Day 13 Wednesday, September 19^th

Grant Village, Yellowstone Nat. Park

Sniff, sniff, and sniffle. I felt like a herd of buffaloes had just run over me. Sore throat, puffy eyes, and a stuffed nose, I am not sure I am going to like this morning. Can you even get sick pay on your vacation? Sick or not, I had not driven more than 4000 miles just to lay in my sleeping bag in the back of the truck, so off we went sight seeing.

It was a beautiful nature surrounding us and we saw a lot of elk and deer wandering in the woods. Passing by the Canyon Village we drove up to the big Norris Geyser Basin. As we walked around on the walking boards seeing all the geysers and hot bubbling springs, suddenly two coyotes appeared out of the steam and fog. They ran zig zag across the area in between all the thermal springs. After disappearing we could still hear them howling and calling for one another. The moment had passed so fast. It seemed so serene and mystical to have observed two wild coyotes disappear into the fog in this area where no human could walk because of the thermal danger. How could they know where to walk and how to find the way in this sulphur and mineral odiferous place?

Jerry suggested we stopped by the Great Fountain Geyser; it is an enormous “pond” with glacier blue water. The wind was blowing quite a bit so we never got a clear view of the whole basin. Alternately the hot steam from the basin would wrap us in warm moist air and then the cold wind would come and chill us to the bone. It wasn’t the best feeling when you were a little sick already.

One big attraction still left on the agenda for the day – Old Faithful. It is not the biggest, tallest, or most colorful geyser in Yellowstone Park, but it is, as its name states, the most faithful and reliable one. Once you could almost set your watch after it, but after an earthquake it is no longer erupting on the minute of each interval. Approximately every 96 minutes ±10 the geyser still erupts. Jerry end I had an hour to spend before Old Faithful would have built up enough pressure to erupt again. To spend the time we went inside to see the old lodge.

It was an old wooden lodge with a huge fireplace in the middle on the ground floor. People would sit curled up in blankets in big chairs in front of the fire, while other people would walk by on their way to the restaurant or the souvenir shops. Everything was built by intricate wood structures. The rooms were simple and rustic – held in the same style as when the lodge original had been built.

Outside more and more people had started to gather. It was not difficult to figure out which among the 20 potential geysers that was the Old Faithful. It was the one with about a 1000 people gathered around it. You started seeing little spurts of water coming up and the steam seemed to get a little thicker and taller. Then all of the sudden, as when you open a well-shaken champagne bottle, water and steam came belting out of the ground and up high in the air. The geyser went on for about 5 minutes before it was all over – at least for the next 96 minutes.

Toward the South entrance of the park was a big camping area named Grant Village, we got signed up there to make sure we had a spot for the night. For the rest of the afternoon we drove up along Yellowstone Lake past Lake Village and went to see the mud volcanoes and the sulphur Cauldron – we didn’t really need to see it – we could smell the sulphur from far away.

Done with the sightseeing for the day we parked by Yellowstone River and cooked dinner there. The menu for the night was Mountain House meal for Jerry and Chicken Noodle Soup for me. In the dinner party was also included two huge Ravens – just incase we dropped a crumb! That night I went to bed with two sleeping bags and several layers of clothing in the hopes of just sweating out the fever.

( although the low for the night was about 22 degrees F Trine slept in a 20 degrees North Face sleeping bag inside a Marmot Helium 15 degree sleeping bag wearing 3 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, a hat, 2 pair of socks and gloves… Jerry)

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