Yellowstone National Park Backcountry DAY 2

Pools at Shoshone Geyser Basin

Catch the first day of the hike here.

In the morning of the second day there was a little, lets say, excitement in the tent as we prepped to exit.  We all three wanted to know if a bear maybe came pocking around.  We had seen bear claw marks on the trees and bear pole in camp and figured most of those were made at night.  As we settled down the night before i had forgotten my lip balm in my pocket and Jordan had some jolly ranger wrappers in his.  We put all this in a small bag and tossed it out of the tent near the bear pole.  This little bag full of smellies didn't move an inch all night and we were glad.
Because all of out water purification methods had failed the day before we were now trying to think about how we would ration our stove fuel for boiling water.  We figured we would boil all we could hold in our bottles for the rest of the day and take it from there.  So with breakfast in our bellies and water in our bottles we started off.

Shield Geyser

Day 2 was to be the highlight of the trip, for me.  The only full day of hiking started with a visit to the Shoshone Geyser Basin.  The opposite of an oasis in the middle of lush fields and forest, with a lake on one side and a river on the other.  If you have ever been to Yellowstone and walked along the boardwalks around old faithful you have seen similar thermal features.  The thing that makes the Shoshone Geyser basin special is the fact that you are, in some cases, six inches away from a feature.  There are no boardwalks, there are no railings, it is just a small trail that weaves between the geysers, mud posts, and thermal pools.

Marsh near Shoshone Lake

This trail also got us to our highest point of the trip.  Just over 8,200 feet.  The trail followed the lake after the geyser basin.  We walked through marshy fields and sandy beaches for about a mile before we started to climb.  It really seemed like all the elevation game came at once. My legs were burning.  I can't remember having any breathing issues or headache, like the day before, I think this was just being out of shape.  The bugs were out early today and we had to stop a few times to apply bug spray/lotion.  There was also a set of wolf tracks on the trail.  A lone wolf had made fresh tracks that morning that went the opposite direction.  By the size of the tracks I am very glad we hadn't crossed paths with the animal.  Wolves are normally pretty cautious of humans but a lone alpha male might act out if it felt threatened.

Wolf Track

In the low marshes and up in the hills we crossed many streams and other bodies of water that I would call puddles.  Most had logs across them, none had any actual bridges build.  When we stopped for lunch next to Moose Creek Zach and Jordan gave into the temptation of fresh fast flowing cold water.  Our bottles were still filled but the water was pretty warm still and they couldn't resist.  With at least 24 hours left in our trip I wasn't about to risk getting sick.  I had visions of day 3, stopping every 20 ft to rid my body of what ever organism was disrupting it.  I figured if we ran out of fuel and couldn't treat water any more I would wait until the last day so that if I was sick I could at least get the visitor center toilets.  The guys didn't get sick, and I actually took one swig of the cold fresh water.  To be honest I always feel closer to my surroundings, and feel a little more wild, when I drink direct from a water source.
Our last crossing of the day brought us back around to Moose Creek.  This was the first crossing that required us to ford the creek.  We shed our shoes and socks and crossed.  This was the first time ever hiking that I didn't have logs or rocks to cross over.  About 100 yards later we were at our camp.

Cooling boiled water in creek

Tent at Moose Creek (8M1) site.

As beautiful of a setting our first camp had this second camp was laid out much better.  More flat tent pads, more open areas, tall pines with small about of low brush.  We were about 50 yards from the creek which allowed for more fishing (again had no luck but a great chance to unwind a little).  Even though the trail was hard it was short.  This allowed us quite a bit of time to mull around.  Jordan took a nap and read a little.  Zach and I fished for a while.  We took the time to reorganize our gear a little.  Zach and I both took turns bathing in the creek.  Then when the sun went down the bugs came out and we hit the tent.
It was only around 8 pm when we got bedded down and none of use were ready to sleep.  This left us time to have some philosophical and spiritual conversation.  After a bit of that we ended our day.