 years ago, I was unsure if it would impress. (OK 39 years is a LONG time). But I was awed into an appreciative silence, as was the whole crowd. I did have forbidden thought that there was some little man under the crust with a big firehose.

A quick tour of the upper and lower basins, mudpots, geysers, etc completed our Yellowstone adventure. Our hiking was becoming much easier - we seemed to have conquered the altitude sickness and breathed easier - literally. By the way - the buffalo seemed a little aggressive at the basins.

We were off to Lander, WY where our "big hike" in the mountains for fishing and camping would begin. Then Sam slammed his fingers in the car door. One ice pack later, we really were off to Lander, WY for our "big hike"

Extremophiles

July 1: When I awoke Mrs. F was gone. We had split the two cabins we had between boys and girls - it follows that I was in the girl cabin. I listened at the boys door and heard nothing, so I assumed that they slept on. I snuck up to the main hotel to try and locate a Wi-Fi signal and a decent cup of Earl Grey. I got neither, but I did eat a yummy buffet breakfast of French Toast, Egg Souffle, Bacon, Cheese Blintz, and Fruit. Feeling mildly guilty that I ate so well while I tried to justify my time alone. Turns out, the boys were at the General Store Diner gorging themselves on pancakes - so I was justified.

When the girls finally awoke, Emily realized she had missed the Eclipse premiere and groused about her unfair life. I bought her a USA Today so she could read the bad review. She pronounced them all wrong. We rounded everyone up and headed toward Mammoth Springs. On the way we spotted a male Elk with a huge rack. Then we saw a large crowd stopped by the stream - it had to be something really good. We learned that there was a carcass in the stream and that a bear had just fed from it. That bear had taken off, leaving the rest for a wolf. We did our best to photograph the wolf from a distance. The rest of our drive to Mammoth Springs we encountered, for the first time, the crowds for which Yellowstone is famous. "Fudgies" as Charles calls them, forgetting that we too are tourists.

Upon arrival at Mammoth we decided to hike up and view the springs from above - away from the crowds. Although, no one was too excited about another hike, we started upward. We passed a beautiful group of Elk, some fawn with spots still, and a delightful stream filled with wild flowers. This hike, although short (1 mile) included a rapid 380 ft elevation within .5 mile. I protested. It was going the wrong direction and I refused to hike aimlessly. I was quite happy to dwell on the boardwalks with the other fudgies. So we split up. I agreed to a brief (.5) hike to see the beaver ponds (devoid of beaver I might add, I was becoming bitter) and then hit the boardwalk. Charles and my boys proceeded upward in search of the perfect view of the springs.

We met up with the boys on the boardwalk. They had indeed made it up to the top of the springs - but only after crossing a layer of hydrothermal crust - discovered by Sam when he yelled "Hey Dad, I think there is boiling water under here". Charles' excuse upon rebuke? There was no sign.

The Hot Springs were spectacular - and fascinating. The discovery of the "thermophiles" that live there actually led to the research that created DNA mapping. NASA carried out a lot of that research. In fact, Mrs. F knew one of the researchers who worked on extremophiles. The connection between early life forms, possible alien life forms, and extremophiles was thrilling to the kids and led to an endless stream of questions which I felt ill prepared to answer. I mumbled something about 5 toed cats and tried to make a connection.

After a picnic we made a quick trip to Gardiner, Montana so I could say I'd been to Montana and Mrs. F could check out her cousin's art gallery. I spotted a coyote on the way back to Yellowstone, adding to my list of wildlife finds. We had fancy dinner reservations, so we headed back. As we passed the carcass we had seen earlier, we could see a wolf swimming toward the carcass which was now being grazed upon by a black bear. If we hadn't had reservations, we might have seen quite a fight. We topped the evening off with another wolf sighting as we approached Lake Village.

Dinner was a wonderful Bison Tenderloin, poached pear salad and adult company. A welcome change. The evening was spent packing for our early departure for Lander, WY where we would hike into the wilderness for 5 days of back country camping and fishing. The boys did play one last game of buffalo baseball.

