Yellowstone (Grant Village)
I had not gone more than a quarter mile into the park before I saw a herd of moose in a river. Of course the dozen cars ahead of us and the three coming from the opposite direction also saw them and pulled just far enough off the road to make it dangerous to pass. As I pulled into the middle of the road to try it anyway, the car in front of me did the same and as we reached the side door of each car ahead of us they tried to race us to the front. Being reasonable people, we backed off only to have the lead car decide they wanted to drive the entire 200 miles of park highway at 20 mph instead of the posted 45 mph.
I wanted to see the park and experience nature up close not from the seat of my car like a ride at Disneyland. I managed to pass six cars at once and was on my way. I stopped at the Lower geyser basin first. I was very impressed, not only with the beauty and mystery of the geysers and pools, but at the fact that their were already two dozen people on the boardwalk ahead of me a 8am and a steady stream of cars passing by on the road.
A short drive later I saw the universal sign for biking being allowed on a trail. The first one I had seen all trip. I parked in the pullout, unloaded my bike, then rode a mile down the gravelly path though the woods to what I would later find to be the basin where Old Faithful and a number of other geysers reside. For now I toured around on my bike seeing only a few dozen people at the half a dozen or so geysers I toured. I rode back the path to my car to find the last 100 yards invaded by a girl scout troop with chain saws and other landscaping tooos preparing to do some maintenance on the trail. I only had to lift my bike over one log. I drove down the road to Old Faithful to find that if I had ridden my bike a little farther I would have found it also. It did not look like it was going off any time soon so I left the crowded square and drove on.
The lady at the entrance booth had said to get a campsite by 12 noon because they had been filling up every night. After reading the park paper I was doubtful of the necessity of that since it said several campgrounds were just opening up on the 21st, the day I arrived. I decided to immediately reserve a site anyway so I would not have to worry about it the rest of the day. I chose Lewis Lake since it was cheap and on the way to the Grand Tetons. I drove 22 miles out of the way to get there thinking I would reserve a site, then go back to visit the geysers. When I got to the campground all the signs indicating camping was available were covered with trash bags and the gate to the campground was locked. There was no explanation. I checked the paper again and it said the 83 site campground was to open that day.
I headed back to Grant Villagge, the next nearest campground. There were four booths for registration each with a line four customers deep. I waited to be informed when I got to the window that everyone was under training and using the system for the first time today, so be patient. The gentlemen taking my information was obviously born before computers were invented and had never used one before in his life. Every question and every answer was repeated at least 3 times while the experienced "trainer" prompted the trainee with "now press the F12 key, press the F3 key as soon as you here the sound of the printer" and other phrases that make you wonder why it should be so hard to type in someone's name and licese plate number and return a campsite number. Another business idea, develop a simple reservation system for the forest service.
Thirty minutes later I drove to my campsite which was actually a pull-through site for RVs. They put me in the RV area since I had a small tent and they said the trees were so close together they could only fit small tents there. The two trees in my site were at least 30 feet apart. It was camping on top of each other all over, but I was encouraged by the fact that RVers seemed to be quieter than other campers or was it just because they could go inside and do their talking.
I broke down and spent $6 on a cheeseburge after spending $3 for a shower. Checking my brochure (not the paper, it did not have this information) I saw a bike path up near bay bridge that lead to a Natural Bridge. I drove the 22 miles to site on the other side of the park to be greeted with a sign that said the trail was closed to all traffic due to bear activity. "Just who do these bears think they are," I thought. "Don't they know we want to see the bridge also?" Disappointed I headed back to the upper geyser basin near Grant Village and my campsite. I followed several exquisitely dressed German couples ,each with exactly one perfect specimen of a daughter and one perfect specimen of a son each with perfect blond hair, around the boardwalk. I was beginning to think that once you have seen lazy one geyser you have seen them all. I was mistaken.
I remembered seeing the universal sign for Bikes OK on trail at another place near Old Faithful. It was not on any of my maps, so I drove nearly 20 miles back towards Old Faithful before finding the trail. It was simply called Lonestar. I had no idea what it lead to. I rode up a mostly paved road along a peaceful steam in a pine forest meeting a few hikers along the way. After about 3 miles I came to the trail's namesake, the Lonestar geyser. Finally my luck had changed as the geyser had just begun its 15 minute eruption period a few minutes before I arrived. A family of 3 people and I enjoyed the site and I got some good pictures. Heading back down I met a hiker loaded down with camera equipment that stopped me to ask if the eruption had occurred, sadly I told him he had missed it. It would not erupt for another 3 hours. He said he was distracted by the moose across the river. I got a picture of it suitable for a game of find the moose in this picture.
I drove on two more miles to see Old Faithful erupting as I was pulling in to the parking lot. The entire parking lot was full and before I found a spot a mad rush for the parking lot and exit gates was in progress. I just don't understand the mentality I really could have done without seeing Old Faithful on my trip, but here were all these people lining up to see it, get their 30 seconds of instant gratification and rush to the next wonder.
I rode my bike aroundthe basin some more, disappointed that I was not allowed to ride it down the boardwalks and I had left my bike lock cable at the car and did not feel comfortable just parking it with so many people around.
I arrived back at a very wet and overcast campsite around 7:00pm thinking I would have time for another bike ride and some journal writing before retiring. I assumed the wetness came from a thundershower that had been threatening in other areas of the park all day. I no sooner got on my bike than it started to drizzle. I ignored the warning and began my tour, a few minutes later I was trying to find my campsite in the middle of a full downpour and diving for cover in my car. After about 10 minutes the downpour turned into a steady drizzle and I started working on my web pages in my car.
After a half hour or so the rain had stopped. I took a break for 20 minutes, then decided to move my computer to the picnikc table to finish up. No sooner had I set it down than the drizzle started. This time I did not ignore the warning, but headed for the car immediately. The downpour began in earnest and I had plenty of time to finish in my car.
I hate to overuse the phrase "no sooner," but no sooner had I settled down to slepp in my tent around 10:30, but a couple of good ol' boys from tennesse showed up in their two pickup trucks in the last remaining site anywhere near mine. "Joe, where's that lighter fluid Joe?" was yelled right at my tent. Many more pleasantries were exchanged between the two simultaneous brothers and uncles over the din of both their pickup truck engines and the bright bonfire that was lighting up my tent. This went on for at least another half hour even though there were strict warnings that quiet hours were from 8am to 8pm.
I was up and on my way by 7 am. Once again I didn't know where I was headed. I had some inkling I might like to drive through Denver because at one time I had arbitrarily had it in my mind I would move there next. I was not sure if was a good idea to go woth the big fire they had, but I headed in that direction anyway.