Bald Eagles Ospreys Fighting Baby Snatching Crows

Day 19 National Parks 2011

I felt today I needed be on schedule.  It’s a drive out to all the thermo pools and having to cross the continental divide feels like it's that much more work on the energy level of things.  So I didn’t finish my instant noodle breakfast.  I put it in the trunk and drove off with it.  I noticed five hours later, clumps of plastic formations waxy hard were floating on the surface.  It was so gross, I was shocked by how I have been putting this unnatural thing into my body.  This cannot be good for the body. 

I arrived at Midway Basin and sat in the parking lot to do my hair and put on sun block.  When I stepped out I noticed bald eagles and ospreys were going at it with the crows.  The bald eagles and ospreys were teaming up against the crows.  It might be because the crows snatch their babies and devours them.  It was quite a scene in the sky.  The Firehole River was beautiful.  I enjoyed the walks on the trail.  I finished my nice strolls before three tour buses unloaded all their passengers.  They flew to the restrooms.  I guess their bus did not have a restroom.

I decided I would skip the two mile hike that connected Fairy Falls and Grand Prismatic Spring.  I would have to walk through unstable ground and this would strain my already very strained right side of my body.  So I drove to the Fairy Falls parking lot, it was packed and so I just parked along the road instead. 

Grand Prismatic Spring was beautiful.  While photographing plants and bugs I noticed beautiful cloud formations through the trees.  As I looked through my camera screen, I saw a pair of antlers reflected on the mirror of the spring.  I looked out and saw that it was a male elk.  It was a breath taking moment.  It was better than Harry Potter’s patronas.  The elk continued to get bigger as he walked closer towards me.  He grazed at nearby greens.  I stood there admiring the raw beauty he wore.  He was a young adult and had velvety antlers, they were large.  Then he walked close and passed by on the trial for the shrubs.  What a gift, perfect timing, just magical to be present in that way, just like that.  I would have missed it if I opted for a short cut on the trail.  This made my day!  Grand Prismatic Springs was already an amazing beautiful sight and this was like extra serving of dessert on top of what was already an amazing meal. 

I continued on the trail and the sky began to rain.  I pulled out backpack rain protection cover and stood under a tree for a bit.  I contemplated what I should do next.  The option given that it was raining was to turn around and be done with this trail or to continue regardless.  I decided I would continue on the trail and that my soft shell jacket was up for the task of keeping me dry, figuring that was why I paid so much for it.  

The trail itself was not spectacular to me.  It was also full of mosquitoes and I got plenty of bits.  They went through my clothes, the only part that was protected was the areas that had a soft shell on.  The trail was a combination of burnt old growth and new growth.  I looked at the pain and devastation of the burnt twisted fallen trees and found it to be visually overwhelming to take in. 

I saw a family of four backpacking.  The children were in elementary school.  I admired them and recalled how I used to do that.  I then had an internal meeting about it, “I’d like to do that.”  “Not, I don’t want to haul all the weight, day trips are okay.” 

I was feeling hungry after a mile of strolling.  I told myself I'd eat crackers when I am making a u-turn on the trail.  I saw Fairy Falls from afar and called it a day.  All falls are different, unique, and has it’s own beauty, and I find it a challenge to not compare it to Yosemite Falls.  As I munched on my cracker, I followed two women and eaves dropped their conversations about jam.  Then I invited myself into their conversation.  Geri makes famous jams and gives them away as gifts.  I finally inquired on how to make jams.  Through this conversation I learned not getting the right pectin and the proper amount of sugar made the difference of success or failure in jam canning process.  That the sugar had to be added last after the fruits bubbled in boil.  We just kept on chatting about fruits, vegetables, pies, etc…

Geri needs a hip replacement and refuses so she limps instead.  Geri’s husband died of a heart attack while smoking on their Alaska trip on a boat.  He was very happy on that trip.  She decided she couldn’t live in the same place they shared their lives in and moved to Lander, Wyoming to be near mountains and grow her own vegetables and fruits.  She loves slide photography and her husband took care of many things for her.  She said she’d just go and quit photography if she can’t do slides anymore because it is all she knows in this digital era.  That it is all she has and she doesn’t want to move up into the digital world.  That it is too much of a challenge for her with computers etc…  I recommend she get a neighborhood teenager geek and trade work for jam.  I advised her not to give up photography, it would be giving up the “Zone”.  I didn’t know what her religious orientation is, I just called it “The Zone”.  I saw she heard me and something clicked inside her and she got it.  I think this was the entire purpose of this hike.  

Yes there is a photography zone.  It’s meditation, focus, concentration, spiritual, and I find it very important, something you can't just quit.                

