The Road to Bozeman: Day 4

We woke up in the Bozeman cabin at 9 AM! While you might think this was a reward after a long trip getting here, it was almost torture for some. The car pulled in at 4 AM the night before and so between unpacking and getting ready for bed, Jake, Tam and Evan, our wonderful drivers for whom we are thankful, slept for about 4 hours after a long and trying day. Pulling in at this unholy hour was not a concern as soon as we saw the cabin and the location. There are snow-capped mountains around the perimeter of the property, rock formations and only two neighbors in sight. Waking up to sunshine and incredible view of the mountains and coffee made us all feel like the dream was accomplished. After months of planning and imagining what the cabin and the trip would be like, this morning far exceeded our dreams and raised spirits. The reason for our “early” wakeup was to reach our friend Josh Morken in Yellowstone in the early afternoon. Yes, our trip is at a nonstop pace. Morken, as we call him, is a friend from Grove City College and currently lives in Utah.

After unpacking the chaos and repacking the car once more (but with much less luggage than our initial trip to Bozeman), we hit the road South East to Yellowstone. Arriving around 3 PM at Eagle Creek campground, a camp on the outskirts of Yellowstone, we saw Morken and he gave us a hearty welcome to the location he had chosen. Eagle Creek Campsite was at the top of a small mountain, surrounded by more mountains, and with wild bison on the other side of a brook. Needless to say, like most everything out here, it was beautiful. After catching up with Morken for some time, we knew daylight was wasting away and the beauty of Yellowstone was waiting, so we loaded up the car and made our way through the enormous arch that marks the entrance of Yellowstone. Our first stop was at a “Furmohole” I believe it is called, which is a hot spring with microorganisms in it called thermophiles that can live in a harsh environment such as a sulfur laden, boiling pool. These organisms are bleach white and make interesting formations together and are unlike anything seen out on the East Coast.

Next we continued to drive through Yellowstone Park with our jaws dropped at the sight of mountains reflected off lakes, wild deer and bison grazing beside our moving car and raging rivers at the bottom of sharp cliffs. We exited our car along one pull-off to simply run up the side of a mountain. There was no trail and for that matter it was incredibly difficult with the incline of the hill and the elevation. At the top of the hillside we could see God’s beautiful creation in all directions. The descent was treacherous as well, with sliding rocks, sappy pines and fallen logs every which way. At the bottom of the hill, Jake had the brilliant idea to use some of the fallen logs as some firewood for our campsite. We pulled out our Zippo hatchet-saw combo tool and went to work. While this may be illegal in the eyes of some, others may argue that it’s perfectly permissible because we, as taxpayers, are in essence part owners of National parks. Therefore, it is our property too, right?

Our last stop in Yellowstone for the day was in a collection of hot springs and geysers. Some smelled, some were bubbly, others were steamy. Some were dangerous and dormant and some were peaceful. Morken put his hand in one of these peaceful ones however, and actually burned himself! The landscapes here were strange and full of odd colors like white, light blue and vivid green. Steam was coming from every direction and again we felt as if we were on another planet.

Hopping back in the car, we headed back to Eagle Creek campsite to spend the night. Our return trip was just like the way in, very scenic and our eyes were still glued to our car windows. Back at the top of our campsite the sun began to set as we collected more firewood and cooked weenies. As we were swapping more stories, the clouds began to roll in and we it looked like a long night of rain, but surprisingly, the storm passed and was broken up by the mountains. Dave, Morken and Evan all decided sleep outside under the stars. It was a frigid night and we hunkered down in our sleeping bags after a wonderful day.

- Peter