Day 10 National Parks 2011
I woke up at 5:35am, finding myself waking up to exactly how things were when I closed my
eyes to rest a few hours ago. I guess I was too tired to move around. I opened my eyes and rolled
off. As I rolled off I saw a Bambi
shaped deer with horns.
It was a pretty animal. I also
swung by a pika on the highway. It
didn’t move so I could have ran over it if I did not swerve. However that swerve was dangerous on my end,
I could have killed myself in trying to save a pika. The drive was amazing. The scenery was beautiful with mountains,
rivers, trees and animals. The county of
Star was very picturesque and the sunrise was breath taking. The ranches had beautiful horses and
cows. I felt sad that they will become
beef.
I made it to Jackson Hole at 7am. I called the phone line for National Parks
Recreation Service to place a reservation for Yellowstone and I didn’t realize
I was on mountain time zone and I was an hour early, no one was on staff
yet. So I went into Albertson’s to buy
key lime, carrots, and found a salad bar.
I packed in olives, hearts of palm.
I didn’t realize the salad bar and olive bar had different prices, I
just put them all into one bowl. I also
bought a bag of chips and a can of tomato pasta sauce.
8:05am rolled around and I was in the parking lot and I
called the number again and was put on hold for 20 minutes, only to find out
that Yellowstone National Park does their own reservations. I was able to locate the number on my
notes. My notes were not organized, just
a listing of notes. I called and spoke
to Gilbert who said there was snow in the campground and that my 6 consecutive
nights at Canyon Campground and 4 consecutive nights at Grant Village Campground
were all available. I was surprised,
relieved, and delighted at such a good news.
I proceeded to downtown Jackson Hole and loved all the
shops. It felt very warm and welcoming,
very family friendly. I just passed
through it and felt it was a place worth coming back to again and do a little
more exploring.
Upon approaching Tetons National Park, I saw the mountain
ridges and looked out for glaciers. I
was in awe of the majestic mountains. I
was so happy. I drove in the express
gate check in. The ranger saw my Annual
National Park Pass and let me through without making me show my ID card.
I drove straight to camp and noticed the sign at the
entrance gate had said Jenny Lake Campground was full. I picked up an envelope anyways and drove
around the campground looking for a site despite the no vacancy sign. The campground was at the base of the
mountain, exactly what I wanted and not Colter Bay Campground. I saw a couple packing up and confirmed they
were leaving and parked at the next site to make sure no one took my spot. I had seen
#7,6 and some how assummed it was site number 76 but it was site numbers 7, 6. I ended up getting site #8 because site #7
decided to stay one more night.
This particular couple was from UK and camped at Tetons
but has reservations to stay at the Lodge in Yellowstone. They told me a moose and an elk walks through
site #8 in the mornings. They wanted to
know why we don’t have poop samples and foot print samples in our national
parks in America for visitors to see and be educated on. I agreed that it would be very useful and we
should, that I too am curious. This
beautiful lady from UK chatted with me, we compare our unwashed hair,
that we didn’t need gel or spray to shape or sculpt it into a Mohawk.
 |
| Needed to dry my shoes under the sun using the tarp to increase heat to speed up the drying |
I then sat in my car to give them space to pack and also
to call my family to report where I was and my reservations at Yellowstone. My sister said the kids had so much fun
building fires at camp that they didn’t want to sleep and the toy poodle puppy
did well too at camp.
I was able to set up my tent at 10am and was excited
about possible hikes in the area. This
campground puts me exactly where I want to be, right with the mountains. I can look at the mountains everyday from my
tent. I set up my hammock in a direction
that allowed me to lay in it and look at the mountain with ease. I laid in my hammock until I got cold. It was a good rest.
I decided I wanted to dig into the salad. It was so yummy. I ate most of it. A ranger came by and said site number 36 got their sack stolen while they went to pay for their site. It’s what is asked of us in the campsite procedure;
1)locate a vacant site
2) put your stuff down to let people know you have taken that site
3)go pay for it
4)come back and set up your camp
I felt sorry for their loss, trauma and distress on a planned fun trip in such a fantastical place. As I listened to the ranger, I felt myself incoherent from fatigue or have any comment to add to this situation. The ranger commented on how my salad looked good. It did taste really good, better than restaurants.
Here at this campground, there is a restroom and not a
wash room for dishes. So I had to use
old dishes over and over again. After lunch I
went to the restroom and felt light headed.
I was seeing red spot in nine inch diameter. I was clear on how much I needed to sleep. I felt the rest of me was still on the
highway traveling at 70 mph trying to catch up, super lagging behind. I felt that for some that lagged, it was best
to leave them behind, and that they are not worth reuniting with.
At the Jenny Campground, there is no shower
facility. The restroom isn’t a good set
up for the induction stove. I will need
to pull out the MSR butane stove instead.
There is a reason why I have 10 of these fuels bottle on this trip.
I took a nap and woke up at 3:37pm. I went to the visitor center and got
t-shirts, postcards, strawberry pina colada slush. I inquired about animal sightings, I was
referred to Oxbow Bend and Snake River as places to be for animal
sightings. I did all the tourist
pullouts and took pictures.
I met a couple from Kentucky at Oxbow Bend. They said they just spent a day at
Yellowstone and saw a bear sleeping curled around a tree. This morning they saw a mama bear and two
cubs playing in the water at 10:35am at Teton National Park.
Dinner was tortilla, beans, tomato, avocado, and three
key lime. I will wait until tomorrow at
Yellowstone for showers. I know for sure there
are showers at my campground at Canyon.
Campsite #7 came to me and handed me their box of
firewood and said they only have one week off and they are headed to Black
Mountain next. They haven’t got room in
their car for the wood. She felt
apologetic to me that she only had one week off to vacation. She demanded to know what I did for a living
to be able to get two months off to travel.
I told her I was a substitute teacher and somehow this news made her feel
better about herself. She stopped
judging herself for having done something wrong in her life with her life, she was no
longer sorry and unhappy about her state of being.
Neighboring camp all met in the restroom. It’s like our coffee shop or something. One woman wasn’t going to wash her hands
after using the toilet, saw me and did a u-turn and kind of sprinkled her hands
and called it a wash. It was funny. Restroom habits are funny with people. In fact it really says a lot about someone in
my opinion. Another lady came in and was
excited to share how she went kayaking at the Snake River. Her chi was good. She is brave, the water level is so high, the rapids are fast and strong, and glacier water is icy cold. I find it dangerous.
Beautiful sighting, people jogging along the Teton
Mountain Valleys.
What bewilders me is the history of the local outlaws and nature preservationists on the process of making this a Tetons National Park.