I told Geri I was a wedding photographer and I am now a substitute teacher.  Geri said she always felt fortunate to come across a teacher.  She decided to give me a jar of jam from her truck.  I said I’ll take a scoop not the whole jar and she said she’s got tons and wants me to have a jar.  I told her I’ll accept her gift if she accepts my gift of Belgium chocolate.  We both agreed and it was a happy exchange waiting to happen. 

Shawna met Geri twenty five years ago working together in Montana.  She lived in Kalispell and she is newly single after twenty six years of marriage.  Her husband had an affair and she kicked him out.  She now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.  They still keep their friendship and meet in Yellowstone even though they both live in different parts of the country.  Shawna said I inspire her.  How living on my own and traveling on my own is something she has to learn now.  How she is still searching for the courage to do that.   

Sometimes the trail or Fairy Falls in this case or the object of the goal is just a bait to string you along, the real goal and objective is to come across others and let answers surface, deep healings to begin, and remember how much strength you have to stand tall and strong on solid reliable ground. 

I find it amazing that they found me amazing and inspiring, an example to model after, a goal to strive to.  The chocolate was definitely for them.  I carried them from afar and took great care, all for them.

I was very tired after this and it was 1pm when I pulled over to Biscuit Basin and strolled around the beautiful water, the colors were of blue sapphire.  I loved all this beauty.  To enjoy Yellowstone National Park you have to love animal sightings and looking at pools of colorful water and to accomplish this, you have to slow down. 

Mystic Falls, mosquitoes attacked me while I pee behind a tree.  I have always found that to be a unfair play by the mosquitoes.  Restroom time should be time out time. On the way back I looped to Shell Spring and felt the warm sauna blown by the wind and stood there for a body healing. I decided to take my shoes and socks off for a feet sole healing.  I sat there for fifteen minutes and just inhaled it all in.  It rejuvenated me.  I didn’t get my feet soaked but I got a sauna bath.  The Shell Spring coincides with Jewel Geyser. 

Jewel Geyser goes off every ten minutes.  Shell Spring empties out after the geyser sprays.  The spring bubbles and fills in preparation for the spray. 

I munched on chips in the car.  I was hungry and I was still an hour away from camp.  I can’t look at the mileage, it is 35mph over the continental divide and I drive slower for safety in my very old car. 

An elderly couple said there was another car accident on the road.  There seems to be like one per day here.  At Yosemite it is like one bear break-ins per day and here it’s car accident.  Exercise caution! 

The drive back to camp was exhausting.  I started to wonder off mentally on Harry Potter and Twilight Saga on how well each book was written and how I should read them again and how I should spend that time instead of reading sutras etc.. Seriously?  Really?  Not a wise wondering to follow, totally bad advice is what my well rested mind would be clear to recognize.  

I was so tired that when I got back to camp I laid on the hammock for twenty minutes to lift my feet up and rest.  My right ankle hurts, it actually went numb.  I can walk better today but just five hours of strolling on flat trail wiped me out. 

I ate buttery avocado with nori, nutritional yeast, and then I cooked quinoa in lime and herbs mixed in with beans, green bell pepper and aloo mutter.  I also drank two cups of honey water.  I made pancake in heart shape and really enjoyed maple syrup.  I dug into Geri’s blueberry jam.  It wasn’t very sweet and that was nice.  I had Darjeerling tea with my pancake dessert.           

Swallows

Day 18 National Parks 2011

Soba noodles were perfectly cooked this morning.  I was out and about by 9:45am and went to the Grant Village Visitor Center to get hiking information and postcards.  I am happy to finally come across pretty ones.   I then rolled off for Old Faithful at 10:38am. 

The simple nineteen miles felt long.  The curvy mountain incline, decline was stressful over the continental divide.  I also stopped at Keplar Cascade.  








Old Faithful was a big complex touristy place with a beautiful historical inn.  The Lodge was nice, built of stone and wood.  I took the time to use their cleaner well maintained restroom.  I checked out all the shops for t-shirts, cards, food, and ice cream.  Food is pricy and was not tasty.  Why is it not good?  It’s really not hard to make food tasty.  The ice cream is all Wisconsin and not Montana ice cream.  I find it inferior.  The place to sit is on the second floor of the inn.  However the view overlooks the parking lot.  The interior décor has great ambiance.  I decided to eat my roasted potato, carrot, and zucchini in the car.  

I finally made it to Old Faithful at 11:33am and it went off at 11:41am.  I didn’t have to wait long.  I sat on a fallen tree and stayed out of the crowded bench area.  It’s quite a show.  The people watching are pretty fun to watch too.  I wondered how these tourist in front of my eyes got physically so big. 

