Day 9: Yellowstone
The ninth day of our trip was always going to be a long one, as it involved driving across practically the whole of Wyoming. Having retained the half day of extra time that we gained in Nebraska, we already covered part of that journey on the previous day. This meant that we traversed the winding ways of Bighorn National Forest quite early in the morning, only narrowly avoiding a sleepy deer on the side of the road.
We stopped a few times on our way down the mountain to take in the views. Walking along the sides of our car, we noticed a strange smell. It seemed to be coming from the left side near the door, and we eventually concluded it was caused by our breaks, as we had been using them a lot. However, Kelly felt quite concerned, so we made a stop by a car mechanic in Greybull. He was a rather small, spritely man with a constant chuckle and a little spring in his step. He sniffed around the front and back, looked under the hood, shone a light in the space above the front wheel, and, with another chuckle, confirmed that our breaks were getting worn, but would still be good. With the check-up having taken him but a few minutes, he refused our money, so we at least left him a good Google review as we set off again.
Not too
long after eating lunch in Cody, we drove past Buffalo Bill Reservoir, where we
stopped and took a few pictures. The sky, which had been full of clouds in the
morning, cleared up, boding well for our imminent arrival at Yellowstone. We
entered the park from the eastern entrance and stopped not long afterwards to
look over Yellowstone Lake. The view was pretty, but something even better soon
upstaged it: raspberries. For the next few minutes, we stuffed ourselves with
the sweet fruits, which thickly covered all the shrubs by the parking lot.
Much of the
forest we drove through after entering seemed lifeless. Some of the trees were
charred, many others simply grey and barren. Nevertheless, we saw young pines
springing up among them, testifying to nature’s resilience.
We decided
to drive northwards to visit Yellowstone’s waterfalls and quickly discovered how
traffic works at the national park. Dictated partly by road repairs and partly
by the movement of large animals, it frequently grinds to a snail-like crawl as
people slow down to gawk at strutting bison and elk. This happened to us multiple
times. The bison walked so close to us that we could practically touch them,
and the elk stood by placidly, among them stags with massive antlers. At
another time, I overheard a Spanish-speaking family pointing out a falcon
sitting at the top of a tree, and indeed, there it was. My time spent watching
nature documentaries in different languages has finally paid off.
By the time
evening started descending and we had to turn around to go to our accommodation,
we had seen the Upper and Lower Falls, as well as the Mud Volcano and the hot
springs around it. We got hailed upon at the Mud Volcano, but other than that
unexpected pummelling, the weather gods remained peaceable. We also finally
broke into Kelly’s stash of nuts, dried fruits, and jerky of both the meat and
vegetarian varieties. Restaurants and stores are few and far in between at
Yellowstone, and so several of our meals there would simply be eaten out of a
packet.
That night,
we stayed at a hiker’s lodge in Grand Teton. Though we did not start planning
this trip all that late, much of the accommodation had already been booked and
the rest had become very expensive when we set concrete dates to visit the two
parks. The solution we cooked up was to buy some hiking gear – sleeping mats
and sleeping bags – and stay at a cabin with several other travellers. The plan
seemed sensible until Kelly’s phobia of moths kicked in, and our coddled bodies
rebelled against the hard treatment of the wooden cabin. We slept very little
that night, and I could hear the footsteps of some animal walking around the
cabin.
We drove
379 miles today, with the total now at 3471.
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