Day 104- Fantastic Friday

Friday July 27, 2018

Old Faithful Village(2016.6) to Side of Fish Creek Rd(2043.2) 26.6 Miles 

Total Miles: 1799.4

Elevation: 7,487 feet 

What a marvelous and spectacular day! When I woke up this morning I was able to get my blog posted. Yesterday I had four bars of Verizon service, but with only one tower and thousands of people in the park I couldn’t do anything that needed data service. That meant no posting on my blog. This morning I was up before most of the tourists. That meant a brief period where my data went through. I had planned on getting up and leaving the village right away, but I couldn’t resist getting breakfast before I left. I decided against the buffet. I knew that I would over eat and be uncomfortable while I was hiking. I settled for some chocolate chip pancakes, sausage links, and coffee. My lunch server from yesterday, Kristen, was working. She came over to say hello and I thanked her for setting me up with Andrea and Eric last night. 

Breakfast of champions

I didn’t eat all of my breakfast. I didn’t want to be miserable while I hiked this morning. My server never presented a check. I had to ask for it. She informed me that someone had paid for my bill, but they wished to remain anonymous. Thanks to whoever took care of it. That was really nice. During my brief period of data service I noticed a problem with my blog. Day 99 double posted and day 98 was deleted. I hope at some point in the near future I have time to rewrite and post it. I had thanked several people in it, so in case I don’t get that day up soon I’d like to thank them again. To Kris and Ed Foster, thank you very much for the birthday present. It was very generous and appreciated. Chris Morris, thanks for the Amazon gift card. I will put it to good use. It was great to hear from you again. Brigid, thanks for the generous donation/birthday gift via PayPal. I plan on getting new shoes with it sometime in the next several hundred miles. Arlene and Dan Williams, thanks for the kind and thoughtful birthday gift. I’m going to treat myself with it in the next town. Anthony, Lauren, and Parker, thanks for lunch in Yellowstone. I also plan on getting a hotel room and dinner in my next town. I really enjoyed our conversation on my birthday. Thanks for being so great. Mom and Dad thanks for everything. I enjoyed our visits and as always you took great care of me. 

After breakfast I hung around the Inn for about thirty minutes. I have finally learned that it is best to let my meal digest a little before beginning to hike. The trail followed the Upper Getser Basin for a few miles. I got to see some different geysers and the first part of my hike was awesome. I really needed to make some miles, but I met a really nice couple from Norman, OK who wanted to chat about hiking. They were just too friendly to refuse. I didn’t catch their names or get a picture, but I hope they enjoy the rest of their vacation. I really enjoyed talking to them. My time in Yellowstone made me feel like a rockstar. People were just so taken by what I think of as ordinary. I forget sometimes just how huge of an adventure I’m on. Thruhiking just seems normal to me. 

Tourist grade trail to start the day

So blue

So gold 

Sapphire Pools 

The actual hiking part of my day was pretty ho hum. After I left behind the mass of humanity I hiked to Summit Lake. I had one stream crossing and managed to keep my feet dry. After leaving the lake the mosquitos practically disappeared. Today was the first day in well over 300 miles that my feet remained dry. I almost forgot what it felt like to have happy dry feet. I only encountered a few biting flies and that was next to the lake. I was down right comfy while hiking on flat terrain. What a fantastic Friday! 

Summit Lake 

Last geyser section 

Eight miles after leaving the lake behind I also left Wyoming behind. I can’t say that I enjoyed the mud, mosquitos, or biting flies, but the Cowboy State was pretty cool. The Wind River Range exceeded expectations. Yellowstone ranks on the top of my list for favorite National Parks. Shortly after entering Idaho my time in Yellowstone was officially over. So far every time I have crossed into a different state it has rained and I had to deal with a lot of downed trees. Today was only slightly better. There were a lot of downed trees, but they were all easy to get around or to hop over. Thunderstorms were building all around me, but the force was with me. I managed to stay completely dry. At one point it began to sprinkle hard enough for me to put on my rain jacket, but as soon as I stopped and got it on the rain stopped too. 

Ominous 

Downed trees greeted me at the state boarder(again)

Hello Idaho(Land of Potatoes 

Idaho is a new state for me. I have never been here before. Of the five stares I’ll hike on this trail Idaho and Wyoming were new for me. I need to figure out what the state slogan is. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with potatoes. New Mexico is The Land of Enchantment. Then you have Colorful Colorado. Wyoming is known as The Cowboy State. Montana rounds off the list as Big Sky. So far all Idaho had to offer me was hiking on dirt and gravel roads. This used to drive me crazy, but now I’m kind of a fan. It is easy and fast hiking. For the next few days I’ll actually be bouncing back and forth between the Idaho-Montana border. 

Last section of trail for 40 miles. I’ll be on Forest Service roads 

I’m hiking an alternate for 32 miles. This shaved off 40 miles of CDT. I chose this route due to water concerns. I didn’t want to carry water for 38 miles. Both routes are primarily on FS roads so I took the one that had water along the way. The area I’m in is known for its snow mobile tracks. Some of the roads have these huge berms built along them every 100 yards or so. It is kind of a pain to hike around. 

Giant berm

Shortly before setting up camp I met two Southbound(SoBo) hikers. We exchanged trail info. It was nice to get reports of what the next 35 days hold in store for me. They confirmed that I do in fact need to hike with Mace Windu and continue to hang my food every night until I make it to Canada. I really wish that wasn’t the case. I don’t mind carrying the mace, but hanging my food is a royal pain. I’m usually surrounded by pine trees and I haven’t figured out how to hang my food in a pine tree. More research will be needed to figure that out. 

Really cool sky as I ate dinner 

“Here is the rule to remember in the future, when anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'”

- Marcus Aurelius