I drove nine miles to Fire Hole Lake Drive, it’s a one way three mile scenic drive.  I loved this drive, there were beautiful springs.  Most of all it wasn’t crowded and I got to walk up close to it. There were beautiful pools of water to look at, all hot and clean.   Like a religious cleansing transformative ritual, I threw in more lies and anything else negative etc… into the thermo pools to transform and recycle for the benefit of all.  People seem to have caught onto what I was doing. 

I pulled over to the side of the road when I saw two women put their hands into the Fire Hole river.  They said it was warm.  I tried it and it was shower water temperature.  It was shallow enough to dip my feet in.  I am getting my hot spring soak wish.  I did my hands too and sat on the bridge as cars passed by.  Like a religious cleansing transformative ritual, I asked to clean and clear these hands and feet so they can truly be honest, straight, upright, and be of service from a place of compassion and wisdom to all, to end all crooked, evil ways and habits.  The water felt really good.  I was hungry and felt tired after this. 

I proceeded to all the pullouts in the area.  At Fire Hole Lake, I stood there and got a sauna treatment from the steam blowing by the wind.  Like a religious cleansing transformative ritual, I asked for a back steam to steam all stuck ignorant ways away.  This felt so good.         

I went to Paint Pan Hot Springs and saw swallows there.  It was a beautiful place filled with amazing colors, textures, a feast for the photographer’s eyes.  As I walked around I met a newlywed couple on their honeymoon from Stockton who spent the previous night at Idaho Falls and said it down poured and thundered last night.  They are headed to Tetons and Bryce after this. 

It was 3:12pm and I found myself feeling exhausted.  A bus load of tourist got off the bus and I headed for my car.  It was good timing, I was already exhausted and to be in the midst of tour bus crowd, I would just become overwhelmed even more.  It might just put me in the red zone which would not be good for my drive back to camp. 

I stopped at Shoshon Lake lookout, I was looking down for it and saw nothing when an SUV pointed out to me to look at the horizon.  It was then I finally saw a tiny sliver of water way-way out there.  It was much further then the ranger described it.  I found it funny.  Or maybe I was just so exhausted and the fatigue induced this.  I was laughing hysterically on the inside, but too tired to laugh so the hysterics had no chance to exercise itself, take over and live.          

At the general store, I educated myself on what is available on the shelf.  I also looked at the grill menu, ice cream bar, and souvenirs.  I bought a t-shirt there. 

I went back to camp to drink honey water, the cold tap water was perfect.  I looked forward to laying on the hammock and then it rained, splotchy for five minutes.  A neighboring dash hound barked off and on for thirty minutes.  Then at 5:35pm, the dog’s female guardian screamed, yelled, and fought with her traveling female human companion.  It was about money, about how she wants to leave this park, about how she hated this country, how she just ruined this entire year for her, how this entire vacation was ruined.  Scary!

That was the vibe I picked up yesterday at this place.  I think it’s all the fishing, killing, hunting karma and maybe that was why I found people looking more strange here, scary, and unfriendly, protected and guarded. 

Beautiful sighting, the three college friends got up and read books underneath the sun and then planned the rest of the day’s activities together.    

It poured and hailed at 7pm tonight for about 15 minutes.  Dinner was avocado, corn tortilla and baked beans with tomato and lime with a cup of hot coco. 

My new neighbor the Bair family told me they were stuck at Old Faithful intersection around 3pm, an accident between Tacoma and an Outback, a head on collision and cars flipped.  The outback had a set of grandparents in front and a granddaughter in the back.  The little girl was fine but the grandparents are still unknown in health.  I hope they are okay.  I see why I had to be back in camp by 3pm. 

Warning Sign For Bears and Buffalos About Humans

Day 17 National Parks 2011

I got out of bed at 7:35am and noticed site number 87 was all packed and ready to head out.  I had soba noodles and somehow over cooked it again, it was on the soggy side.  I am not a fan of soggy noodles in general.  I don’t know why my body likes soba, maybe my body needs the buckwheat nutrient.  Had tea, bread, and chocolate spread too. 

After meditation I sat on the rock to take in the last moments of looking at the Ponderosa pine trees.  A staff car drove by and stopped at my site to write my number down.  At that moment it occurred to me that there is a checkout time and it was already 11:11am.  I hurried in finishing my cup of tea and the rest of the bread to put everything away.  I took the tent down in five minutes.  It was an easy pack up because I had arranged the car ahead of time to make this an easy swift transition. 