The Big Bear Day

June 30th: Up at 5:30 - hit the road by 6:15 to go see the wolves with pups come out and play. Late, but not bad. Then we had to turn around and go back to get Charles day pack which he left behind. So really, on the road by 6:30. Still, we had the park to ourselves. We seldom passed another car, and made good time despite the late start. Our first sighting was a wolf passing through the field on the left. This started the large coyote vs wolf controversy as Mrs. F was inclined to believe it was really a coyote and not a wolf and we were convinced it was a wolf. Not that there was anything WRONG with seeing coyote. It's just that a wolf sighting seemed much more exciting. - I was driving since this was my big day - I wanted to see wolves. As I reached the top of the pass into northern Yellowstone I was shocked to see a large grizzly bear standing on the side of the road. I mean huge. And a cub. I stopped the car. I didn't know what else to do! Emily had my camera in the back seat so I yelled TAKE A PICTURE. She rolled down the window and did (Yikes...hindsight is merciless. What was I thinking?) Suddenly I saw a group of photographers a polite distance away and realized I shouldn't had stopped. We drove forward and parked.

The photographers took us to task about stopping. There was a $750 fine for stopping - and we were lucky the park rangers weren't there. I felt horrible - and a bit shaken. Emily reported she had a granola bar in her pocket making me feel even more like the worst mother of the year!

We finally arrived at the wolf area and found that, according to the group of photographers camped there, they hadn't come out to play yet this am. We had a hike planned in the area, so we decided to go ahead with it. Our hike was to take us through Slough Creek into a "world class" Cutthroat Trout fishing area. It was strictly catch and release, but fun anyway.

As we headed up the trail head, we glanced behind and realized that there were two buffalo bearing down on us. Remembering that "more people are injured by buffalo in Yellowstone every year than bear" we ran clear of the trail. After giving "Barney and Billy" (as the kids dubbed them) room to get ahead we followed. This was a 4 mile hike, but with only a 360 foot elevation over the course of 2 miles. Much easier - though we still felt it. At the 1.5 mile mark, we passed a horse drawn wagon with ranch hands aboard. They were a crusty bunch, and their comment was " keep them kid close- there's a coupla buffalo and a little brown bear about 100 yards up". A flurry of discussion ensued. Should we turn back? Surely the buffalo were fine - heck - we were old friends. But a bear. They said "little." Maybe it was cute too. Onward.

"Little?" It was large. And 50ft away from the trail. We kept our eyes on it (sent Charles first) and passed it without incident. It was gorgeous, grazing under a tree, unperterbed by our presence.

As we went forward, I glanced backwards periodically to make sure our new bear friend wasn't following. Still glancing, I suddenly spotted a HUGE black bear across the stream from our trail. I yelled for Charles to stop. Red light. STOP!!! We gathered the kids, and watched as the bear hopped in the stream and swam to our side. We again briefly discussed turning back, but the idea of being sandwiched between two bears was not appealing. It was time for noise. All the kids used their bear whistles and we sang loudly until we noticed that the bear turned tail and ran into the wilderness. Whew!

Now on level ground, clear of trees and other bear hiding spots, we coiuld fish. Charles stood guard on bear duty (he spotted one more bear in a field far away and kept an eye on it). Emily prompty pulled in a Cutthroat. I spent most of the time wrapped in fishing line again. I was watching Mrs. F fly fish when Charles yelled "Buffalo!!" There were Barney and Billy stomping through the bushes, at quiet a fast clip, straight for the stream - and us. We grabbed our gear and ran out of their path. Their single-minded pursuit of water kept then from regarding us with anything but disgust.

Our departure from Slough Creek was blissfully uneventful. Upon returning to the wolf area, we found we had missed pup playtime. So we headed to the general store for picnic supplies, passing a beautiful Elk and fawn on the way. After lunch, Jacob was feeling ill, and his rash had spread. He refused to eat or drink - not at all like him, especially after a 4 mile hike. In fact it was kinda alarming. We left Em and Sam with Mrs. F and headed to the park clinic.

We spent 2 1/2 hours in the clinic and left with a rehydrated child in posession of rash medicine. The others arrived shortly thereafter replete with stories of another bear sighting, mountain goats, and elk. After an early evening of cheese and crackers on the lodge porch, sleep came early.

