September 26, 2007

Awoke at a rest stop somewhere in the middle of WY, my first night in a camper. And not just any camper, so I've learned. After weeks of intensive research, late-night discussions, and debates on the merits of different camping vehicles we finally made our move. Thanks to Tim, I have uncovered all of the secrets of the recreational vehicle industry. I am impressed with our decision, and so it seems, are most of the people we've met on our travels. Our 2003 Volkswagon Eurovan Camper is a much coveted item.

We are off to Yellowstone National Park, the first of many stops on our U.S. and international adventure. World travel has been a dream of Tim's since he was a boy. He planned to take his trip around the world right out of college, but after falling ill he spent his savings on a piece of real estate. I have long been interested in visiting faraway places, and feel fortunate and excited to be caught up in Tim's whirlwind.

We've made our way from Colorado Springs to the northwest corner of WY and head for Yellowstone's south gate, which takes us up through Teton National Park. The Tetons are a sight to behold, with their steep craggy, snow-capped peaks and technical looking ascents. It was too late in the season for us to attempt to summit one of the Tetons, but I imagine myself climbing up there. We stop in Teton National Park for lunch and dine in a lodge-style hotel restaurant. Our waiter is finishing his summer job in TNP, heading for South America in a week and very anxious to get there. He is the second of three travelers we've met who are headed to Peru or Argentina shortly. To me these travelers are a different breed. They jump from park to park, live overseas for years at a time, wandering the planet. While most of us thrive on stability, they seem to be happiest knowing they will be experiencing profound change.

Our National Parks pass has paid for itself now. We've visited the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mtn National Park, Teton, and now Yellowstone. At the gate we are directed to drive north to Grant Village to obtain our backcountry permit. About 100 yards from the gate we are greeted by a buffalo grazing on the shoulder of the road. Buffalo appear to outnumber people around here, wandering the roadways at their leisure. Elk, deer, bear (black and grizzly), chipmunks, squirrels, ravens, wolves and a multitude of other creatures roam the park. I was lucky enough to spot a yeti, but Tim wasn't fast enough.

The predominant tree is the lodgepole pine, in various states of growth because of regular fires. According to the pamphlet we received at the gate, lots of folks are alarmed at the sight of thousands of acres of burned pines, but the these forests have been reseeded by the fires. The pine cones need the heat of the fire to open and release their seeds. Our efforts to control forest fires for many years created an overabundance of fuel, dead and dying trees and brush, which went up in an inferno in 1988, burning a large percentage of the park. Nowadays, these fires are allowed to burn, and sometimes intentionally set. Most of the lodgepole pine is newer growth, standing less than four feet tall. Towering above these trees are burned remnants of older forests. In high wind areas, most of the pines have been felled, and lay atop one another in stacks, resembling a forest graveyard.

We met Ranger Milo at the backcountry office in Grant Village. In his early sixties, Milo has been a park fixture for three decades. His friskier years were spent at Heart Lake, which happens to be our destination for this backpacking excursion. We selected Heart Lake in part because it is a well known bear frequenting area. Milo had plenty of "bear stories" to share with us and was sorry that the park had sold out of bear pepper spray. At the end of the tourist season, many items were hard to come by. After selecting our camp site, Milo told us to "go on back and watch the video", which turned out to be a backcountry safety video from the early 80s. I Squirmed in my seat most of the time, but paid close attention to the bear section. We were subsequently awarded our pass, allowing us three days in the wilderness.

Old Faithful geyser is arguably the most popular attraction in the park. Because we weren't hiking to Heart Lake until the following morning, we decided to drive over see why. There are hydrothermal areas all over YNP and Old Faithful basin area is in no short supply. YNP's thermal features include geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. Some geysers erupt steam and water hundreds of feet above ground while others spurt only a few feet into the air. Old Faithful is renowned primarily because of it's predictability, thus the name. The ranger station posts Old Faithful's eruption times (10 minute window) at the nearby station and the tourists stand around oohing and aahing when she lets go. Some geysers erupt every few minutes while others can be inactive for months and years. The Hot Springs can be beautiful multi-colored pools of warm, hot or boiling water. Sulfur, bacteria, and plankton help to color the water a clear carribean blue, edged with red, yellow, orange and green. The pools are filled with sulfurous water which seeped into the ground years ago as rain or snow and eventually reached the molten magma thousands of feet below the surface. In some places, the water is heated to 400 degrees before it makes it's way toward the surface through narrow cracks or fissures in the earth. Yellowstone is a giant volcano and we were hanging out in its caldera most of the time. Again, most of my expertise on the geology, local flora and fauna, etc. can be credited to the informative glossy pamphlets found throughout the park.

As luck would have it, we were witness to the River Geyser's eruption, which can be predicted within a four hour window. This geyser, which shot out of the edge of the Fire Hole River, was magnificent. Its steam and water blast shot 60 feet into the air, arcing with the wind, and the sunshine created a rainbow clearly visible in the steam. We did see Old Faithful erupt, but it was anticlimactic in comparison to the River Geyser.

We made our way to Lewis Lake campground after dark, two miles south of Heart Lake trailhead. The stars were incredibly bright. I held Tim's hand as we walked from our campsite to the self service pay area. The sky was dazzling and our breath hung around us in the cold still air.