The drive up from Rawlings Wyoming took about 7 1/2 hours, but everything went smoothly. No problems getting into the park may even made a little bit of a connection with the Park Rangers as fellow federal employees. Campsite is pretty well packed together with a small pull through no electricity and no water which means limited opportunities for me to charge up devices and do some of the things that I kinda need or wanted to do, but I turned around and went and driving right away to stop at a few places just to start seeing the sites.
I sort it out by heading over to Norris Geyser basin and taking a stroll around there. There are some pretty cool geothermal items.
After a stroll around there, I started driving back to Madison campground, but stopped at Gibbon Meadow for a few minutes and then stopped a little further along the Gibbon river where I saw some bison, relaxing, including a couple of baby bison obviously, I was very far away, but they still looked pretty cute.
After that, it was back to the campground to get settled in and make dinner and try to go to bed early. I did take a few minutes to send some satellite text messages to Leah and my parents to let them know I was all right, but zero connection and with the quiet hours at Madison campground, I would not have the opportunity to run the generator and set up the Starlink.
The campground was nice and quiet and dark so I was in bed by probably about 9 o’clock or so and then this morning woke up at 5 AM and was on the road by 10 after five. My goal was to drive down to Hayden Valley in time for sunrise and to see what happens there early morning. I found a great little spot along the Yellowstone river where I was able to park run the generator for a little bit while I cooked some breakfast and just watched things unfold. Right as I was about to start making breakfast a bison came trotting down a hill in front of the RV and started grazing on the grass couple hundred yards in front of me after taking a few minutes to make sure nobody was speeding.
So I kept an eye on him or her while I made breakfast and sat in the driver seat just keeping an eye on the bison moving along. It was really cool to watch, and eventually the bison swam across the Yellowstone to continue grazing on the opposite side.
A while later, another bison swam from the other side of the river over to my side and started grazing and just kind of hanging out.
After a while, I packed up and started my drive down further to fishing bridge and Lake Village on the North Shore of Yellowstone Lake. Not too long after leaving my sunrise spot I saw a couple of bison that were pretty close by and had a really cool encounter with them as they walked by very close to the RV. I sat there quietly and tried really hard not to upset the big scary bison.
A little further along the drive saw a photographer, taking pictures of what I think was a herd of mule deer moving up along a ridge too far away for me to get particularly good pictures of them. Quick stop at the fishing bridge which ironically you’re not allowed to fish near. Before heading down to the lake village and spend a few minutes on the shore of Yellowstone lake right next to the hotel there which is really cool looking.
Heading back north from Yellowstone Lake. I stopped to hike, mud volcano, but didn’t get too terribly far because a half dozen bison decided to claim the main attraction up on the back end of the loop trail so I had to turn around and come back down lest I piss them off.
After that, I drove back up to Canyon Village, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and did a couple of hikes first on the south rim just to a quick inspiration point. Then I went onto the North rim and made the mistake of walking down to the brink of the lower falls, which is Nine switchbacks .38 miles long and like 670 vertical feet. Going down was hard on the toes coming back was brutal on everything else.But the pictures were pretty cool and the view is even more impressive.
After that, I stopped at the gas station in Yellowstone to top off and found an overlook over Norris Geyser Valley and sat down and made myself a turkey sandwich and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I’m pretty wiped out and probably need to start wearing sunscreen on my face, even though I haven’t wearing a hat the entire time so now I’m trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the day as it’s only 2 PM more to come later.
May 8, 2025 – Shameless ravens and Old Faithful
The ravens around Yellowstone know no fear, nor shame. I watched one chase people and cars around a parking lot looking for food. I also walked past one make what sounded like a text tone repeatedly until I turned to look at it. At that point it started hopping around and “looking for food” on the ground while periodically hopping closer and giving me “the look”. It was not pleased when I didn’t throw food immediately. Oh well. I decided to head down to Old Faithful since I had the time and that sounded like a nice quiet way to relax. I stopped to take pictures of a snoozing bison along the way, I just couldn’t resist.
I made it down to Old Faithful and strolled around before thinking to check the website for the next eruption. I had about 30 minutes, so I walked the loop around the rest of the geyser field. Then, I saw a sign pointing to Old Faithful Observation Point – less than a mile away. That sounds nice, getting away from the crowds… Yeah, so one heart attack later, I made it up to the observation point 1 minute before the 20 minute estimated eruption window. I only had to wait a couple of minutes before the show, and was able to make my way down at a more leisurely pace.
