Chapter 3: A Wyoming Wonderland

Chapter 3

09/28/2020 - 10/02/2020

09/28

I headed south to Missoula and stopped at a natural hot spring near Whitehall, Montana. Craig and Dawaune told me to check it, so I took the 30 minute detour and hoped it was worth it. It was perfect. I got there as soon as a man and a woman were leaving. I had the entire place to myself!! I stripped and swam around the stream of hot water. There were a couple of pools surrounded by rocks that kept the hot water in one place. It did wonders for my knee, total relaxation. Side note: I read a couple of reviews saying that the hot spring was on private property and people have been fined before by the sheriff. Totally worth the risk.

I ate a quick lunch and headed to Bozeman!! The town housed Montana State University, so a huge population of young people (something I haven’t seen in a couple weeks. I’ve noticed every other town in Montana was populated more with an older generation.) I skated around the town, but everything was closing!! Only a couple of shops were open past 5pm. Annoying. I stopped into a super cool antique shop and bought a new knife and a contraption that has a knife, spoon, fork, and corkscrew all in one. It was time for a new knife, and this new utensil thing became super super useful for the entire trip. Heck, I still use it in my Philadelphia house lol. I felt like I didn’t get the true last experience of Montana. My original plan was to spend a couple hours here and then head straight to a campsite right outside of Yellowstone. I decided to find somewhere close for tonight and then come back to Bozeman tomorrow afternoon.

I headed to Custer Gallatin National Park where I found a pullout of free open sites at a campground! Because it was considered offseason I.e after September 21, the sites were free! I pulled into a site near the stream. It was getting cold, and the sun was already out of sight because I was in-between two towering mountain ranges. The wind was chilling. What’s next: Fire. Boil Water. Food. Tent. I developed an entire schedule for the nights and mornings of camping. Making fires and food literally became a breeze anymore. Luckily, there was a ton of fallen down trees, and everything was dry. I could make a fire. The moon played a huge role for the ability of seeing things in the woods. She was approaching a full moon, so lots of light lit up my site! I laid down a blanket, ate my dinner, and looked up to the dark sky. So peaceful.

09/29

When I was ready to head out in the morning, a park ranger approached me. Low-key freaking out, like did I do something wrong. Was I not allowed to have a fire. Was I supposed to pay?? He just said that there was a bear disturbance this morning a couple yards down at the other site. Great =)

I headed back to Bozeman. I stopped into some shops, and the for some reason had an urge to go on Tinder lol. I never go on dating apps anymore, but something was just telling me do so. I met Ethan and we ended up checking out Hyalite Reservoir for the afternoon. Super cool guy :) He had only had 2 hours to hangout, so he sent me to ‘The Pickle Barrel’ for lunch. KILLLLER FOOD. I ate lunch in the park and picked up groceries at an organic grocery store. The app ‘ioverlander’ provides locations where people could refill water jugs. There was a random water spout behind AutoZone where I filled up! I headed Southwest towards a camping spot 20 miles from Yellowstone’s west entrance. I immediately lost service and didn’t get it back for another 27 hours.

The site was so dry. No trees. No water. There were 3 other different campers (all older men who looked like they were hunting.) The one man had an entire teepee house building thing with a literal smoke vent coming out the top. It was insane lol. He must have been there for a couple of week. I collected the very few branches and small twigs that I could find and started a small fire. It became absolutely freezing. I reorganized my car and created a spot where I could squeeze myself and sleep semi-comfortably on the one side. I was totally over the entire tent. It just got too cold and windy to sleep in that thing. I cooked up some dinner, took some long-exposure pictures of the sky, and went to bed. Prior to leaving for the trip, I made cardboard pieces that would fit perfectly into the windows so I could have some privacy and block out the sun in the morning. 

09/30

I woke up seeing my breathe. I had nothing planned for Yellowstone and had no service to even plan anything! I headed to the entrance and sorta recognized the map (I came to Yellowstone 2 years ago and only visited 1/4 of the park. I still had a lot to see!! I headed north towards the town of Mammoth and stopped at a couple of pull offs along the way. Norris Geyer Basin is a must! The colors from the pools were crazy!! There were lots of elk in the town. Someone told me they were all coming down from the mountain for mating season. Park rangers had to fence up and guard where the elk and their babies were. It was crazy. I looped around and went to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Quite gorgeous.

