Yellowstone, Part 2
Note: Since i have no internet in Yellowstone, all of the daily Yellowstone postings will be sent out together, so you may wish to read the parts in chronological order. I am numbering them parts 1,2,3,4, etc., until we leave. Also, my iPad may not send them out in the order in which i sent them, so you may have to jump back and forth.
What a nasty day, the entire day. Day 13, no less. I cannot recall such a day on all my trips. This is not the Yellowstone i came to experience. However, in foul weather, these natural treasures project another kind of beauty, which appeals to me. And since i have learned to accept this weather as inevitable, we make do. In fact, i welcome it.
The day started with good news, no bear incidents last night. And the two young women camped next to me survived the night too. I was sorry to see them pull out today since now i become a bigger target for the bears, but i will do all i am required to do to make our site less attractive to the bears. The good news also for the two women cutting out was that their otherwise ideal campsite is now one big swimming pool. Mine has a few pools here and there but nothing we cannot work around. The key is not to camp in a site on a flat depression with slopes nearby, no matter how ideal the site, if rain is a possibility. I learned my lesson the hard way.
Before setting off for the day, i set up my tarp over our picnic table. There is a science to tarp setting (with the choices in some colleges today, i am sure they have entire courses in it), that i thought i mastered. I was quite proud of my second attempt in two years, only to find it one quarter down when we returned six hours later. The key is to predict where the water will pool and then pull down the tarp. But once you accommodate for that, you have to avoid creating another potential pool, and so on. Eventually, you arrive at a point od diminishing returns, and then you move on. My tarps are best when they are strung of the Defender.
We set off for Old Faithful at about 11. We stopped off at a few scenic spots along the way. First task at Old Faithful was not the famous geyser, but to gas and water up as I explained yesterday. We then took a short stroll to Old Faithful, only to discover that the dogs were not allowed on the boardwalk that surrounds it. No big deal. It only shoots the hot boiling water and steam into the air every 90 minutes, so we waited in the Defender for about 20 minutes until the scheduled time arrived. When it did arrive, so did the tourists, who were all lined up around the railing blocking off the famous geyser. I learned that during the peak tourist season, people are lined up 5 feet deep the 90 minutes before it goes off again. (I wonder if it goes off if no one is there to see it. ) The extreme steam action lasts only two or three minutes, and is as sensational as a fire company shooting its best hoses into the air. I think that people travel thousands of miles to see this, including from China. If people want to see nature's clockwork at work, they would be better off flying to Phillips Island off the coast of Australia and watching the fairy penguins return home to the same spot after months once at sea, and then wait by the shoreline for their entire family to gather before walking to their dens. Joking aside, Old Faithful is an interesting sight to see, but more for that it happens and why. But there is far, far more in Yellowstone to experience.
The good news is that Donner had a six-dog day, including, on the way back to camp, two adorable miniature Chinese terriers, or whatever they were. See photo.
We got back to camp shortly after 5 PM, and it was dark already. I am not particularly proud of my performance going through the evening's outdoor chores, but we got to them all with nothing getting wet, including Donner. At one point I let him out of my sight unleashed for no more than one minute while I arranged his bed in the tent, where i assumed he would want to retreat. I turned around and called him in, but he was gone. As it turns out, a beautiful white large female dog several campsites away sensed him in the area and bolted from her own campsite to greet him, and that's where I found two of them, in the road, exchanging readings as dogs are to do. Eventually, rain notwithstanding, the evening's chores were finished, and we settled into the tent, but only after Donner declined his evening walk.
Tonight I will do a little planning for tomorrow, hoping the weather turns better, although the cold front is moving in. If i had a choice between cold or wet, i would chose the latter.
I just discovered two more problems today that need to be resolved. First, the sunroof seam in my cloth rooftop is leaking, not badly, but leaking. Also, I am losing air in my left front tire. After the same thing happened during the 2016 trip, I should have replaced the tires, but failed to do so. They did not have an air port at the gas station, so I will have to use my air compressor that I take with for my differential locks.
Donner's allergy seems to be acting up and he is constantly chewing himself. I have a feeling this is going to cause a change of plans after we leave Yellowstone. I thought i had resolved this before i left, but it wasn't enough.
Ed snd Donner, from cold, really really wet Yellowstone.