I then drove by the registration to checkout just incase, to make sure I am all cleared and won’t be charged or fined.  I stopped at all the South Rim vista point pullouts to look at the Yellowstone River and feel the wind.  I found it very relaxing to watch the water move.

I had this thought about what the bears and buffalos think of humans after looking at a warning sign about them. 

Warning!

“They may seem docile but they are unpredictable. 

They may pull out a gun and shoot or a spray and spray you.

Keep your distance from the humans. 

Each year our kind looses lives to those humans.”      

I stopped at Hayden’s Valley and saw blue herons, white bodied teal head geese, seagulls with black wing tips, buffalos, Canadian geese and many other birds I have never seen before.  Two women from Minnesota shared their telescope and binoculars with me.  It was fun and I had a lovely time. 

I stopped at Sulfur Cauldron and threw in endless bad habits and attachments.  At the mud volcano, like a religious cleansing transformative ritual I threw in more harmful bad habits.  They can all be recycled for goodness and healing resources instead. 

I saw a full grown brown grizzly bear sleep under the sun and then it got up and rolled to the trees and ate a little and then rolled over and slept some more.  I chatted with a couple from Utah who let me look into their binoculars.  We talked about Goblin Valley, Zion etc..  Alaska was their next to do trip.  They wished for me to stay safe on my journey.  I am thankful for this exchange.

I pulled over at Le Hardy Rapids to eat a roasted carrot and corn.  It was a lovely meal at 2pm.  I watched a family of two grown men in their twenties headed for the rapids to take photos exactly where their mother instructed them to stay afar, like staying on paved road.  It’s all the same, no matter what color, culture, age, the parent child relationship is the same.  

Yellowstone Lake was beautiful to pass with snowy mountain backdrop.  The currents were fast and all the waters were choppy on the lakes, rivers, and creeks.  I stayed a viewing distance away. 

I made it to Grant Village Campground and the shower was coin operated $2 for six minutes.  I am wondering if I should shower elsewhere.  But it really would just be too stressful to have to do so.  I will have to figure it out or just put in lots of change.  I was assigned to site number D128.  It was spacious, I can drive my car into the site driveway.  I am in tent only area.  At my site someone left wood for me.  I will gather this wood and save it for Oregon and share it with friends at our annual retreat, a collection from each place I have been to and all the joy I gathered in the form of these firewood. 

The restroom is across from my site and a whole driveway away.  Setting up including handling the registration check in, the wait took an hour and twenty minutes at the kiosk. 

I put up my hammock.  I did a proper set up on the hammock, I was able to lay pretty flat on it.  I drank tea and looked at the sky, trees, and snow.  My legs were stretched nicely.  I have the hammock on a good height so that getting on and off the hammock was very easy this time. 

It’s a sunny day today, clear, bright, and hot.  I felt a need to sun bathe my back in hopes of melting away the hard cold toxic stagnant blocks on my back.  It was warm enough that people were in their t-shirt and shorts.  I was wearing one layer, it’s hard to fathom.  It’s wonderful!  I kept the long sleeve on to do the SPF 30 skin protection.  Sweating is fine by me and a good detox. 

The ants here are red and half an inch long.  They bite so I couldn’t wear flip flops.  The mosquito are giant size and they sure bite.  Wearing soft shell jacket keeps me mosquito proof. 

I walked from loop A to loop D and observed how others camped.  I found interesting tents and how everyone has their fire going, people chopped their own wood, making their own starter.  People were playing board games, reading, making ice sculptures with the ice in their site, icing their food on the snow.  There were lots of clotheslines hung up.  I saw a lot of people who camp here come here to fish at the lake. 

The campground is so big and it is full.  In fact the entire Yellowstone campgrounds have been full every day since I have arrived.  I am lucky to have had a reservation for ten consecutive nights at my choosing.  Even the first come and first serve was full. 

The activities at this campground are camp oriented with people hanging out etc… At Canyon Village Campground, it was all about getting in at night and up and out early each day.  I think the activities there were about animal sightings and hiking.  Here some people fish, some people stay at the campground.  I am glad I am not next to a trailer with a generator going off all day long. 

Dinner was avocado on toasted corn tortilla with grains and dal malaknai and roasted potato.  The sun was still out at 9:30pm then it drastically got dark at 10pm.  The camp of three college students all men loosened up after the fire, making their own dinner, then more fire and a game of cards.  Some people looked very intense in Yellowstone but most people are friendly and warm. 

There were loud snores coming from the tent behind and adjacent to the three college men.  He was an older gentleman, alone in a tent for six.  He was loud.