The roaring Yellowstone River can be heard from miles away. It plowed through the canyon and created numerous waterfalls and valleys. It was crazy. I hiked for a couple of miles on the cliffs of the canyon and on my way back to my car, I came face-to-face with a bison (well it was across the road, but I was way too close for comfort.) I slowly retreated and watched as cars slowly drove by and took pictures. Of course I whipped out my camera to capture this insane moment. It was getting dark and I still had no idea where I was going to camp. The closest exit was an hour drive. Great. I had rare moments of service. The only thing that lit the way was the moon. I DROVE FOR ANOTHER 2 HOURS until I finally got service and found a dirt road near Cody, Wyoming to park for the night. North Fork Highway was the only road that ran though this area. Quiet and lonely. Campers piled in throughout the night, I guess I wasn’t the only one who just drove the long dark road of hell lol. 

10/01

Finally October!! My birthday month :D My original plan was to be back in Philadelphia next week, but that likely won’t happen lol. No schedule! Totally free! I got up at sunrise and headed back into Yellowstone, 2 more hours back on the same road. It felt like such a short drive though. So much more to see during the light! My dashboard was decked out in dried out flowers, crystals, and fur. I had sage and lavender hanging out of my air vents so I had a natural air freshener. I pulled the plants a couple nights before when I was heading into Yellowstone, but when I pulled up to the entrance and the park ranger asked where I got the plants from, I froze and immediately said “Yellowstone.” DUMB WHY WOULD I EVER SAY THAT OMGGG. She threatened me with a federal fine (its illegal to take anything from a national park, duhh.), but she thankfully let me go! I removed all the flowers from my dash for the time being lol. I headed towards Yellowstone Lake where I was stopped by more elk! I already explored the rest of Yellowstone when I visited beforehand, but I was going to revisit the spots anyways! Grand Prismatic Spring and a bunch of other geysers are scattered across the west side of the park. I spent much of the afternoon exploring new geysers, waterfalls and springs.

By early evening, I was headed to Grand Teton’s National Park, which was directly south of Yellowstone. I mean literally, like the two parks shared an exit from Yellowstone and an entrance to the Tetons at the same service station. Side note! Usually the entrance stations close at 6 for most national parks, so it is sorta free to enter after 6ish. Entrance fees could usually reach up to $40 (unless you have the America The Beautiful National Park pass), so definitely take advantage of it if you just wanted to watch the sunset at a national park and not pay!

As soon as I exited the dense woods and entered the Grand Teton’s, everything just opened up. I detoured at the first pull-off at Jackson Lake. I had to maneuver through meters of huge driftwood and a weird looking tree similar to bamboo. It was littered with so many of these bamboo looking trees, but luckily there was a little cutdown pathway. I snuck myself through and there was still quite a distance to the lake. Lots of fist-sized rocks scattered the in-between. I took my shoes off and walked ahead. It became extremely muddy, but it felt awkwardly good in-between my toes lol. I meditated on a rock for a bit and then headed out. The sunset was absolutely crazy. Everything just felt so fake, it was unreal. I stopped a couple times to appreciate the ocean of colors in the sky. I headed to Bridger-Teton National Forest, but couldn’t find a site. I ended up just parking in the parking lot that had signs saying ‘no camping,’ lolol oooops. Two other groups joined.

10/02

I was out early in the morning to avoid getting fined for staying the night. I parked at a pullout a couple minutes down the road and had breakfast. A flock of crows flew overhead toward the soaring mountains. Such a crazy sight. Jenny Lake was my next stop! Cascade Canyon Trail. 11.7 miles. Barefoot. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My knee pain didn’t start until my way back down the mountain. I inhaled fresh sage whenever I needed the energy boost. All of a sudden, the couple in front of me noticed they were in-between a male moose and his daughter. It was safe for the time-being, so I power walked with them. We sat and watched the two moose for the next 20 minutes. I finally reached my car and was literally screaming in agony. My knee felt like pudding. It felt amazing to sit. I watched my last sunset in Wyoming and headed to a different site at Bridger-Teton National Forest. Utah tomorrow!