Day 21

Day 21 - Sunday, July 21, 2009

Buffalo Campground, Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Idaho to Indian Creek Campground, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Damn crows. They started squawking at dawn and for all we know never let up for the rest of the day. Once again this National Forest Campsite suffered by being located within ear shot of the main thoroughfare in Island Park, ID (Home of the longest Main Street in America, 33 miles - 32.8 of which are trees as best we could tell). I was in the mood for a real breakfast, an omelet or french toast, something warm and not just a banana and a granola bar, so we headed out to West Yellowstone, MT. We also thought that we would do some laundry, so we stopped at a laundromat first, loaded up our clothes, and discovered that there wasn't anywhere to eat in the vicinity.

We had lunch at the Outpost on the other side of town and entered Yellowstone National Park around 1 pm. When we mentioned to the Ranger at the gate that we were hoping to camp, he said that we better hurry, most of the sites fill up around this time. So off we went, noticing that the campsite we had targeted, Slough Creek, was already full. Luckily, the third campsite was the charm and we found a great spot in Indian Creek Campground. After setting up the tent we debated about putting up the rain fly since the skies were crystal blue and clear of clouds. We decided to be prudent and covered the tent. Good thing because thunderstorms rolled through the park an hour later. We went clockwise around the upper half of the Grand Loop, stopping at Mammoth Springs to walk around the hot springs, boiling pools, and bubbling mud pots.

As we completed our journey around we came across the infamous Yellowstone bear jams,

bison jams,

elk jams,

and even a geese jam, which occur every ten miles or so when motorists stop to take pictures of the wildlife. We got back to our tent later than expected and made chili covered baked potatoes, which we ate in the dark. We stayed up long enough to see the Milky Way clearly and settled in for a restful nights sleep.

Until the giant thunderstorm rolled through at 2 am. The lightning was blinding even with my eyes closed and you could feel the thunder. The rain let up an hour later and I slept fitfully until dawn, scratching at the multitude of mosquito bites I had sustained over the last few days. Tara fell back to sleep once the thunder passed and slept like a rock.

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