July 25: Pinedale to Yellowstone National Park

String Lake in Grand Teton National Park.

I woke up the next morning as usual at 6:00 with the help of the construction workers’ noise, threw on my sandals and decided to take a short stroll through town for a bottle of juice and a cold cappuccino for Yumi. Naturally, it was chilly in town and I again wondered how that could be.

After a shower and quick breakfast of donuts we were on our way to the Laundromat on the north side of town. We got our clothes washed and dried in record time and were on our way up to the Tetons, arriving at Moose by 11:00 AM. I was amazed and saddened to witness the landing of two commercial jets at the Jackson airport. It didn’t seem right, nor did the rest of Jackson with the exception of the original central city.

Some famous geyser in Yellowstone.

We drove leisurely through the park, stopping at the String Lake picnic area to feast on peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches on the way. By 1:30 a sleeping Yumi and I arrived at the Lewis Lake campground and scored one of the few remaining sites. Soon after setting up camp we were on our way up to see Old Faithful---something Yumi hadn’t seen on our previous trip.

Dorf and Yumi at the Old Faithful Inn.

The weather was turning for the worse when we got to the parking lot so I wisely grabbed our rain gear and another insulating layer and tossed them into my day pack before making the long walk to the geyser. We spent about an hour talking with a group of “yoopers” who were RV’ing in the park, but were also ill-prepared for the chilling winds and rain which soon appeared. There was also a little girl sitting on her daddy’s lap who looked very cold. I offered her Yumi’s rain jacket (Yumi was wearing her wind shirt which provided ample protection lest anyone think I’m cruel and heartless) and was rewarded with the cutest smile ever seen.

After what seemed like forever Old Faithful began her eruption. Since the wind was blowing towards us, we all got a sulfur-water shower. Of course we stayed warm and dry while the Yoopers jeans and cotton t-shirts got soaked. I’m sure they’ll know better the next time.

We finished our visit to Old Faithful by browsing the many gift shops, Old Faithful Inn, ice cream and dinner at the Geyser Grill. Since it was still fairly early in the evening we stopped at Kepler Cascades before heading back to our campground at Lewis Lake.

We didn’t have wood for a campfire but we did take a nice walk down to the lake and attempted to skip the small stones found at the beach. It was a good day, but I couldn’t help but thinking we should still be camping in the Winds.