Leaving Idahontana and entering the Yellowstone area, there is a dramatic shift in the scenery. From the top of Targhee Divide (9,998ft), the view to the east is a sea of low, undulating forest. Yellowstone is one of the three national parks on the official CDT route and also bears the distinction of having been our country's first designated national park. It's not known for its mountains though, but for its wildlife (especially bison, bears, and wolves) and for its geothermal activity. Jonathan had never visited before and we were both excited to check out some new and more remote parts of the park.

Before entering the park, we stayed near the town of West Yellowstone with longtime friends of Molly's parents, who she has known since she was a kid. At Dave and Jill's, we were wined and dined and took a much-needed rest day. They regaled us with some tales from Molly's parents' past lives and we were easily reminded of why they'd all remained friends for so many years. We laughed, we cried, we drank huckleberry mules and ate smoked elk meatloaf (yes, as good as it sounds).

We also did a little town touristing. We visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center (a research and rehab center for the large predators) and there we met Jill's favorite local bear, Bo (from a safe distance). We also checked out the Earthquake Lake museum, which overlooks the namesake lake created by a large earthquake in 1959 that resulted in a massive landslide. It's always special for us to learn more about the land we're walking through and having local guides for the area was an absolute treat. Jonathan and I may have also eaten more waffles than was right or moral. We apologize. We won't do it again if you let us come back to ski.

*This is Coram, another resident of the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center who was relocated there after becoming habituated to human trash and dog food*

While passing through the park, we also happened into a ridiculously unlikely meetup with some of Molly's friends from college. Friendship creates the loveliest serendipity! Through some combination of coordination and luck, we landed in Grant Village with Kimmy, a backcountry ranger in the Park, and Laramie and Jeanne, two friends on a cross country road trip from New Jersey to Portland, Oregon. Hitchhiking from the trailhead, we managed to land in town just as Laramie and Jeanne finished registering for a campsite. Kimmy joined after arriving home from work (via paddling, hiking, and driving, I might add). The five of us spent a merry night catching up, reminiscing about old times, and learning fun facts about the park from Kimmy before we headed for Heart Lake the next day.

As for the geysers…

We don't usually do a play-by-play of every day of hiking because, well, usually all we do is hike. It doesn't always make a great story. But to give you an idea of what it was like to thru-hike through Yellowstone, we'd like to share the story of a single day, one that felt like a whole complete day in addition to the 26 miles we somehow also hiked.

We woke up at 5am. It was still dark. We packed up our bags and the tent as quietly as possible, because another hiker was camped about 10 feet away. When we were packed up, we turned our headlamps from red to white and started to walk. There was no sound other than our trekking poles clicking softly against the rocks.

We walked for about an hour in the dark. The trail was forested and the sky was overcast. But by the time we reached out first waypoint, Biscuit Basin, it was sunny and warm. We'd hiked about 8 miles and had just begun to see little columns of steam popping up in the distance. The boardwalk at Biscuit Basin was closed, with signs cautioning that geothermal explosions could occur (yea, you pay attention to the signage in Yellowstone). So, we took an alternate path and rejoined the trail at the trailhead for Artemisia Geyser.

Immediately, we began seeing the wild geothermal activity of the park. Bubbling wells and steam vents lined the trail, along with multicolored pools fading from bright orange around the rim to deep green in the center. Small geysers erupted nearby and we saw spouts of steam rising up all over the valley beneath us.

*The Blue Pool, our first geothermal wonder of the day*

We made it to the Riverside Geyser about 20 minutes before the next eruption was predicted (which was lucky, because they only occur about every 6 hours and 5 minutes). It was worth the wait. From bubbling about a foot high, the geyser suddenly began to pump water 20 feet, then 40 feet, then 75 feet into the air! We were thrilled, and headed on toward Upper Geyser Basin.

The boardwalk through Upper Geyser Basin is like a little romp across Mars, if 5 million people visited Mars every year. It's extremely crowded, but it also just feels like another planet. The geysers leave mineral deposits after erupting that look like brains and turn wild colors. A burnt orange stream runs across a pure white rock or an electric green slime coats the edges of a sky blue pool that bubbles gently in the center. We saw several more geysers erupting as we threaded our way through the increasingly crowded boardwalk. The crowd thickened even more as we drew closer to Old Faithful and the parking lot.

At one point, a man stopped us to ask if we were hikers, said he had some trail magic and handed us $20 for lunch (this was a first for us and is really a pinnacle of hiker trashdom). Shortly after, we ran into Smokebeard, who'd just had the exact same experience.

We arrived at Old Faithful Village a little bit wide eyed. I sat down to call my parents while Jonathan procured some coffee. We waited for Old Faithful to erupt with about 300 other people, kids cheering, one hundred phones pointed at the geyser. Then, of course, we went to the buffet. We weren't planning to go to the buffet. We had plenty of other food. But the buffet called us in. (Future me would like to go back and not go to the buffet, which is — we think — likely where Molly got COVID… but that will be a story for a future post.)

Having eaten altogether too much, we walked back out into the sunlight and contemplated the fact that we still had 15 miles left to hike. We had a permit for the night at a specific campsite, so onward we went!

It was hot after lunch and our feet were heavy (full of elk bratwurst, possibly). We stopped by the Lone Star Geyser (unfortunately not in time for an eruption) and eventually found ourselves in Geyser Basin, which rivals the Upper Geyser Basin in geothermal activity but has no crowds and no infrastructure between you and the boiling pools. Geysers erupted feet from the path and we stopped to admire it all, though it was already getting a little toward dinnertime.

*Minute Man Geyser, just starting to erupt*

After the second basin came the bog. We walked through about a half of a mile of trail that was completely underwater, up to our knees in muddy stew. I took a misstep onto what looked like a creek bed only to go right through it and find myself waist deep in the swamp. When we reached the beach at the end of the bog, the view of Shoshone Lake was stunning. And I was grateful to have a place to get the mud and sticks out of my only pair of shorts (and also grateful that no one else was around for that experience). We both also cleaned our shoes and socks, then hiked with soaking wet feet the last three miles to camp.

We finally reached camp around 7:30pm and made dinner as efficiently as we could. We set up the tent with good sky viewing for the impending meteor shower, hung our food bags, and went to bed. About 5am we woke up again to watch a huge meteor streak across the sky.

Yellowstone

Wildflower Season