Ok, I can admit that at some point I will laugh at this and I fully expect all of you reading this to laugh pretty much right away. You have heard of the Marie Kondo school of simplifying – get rid of it if it doesn’t bring you joy… this is kind of like that. Let me explain – fair warning, I am sitting next to a fire with about 1.5 Old Fashioneds in me, so be ready to be amazed, amused and probably grossed out.
Today was an incredibly full day as I noted. I am at about 19,000 steps, did more switchbacks hiking than I care to remember and experienced a lot of what Yellowstone has to offer, including distracted drivers. Anyway, I made it back to my campsite with the plan of emptying the tanks and refilling the water (yes, National Lampoons and Randy Quaid most definitely should be popping into your head right now). Being the first time I am doing this I decide to record it, because isn’t that what everyone does? I watched the training video, the owner Barry even demonstrated for me when I picked up the RV in Denver (ominous undertones). I also have a fair amount of education and experiences that make me pretty confident I can tackle this problem. There is one outlet pipe and two handles for emptying out the RV. One handle opens the valve for the “grey water” – sink and shower; and one handle opens the “black water” – use your imagination… the process is:
- Take the cap off the big pipe
- Connect the big hose to the big pipe and put the other end into the receptacle in the ground
- Make sure you have the hose elevated so everything drains smoothly
- Open the black water valve and let that drain
- Open the grey water valve and let that drain and start to clean the big hose
- Connect fresh water hose to supply and valve in RV and turn on water to flush the black water tank and big hose.
What step do you think went wrong? No, not that one. No, not that one either. Bear with me as I delve into a bit of conjecture. Consider if you will, an RV owner who tells renters they need to empty the tanks or let him know so he can empty them and charge the renters for it. Perhaps the renters figured one or two quick last minutes uses of the toilet won’t hurt anyone, and won’t show up in the gauge. What could possibly go wrong?
Next, consider a trusting/lazy owner who takes the word of said renters (this has been confirmed by the way). That same owner, being very detailed about the orientation, shows many, but not all, of the steps to empty the tanks. That owner would show you the big pipe, but probably not take off the cap. The owner would then show you how to pull the handles opening the tanks.
Are you starting to see where this leads? Our heroic protagonist (yes, that is me for the sake of this story) pulls up to the dump station, pulls out the big hose to connect to the big pipe. And that’s when shit gets real. Literally. Apparently when the trusting/lazy owner demonstrated most, but not all, of the steps to empty the tanks, he released black water into the pipe, but which was kept bottled up by the cap on the end of the big pipe. So, we all remember what step one is, right? Off comes the cap and out comes a gift from the previous renters. So, now I have someone else’s mess on me, and have to figure out how to get clean without turning my home for the next few weeks into a 4-wheeled ick mobile, and figure out if I what I am wearing still brings me joy… bringing it back to Marie Kondo.
My hands (wearing nitrile gloves) forearms, pants and shoes take hits. Pants and forearms minor, the shoes… they definitely no longer bring me joy. Anyway, I do need to do laundry soon anyway, so I think the flannel shirt and pants can be saved. The shoes – not so much.
The best part – I got it all on video. I did some heavy editing, because the potty humor/language got a bit much… but if ever there was an appropriate time, I would argue that today was just such a time. In the end I will just leave you with a single picture.
I hope you laughed, and maybe gagged a little with the imagery, but know that I somehow managed to come through this traumatic experience a stronger and better (possibly smellier) person. 😜
May 9, 2025 – It was a cold and early morning
Another early morning in an effort to get up to Lamar Valley to see the early morning activities. Did I mention I am still having issues with the heat? It apparently needs to have a minimum charge on the batteries in order to fire up, and for whatever reason, there wasn’t enough charge, so no heat. It was fine to start out, and another shower was quite comfortable. I slept pretty well, particularly considering the level of activity this desk jockey undertook yesterday. When my alarm went off at 5:00 AM, it was 47 degrees in the camper. I quickly threw on clothes, fired up the engine and headed out on my adventure. The drive was fine, but the sun was up by the time I made it to Lamar Valley, though not by much.
I was subjected to my first real Yellowstone tourist experience as I came upon several large gatherings of people looking at… I’m not sure? My best guess is they were birders and there was something truly spectacular in the pond near the road. Like I did yesterday, I tried to find a place to stop with a nice view to make breakfast. So I park along the road and try to fire up the generator so I can use the microwave to make oatmeal. Uh oh. Grumpy generator = no oatmeal. I make cheesy eggs and notice some bison heading my way. Quite a few of them!
