I woke as the campground began to stir, made my coffee, ate a bagel and headed to the main road to hitch back the 7 miles to the trail. Even in a National Park some people eyed me warily…but I got a ride after about half an hour and was hiking by 7:30.

Lots more trees today, and some little ups and downs as I passed Lewis Lake. Not the most interesting terrain, but when I reached the Shoshone Geiser Basin there were plenty of steaming holes of water and boiling, spitting froths of deep blue water.

Yellowstone doesn't believe in bridges

Thar she blows!

I made good time to Old Faithful Village, and by 3:30 was at the post office picking up my resupply package with maps for Montana (only 18 miles left in Wyoming!) and some more care packages. Thanks Brooke & Adryon, Pete & Verona, NEMO, Mom & Dad, and Kirk! Again, so many good things to eat and drink, although I’ll have to wait until my antibiotics are done to enjoy the homemade Kalua and nips of whisky that I got!

I headed to Old Faithful to watch her blow, and joined in the 1,000 other people ooooing and ahhhing for 1:21 minutes.

I made my way over to the grocery store to get a soda and sandwich to tide me over while I tried to hitch down to the Tetons, and saw Handy Andy & Twinkle! I hadn’t seen Andy since Lake City about 2 months ago, and this was my first time meeting Twinkle…they were on their own tour of the park and filled me in on the Teton Crest Trail which they had just finished hiking. They also made a side trip up the Grand Teton, ambitious guys!

Twinkle & Handy Andy

We chatted for a bit and when they went to hike out to their campsite, I walked over to the main road to try my luck at hitching out of the park.

After 2 rides I decided to get off at Flagg Ranch and try my luck at the campsite, there had just been a cancelation, so I was able to get a spot, take a shower, and relax as the sun did it’s thing and the moon took over.

Not quite sure what my plan is for the next few days before I fly out to Salt Lake City for the OR Show in 3 days, but there is a free shuttle that heads down to the Tetons and Jackson, so I’ll hop on that and figure it out!