Our first high altitude hike

Our first full day in the park started wonderfully! We woke and walked to the lodge for breakfast. Our table overlooked Lake Yellowstone and we were treated to a view of mountains, water and beautiful greenery. Obviously the drought was over. On the way we passed deer, and buffalo grazing in the nearby fields. During breakfast we got a few great tips from the guy washing the windows. His suggestions? We get up EARLY the next day - leave the room by 6:00 and head over to Slough Creek to see the wolves and their pups. On the way we were guaranteed to see lots of wildlife. 90% of the visitors to Yellowstone never actually leave the car, or the boardwalk and complain they never see a thing...we were determined to be different. We also learned that the area around the lodge had just reopened to foot traffic due to bear sightings...cool.

After breakfast we hiked to Lake Yellowstone for a quick peek of the lake...we saw bear prints and managed to work ourselves into a heightened state of excitement.

Our planned hike for the day was designed to acclimate ourselves to the altitude and the strain of hiking. We were all showing signs of nausea and headaches....sure signs that were weren't quite accustomed to the place. Our hike would take us from 7700 ft to 8500 ft in 1.5 miles. Total hike 3.6 miles. We suffered. Mrs. F and I lagged and panted. The mosquitoes were relentless and Jacob developed a rash. Charles was vigilant for bears, since the trail had closed the day before due to bear sightings. He marched ahead gathering the kids into a group. Mrs. F and I were bear bait. Regardless, the view from the top was beautiful and were were encouraged that we might actually make OUR BIG HIKE into the wilderness next week.

Afterward we headed to the General Store for refreshments and I bought a fishing rod. My first one (at 44). Again, my Dad sat on my shoulder as I chose one, and bought fishing licenses for everyone. Mrs. F and the kids and I headed out to the lake to try our luck. Fishing regulations in Yellowstone require that you throw back any Cutthroat Trout you catch. You may keep all Rainbow Trout, in fact you are required to kill them and not release them back. Of course, the kids had great luck - and caught all Cutthroat. So we released them. Me - I spent all my time wrapped in fishing line as I had a hard time figuring out how to use my spinning reel. Charles watched for nonexistent bears and laughed at me.

After fishing time, we spent a few hours at the lodge rocking on the front porch, doing laundry, all the while the kids played cards next to the huge roaring fireplaces. We had a very early morning planned.

The long haul

Monday June 28th: Up early and after a breakfast of chips, soda and left over sandwiches we were off! Until Jacob got carsick at the Wyoming border and we had to walk around a field until he felt better. Then ...we were off! The drive across Wyoming was pretty - but uneventful. I navagated, but found it increasingly difficult to follow the route because Charles had drawn a black line along the route and I kept mistaking it for the road. His road had no exits which often panicked me until I realized we were on the RED road that ran alongside the black line.

I took over driving in Buffalo WY solving that problem. That left Charles to puzzle over the map and look for the first signs of Yellowstone. And they were breathtaking when they occured.

Upon arrival at Yellowstone were were to meet up with the F's and their kids. Without cell phone coverage (by the way, my Verizon map IS bigger than my friend's ATT map), that meeting up part was difficult. But after a few hours we all ended up in the same place. The boys promptly started playing baseball with a stick, a beanbag and a tree. A buffalo played centerfield. We slept well.

Catching Up!

June 27th: My family disappeared while I ran to hold our breakfast table...their 45 minute hike turned into a 3 hour odyssey. As I sat and stewed (and ate a pound of buffet bacon) I wondered how I would tell the rangers to go find them. Plus, upon return to my cabin I was locked out, increasing my annoyance. But after 30 minutes they returned with tales of fording creeks, balancing on logs, and great views. We were off to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Although Mount Rushmore was truly breathtaking, I have to admit that I liked Crazy Horse more. The shear determination of one man is evident there. It's a story that compells. Plus it's just plain craziness...the kind that attracts. I loved it.

We continued to see all sorts of wildlife...buffalo, mountain goats, deer, pronghorn, burros and when we got home we let the kids play in the stream in front of the cabin and put them to bed early for a long drive.

What occurred to me as I watched the kids play in the water was how much my father was haunting me (in a good way) during this trip. EVERYTHING we have done has reminded me of him. He would have loved to see Mount Rushmore (again). He would have loved the story of Crazy Horse. The wildlife would have fascinated him. He would have been out there with the kids in the stream (with his fishing rod). Basically, this is my Dad's kind of journey.