Alternate Summer Trail Adventure - Part 2 - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Into the woods

Along a portion of the Continental Divide Trail

Yellowstone National Park  adventures abound. On a rainy day at the Mammoth Hot Springs Visitor Center, my husband asks if I wanted to check out the backcountry camping office. I was surprised as I figured we would not be doing any further hikes after the Sangre de Cristo trip. But the park ranger offered us something we could not refuse – a hike along part of the CDT (Continental Divide Trail) to a geyser basin that can only be reached in the backcountry. And I said, “Yes!”

So off we went to experience another part of Yellowstone in the backcountry, minus the crowds we had to contend with. In fact, no hikers were around whatsoever. And yes, this is a mere week after a mama grizzly mauled a park visitor while on a backcountry trail (the first time in over 20 years). So we are equipped with bear spray and loud voices, some bad singing, etc to alert any wild animals of our presence. We hiked past Lone Star Geyser to see the geyser hiccupping with some steam for a small show, which was interesting. We continued hiking out to the CDT and headed up and over the Continental Divide. And in no time met snow along the way and lots of water from the melting and mud. Even though the snow was in spots, I was still glad we had not done the JMT earlier that month. For there to be snow in Yellowstone in late July, that’s a big snow year.

Skipper stands behind a huge snow drift on the CDT

Another horrendous issue was the mosquitoes. Man-eating, flying meanies they were, and it took every ounce of DEET and bug netting and anything else to keep them at bay. They were ravenous -biting knuckles, the back of earlobes, my upper lip, anything (sure, put DEET on a lip, yuck!)

But we did arrive at the Shoshone geyser basin to see our own assortment of thermal activity and geysers going off, one of which we affectionately called “Bliss Geyser.” 

 

With storm clouds building, we headed to our designated campsite for the night, all the while trying to outwit the hungry hordes of whining and buzzing blood-sucking beasts. The meal was quick as I dove into my tent just before the rain hit. 

But the next day we were out early before revelry sounded the mosquito horde, and we calmly ate our breakfast and packed up the site without any mosquito trouble. We hiked quickly back down the CDT, making good time to Lone Star Geyser, and what to our wandering eye did appear but a FULL geyser eruption! And even a rainbow to boot.

Blissful in front of Lone Star Geyser

 Yellowstone at its finest all the way around.

The Gathering 2008 - Hiker's Conference

The annual Gathering put on by ALDHA has come and gone, and we were fortunate to attend this years events, held near Pipestem resort in beautiful West Virgina. I had heard about the event via the White Blaze forum, but did not really know what to expect. Come to find out, it's really like a glorified hiker's conference. It lacks some of the silliness and good ol' time at Trail Days in Damascus but instead focuses on hikers and hiker's needs. There were plenty of workshops on a plethora of topics, including workshops that spelled out the how-to's of conquering any of the long distance trails, including the AT, PCT and CDT. They also had other diverse workshops on everything from gear to viewing nature to even hikes in Europe and the Andes.

One of the highlights for me was hearing from the second hiker ever to complete the entire Appalachian Trail- a man named Gene Esby. He underwent his journey back in 1951 and had plenty of fine stories to tell. I enjoyed listening to him and was pleased to learn that he will soon be publishing a book about his trek. Perhaps some dreamer out there like me who once read Ed Garvey's book will pick up Gene's book and receive the same vision I did to complete a hike of the AT.

Another aspect of The Gathering that we enjoyed was meeting other hikers. Mealtimes at the college cafeteria provided a great way to chat and meet new people. We ate with different folks every meal, from a couple planning a 2009 thru, to another couple who were workshop presenters, to men who section hiked and then the proud father of the main presenter for Saturday night whose son completed an entire journey of South America through the Andes.

Whether your plans will take you on a whole hike of a trail, a section, or just a weekend out in the woods, The Gathering is a great place to celebrate the spirit of hiking and enjoyment of the outdoors with others. Plan to come next year if you able!