Hey Hey, Boo Boo…

August 8, 2007

I’m in ‘Jellystone’ and it is amazing! There is evidence of the fires from years back, everywhere. But there is so much reforestation, lots of smaller pines have filled things in well. Some of the roads, and all but four of the campgrounds are closed, so it hasn’t seemed very crowded at all. The south entrance, from the Grand Teton National Park, was closed last week due to snow.

I left Mill Valley CA at 5pm on Saturday, following the conference (what a joy that was…) and made it to the other side of Reno before I found a place to sleep. There was snow on the ground going over Donner Pass, leaving California, but it was dark so I didn’t get a good look at it. Early Sunday morning though, driving through Nevada‘s expansive countryside there were 8 to 10,000 feet mountains with snow on the north facing slopes. Nothing could have prepared me for Idaho though. The view of the Tetons from the West was breathtaking. It wasn’t that the peaks were snow covered, but the entire range of mountains was covered from peak to foothill. I was blown away… The only time Id ever traveled these areas had been in mid summer. I had no idea…

I spent last night in Idaho Falls. It was too weird at that point, as when I pulled into town, there was snow on the ground, yet the trees had just begun to turn. I was in “environment shock”. I had been 20 minutes from the beach less than 24 hours earlier, and I had come straight to winter. Most of Idaho had been wide open fields (potatoes I guess), and no deciduous trees anywhere. So, I had no gradual change of season. I went from late summer straight to winter. YOWZA! I couldn’t fathom actually camping in those frosty covered mountains, and the sky looked threatening. I holed up in the Best western for the night, and it was ‘just right’.

This morning the sun came out, and I took a brisk autumn bike ride along the Snake River. I was rejuvenated, and headed for Yellowstone… (Who cares that it got down to 26 degrees last night?)

Within the first 2 hours I saw bunches of elk lounging along the river’s edge, Canadian geese, bison, bison, bison, and 3 coyotes. The ravens here practically come up to you, wanting handouts I guess. I’m hunkered down in the van tonight, hoping that they were telling the truth when they said my sleeping bag would keep me warm to 20 degrees. If not, I’ll be a human popsicle by morning. Luckily if it gets too bad I have a nearly full tank of gas, and I can just turn on the motor and go for a ride. They say the best time to view the wildlife is at sunrise anyway...