So we found another campground at Colter Bay Villiage a little further down the highway along Jackson Lake. This actually ended up being our first real group campsite and it worked out great! Two sites right next to each other where we could have a campfire, cooking our dinners, and sit around the fire talking about the day. A few of the guys opted for showers since they were available at the entrance to the campground. This was a nice evening especially considering the day we had before. There was minimal cell service, but we were all able to talk to the home front.
Tuesday, July 9th
Today's the day we head into Yellowstone. We prepared ourselves for slow traffic and decided to just be patient, but were determined to try and hit some of the major sites along our route. But with only a day alloted for the park, we knew we wouldn't see too much.
Established in 1872 as our first National Park, Yellowstone, it turns out, is much like a very large house: long hallways leading to interesting rooms. Much of Yellowstone is forested, so you don't see much until you come to something interesting to see (waterfalls, "paint pots", etc.). On our way to our first planned stop (Old Faithful), we stopped at a couple of nice waterfalls. We got there and as Grant had already prepared us for, it's a pretty large place - big lodge with lots of people. We opted for lunch first since the next blow was about an hour away.
Old Faithful isn't quite as faithful as it used to be due to changes in the subterranean water caused most likely by earthquakes. Still, it was pretty cool to watch. The funny thing about sitting there waiting for it is that there was another geyser beyond it, but in our vision, that was quite spectacular. So we got two geyser shows.
Just before leaving Old Faithful we ran into some good friends of ours from Spokane, Don and Mary Skow. The funny part about this was earlier that day Grant stated that there was no way he was going to run into someone he knew! Ya just gotta be careful what you declare!
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
