Woke up early on Monday morning. Packed up the car which was right outside the door and headed north in the dark just before 6am. Breakfast would be on the road, probably Cody. Listened to the Sirius Satellite Radio for a bit. Found Radio One but didn’t stay on it. I never listen to it at home anymore so why bother with it just because I’m on vacation!
Got to a town called Worland where I spotted an open restaurant. Took the Wyoming map in. Ordered steak and eggs breakfast. Looked at the map and realised I was on the road going north, not the direct NW route for Cody. Still, the breakfast was superb so my incompetence had paid off.
Eventually followed this different route around to Cody. Saw scenery I would never have seen otherwise! Probably took close to a one hour time hit. That's my excuse. In Cody went to an ATM and took out $500. The $200 I came over with was slightly depleted, $20 bills were evaporating rapidly. On the way out of Cody found a Walmart where I loaded up on soft drinks. Got a vast haul of Gatorade, Coke, Powerade and Arrowhead water for about $26. No sign of any staff on the checkouts so I had to use the self-service checkout. Just like home, and it looked much the same as Asda’s software too.
Headed up the valley towards the East Entrance. As I was driving and looking up I had the uncanny feeling of déjà vu, i.e. I’d looked at the formations etc. overhead and in the distance before. Last time would have been 1990 with by buddies Pedro and Yan on the coast to coast road trip. Paid $80 for the annual pass. Acadia National Park was this year’s picture on the front. That was the last National Park from last year’s trip. Went up and over the Sylvan Pass, spectacular. Down the other side and Yellowstone Lake appeared. Massive. Worked my way around to West Thumb where I walked around the boardwalk thermal springs stuff for a bit. Then headed up and over the Continental Divide (twice) to the legend that is Old Faithful. I’d been here 3 times before 1981, 1987 and 1990.
Abandoned the vehicle and headed for Old Faithful. Not difficult to find as there are 2 rows of seats in a vast viewing area around it. The seats were packed so she must be due soon. I couldn’t be bothered waiting so I headed around the boardwalk to the other stuff. She erupted 5 mins later when I was downhill immediately behind her. OK, but nothing special. I'd seen her before. Maybe I had the wrong viewing angle! I kept going around the boardwalk. Got to another famous Geyser, the Castle Geyser. She only goes off twice a day. Of course it happened right as I got there. Now that was impressive, although I witnessed more impressive eruptions at the Alamo on Saturday night. Somebody got a picture of me that may be published when I start making pictures available.
Anyway, I kept on walking around. Went further away from the main area than I had before. Went past a pool called Morning Glory and down towards another parking lot. Turned back eventually. Never saw anby bears. One hiker came past with the bells on. I had no such preparation. Went back to the Old Faithfull Lodge, had an overpriced Minute Maid Lemonade and headed for the SUV. Had trouble finding it, but spotted it eventually in the vast parking lot. Not a bad hike, I was out there for 2-3 hours strolling around.
Drove around to the Canyon Lodge. Checked-in. Followed the instructions on the map from reception to the Cascade Lodge, it was modern compared to the cabins which looked positively antiquated, but not in a good sense. More of a falling apart 1950s state. Found out later they were originally meant to go to the Florida Everglades and not really suitable for Yellowstone's winters.
Epic size room with two double beds, chairs, cuddly toy (more about that later) and expensive coffee making facilities. No TV however. You didn’t come here just to watch TV now did you? No Wifi either. Went out to dinner at the lodge with the netbook to see if the main building was wired up. No joy, I wasn’t surprised! Had burger and chips with a Snake River Lager then headed though to the bar. Didn’t have much of an atmosphere, and I didn’t fancy a second one so I went back to the room and passed out into a deep sleep. Tomorrow was the day I needed to start doing some proper hiking.
The target had already been decided, partly by research from a hiking book in the Canyon Lodge gift store, the rest from earlier planning back home.
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