Watching them work their way down the road I decided to relocate and see if I can meet up with them again. They did not disappoint! There is a rule for viewing wildlife called the Rule of Thumb – hold your arm out straight and if you can’t cover the animal completely with your thumb, you are too close. In this case, if I tried that, I am pretty sure I would have stuck my thumb up the nose of a bison…
After that excitement I drove a while longer, stopping along the way. I walked down to stare at the Lamar River and came across a lot of Uinta Ground Squirrels – pretty sure that is what they are – terribly cute and a neat little alarm call too. After that was time for some activity, so I randomly turned to the trailhead for the Hellroaring Trail. I chose the 4 mile round trip over the suspension bridge and to the river itself. It was a moderate but enjoyable hike, of course finishing with more switchbacks.
Decided to stop at Mammoth Hot Springs to eat lunch, try the generator again and then set up a service call since quite a bit, including these updates, requires a functional generator. On the drive back I briefly saw a couple of black bears who had been hanging around one of their kills for the last couple of days, some Pronghorn, and got quite close to a Mule Deer grazing right next to the parking lot.
I ended up hiking the Mammoth Springs, because again, why not? Incredible to think how much relatively subtle change can be created with persistence. I am sure there are countless lessons and metaphors here, but I am a bit tired, so feel free to imagine your own.
After that up and down walk along the boardwalks I settled in for some food and to catch up with the outside world – we have a Pope y’all!
May 9, 2025 – The RV drama continues
The RV’s owner has immediately worked to get a mechanic out to fix the issues, and this is no different. Upon hearing my issues with the generator he identified a local mechanic and put us in touch to schedule time for a visit (at his expense of course). After several texts with the owner and a couple of calls with the mechanic I have learned a couple of things:
- Nothing is ever easy.
- Your run of the mill RV mechanic doesn’t work on propane generators
- There is only one RV mechanic in West Yellowstone – he does not work on propane generators
I sent pictures and videos of the issue, the mechanic had some recommendations, including one that contradicted the owner for how to prime the generator. That didn’t fix the problem, but it seemed to help. In the midst of all of this, the generator started working flawlessly of course, which is why I am able to sit here in Mammoth Springs enjoying a nice breeze and doing all sorts of updates. Hopefully it will continue to work this evening so I might even be able to use the heat… but I am not counting on it.
May 10, 2025 – Fond farewells, the mechanic and Grand Teton National Park
Yesterday afternoon and evening was uneventful, with a couple of small side-quests on the drive home, but nothing particularly picture-worthy other than some super adorable baby bison.
I was able to confirm time with the mechanic for 10:00 AM today in West Yellowstone, so plans revolved around that. When I woke up it was 45 in the RV, but I was able to start the truck, start the heat, and then turn off the truck and the heat stayed on! Hallelujah! So I crawled back in bed for a little bit waiting for things to warm up. I then took a quick drive up to Artist Paintpots, requiring me to park out on the main road and walk into the trailhead/boardwalk. It was a nice easy couple of miles all told, and quiet as it was still early and about 37 degrees.
After that it was time to head into town to meet the mechanic and do laundry (I am absolutely convinced the entire RV smelled like pee, but I am sure it was in my head). I did a couple more side quests in the way out, stopping at Beryl Springs and checking out a grazing bison.
Laundry went about as expected – wicked expensive and the soap dispenser AND dryer both ate some money, so $2.50 wasted. I may have to come home early due to the staggering loss in my finances.
The mechanic, Erik, showed up on time and took a quick look before meeting his daughter for breakfast. I totally endorse those priorities. Anyway, he poked and prodded, but ultimately diagnosed the generator as “having gremlins”.
We decided the switch on the inside of the RV was wonky, so he disconnected that and I will have to start start the generator directly. I may also need to manually throttle the generator until it gets fully warmed up. So having “taken care” of that, I headed out to find some breakfast and head down to Grand Teton National Park. I found a bakery in West Yellowstone that had highly recommended cinnamon rolls, so that pretty much sealed the deal. Breakfast was (part of) the cinnamon roll, a slice of ham and cheese quiche and a chai latte. All were… fine, but nothing to write home about (I say as I write home about it).
Anyway, on to Grand Teton.
Psst – turn the page…
Comments
That climb out of the balcony house, along the cliff is a hell no for me! Good thing you went…
Eeeewww
I’m pretty sure that you felt a kinship with that raven in your story. LOL
That has crossed my mind. I also have plenty of wall space in my study, so I am considering an…
Travel with Sherpa 
As long as you don’t look down, look back, or think about it, it is totally fine 😜