Mammoth Hot Springs and Monday Night Football
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Well, the snow did come. We woke up to a light dusting, but it continued snowing into the morning. Ultimately about ¾ of an inch at the campground. But it didn’t really stick to the road. There was an elk wandering around the site for a bit. So the 8-13 inches that we were warned about didn’t really come to fruition (thankfully) but we didn’t know the state of things up at higher elevations in the park.
The battery levels were down pretty low in the morning and the snow covered up the solar panels (not that there was all that much light anyway) so we got concerned we’d run out. And without power there is no heat. And without heat, there is no camping. We were at a powered site but hadn’t hooked up because we hadn’t needed to. The question was, after all the effort to get the trailer leveled would the power cord reach the outlet?
Les braved the cold and went out to hook it up. It *just* reached. Within an inch or two. Good trip karma. We didn’t have a ladder to clear the snow off the solar panels, but we figured out that Les could just reach them with the broom standing on the picnic table. So we moved one to each side of the trailer and he was able to clear them off. Not that we actually needed them by that point but why not?
We couldn’t find anything that would tell us the state of the roads. So we figured we’d go to the gate and ask. After finding Les a coffee first of course. Unfortunately, the place we went yesterday closed at 11. And it was now 11:20. Missed it by that much (to quote Maxwell Smart). So he had to settle for quickie mart coffee.
We discovered at the park entrance that everything past Mammoth Hot Springs was closed. We had pretty much covered Mammoth the day before but since that was all that was available, we figured we’d see what it looked like in snow.
And it does improve the view. It also makes it pretty clear that most of the area is not actively ‘thermal’ since it remained snow covered. Only a small part had melted or had water trickling down. Which confirmed what I thought yesterday that when we were here a long time ago, there was a LOT more going on. According to the brochure, things are constantly changing and sometimes there’s not a lot going on. We were hoping this was the case and that it wasn’t an indication that things were ‘winding down’ at the hot spring. Or the ‘tepid spring’ as we started calling it.
There were snow flurries blowing and blowing quite hard actually. So despite being warmly dressed, it was still pretty cold having snow blown into your face the whole time. But we took a wander around for 30 minutes or so and got a few more pictures. And then decided that would probably suffice. It’s definitely a different look in the snow and it makes the surrounding hills and trees quite pretty. We ran into a few hardy souls like ourselves who ventured out to see what they could see. Yellowstone is not easy to get to. So if you’ve made the effort, you’re going to see what you can see, even if it’s 30 degrees and snow is blowing in your face. We provided some guidance to a few folks to minimize their exposure (this is the area with the most activity, avoid the steep walk over here) which they were grateful for.
Since we couldn’t go forward, we had a look around the park headquarters nearby. There’s a nice restaurant with big picture windows and thought why not have lunch there? We could see through the window that people were eating. So sure, why not. Well, it turns out they only serve lunch until 2:00. What time is it now? 2:10. Missed it by that much… again. We may try again tomorrow. We had a look in the General Store for anything interesting to bring home to our wives. Nothing too exciting but a few potential candidates.
There was nothing for it but to head back to the trailer. On the way we considered whether to try to find a place to have dinner and watch Monday Night Football, which had been a tradition on the Sequent trip. Gardiner-ites apparently aren’t big sports fans. We only found one place that looked promising, but they were closed until 5:00. So we had to wait until then to go back and see if it would work.
It turns out they did have TVs (and food) but the place was full by the time we got there at 6. The only part that had TVs was the bar and all the tables and bar stools were taken. We were milling about trying to decide whether to stay or try the pizza place across the way, when the lone guy who was sitting at a table for four said he was almost done, and we could have his table when he was through. So we had a seat and struck up a conversation.
He was in Gardiner because he had flown up to Bozeman to watch his nephew, who played football for Cal Poly, play against Montana State (it didn’t go well for Cal Poly). He had decided to drive back (to San Mateo where he lives) by way of Yellowstone and the Tetons, neither of which he had ever seen, and Spokane and Seattle where he had friends. Sounded like something we would do. He didn’t seem to have much of an idea of how to get any of the places he wanted to go, and we tried to help him.
He enjoyed our company so much that he continued ordering beers and shots (at least 3, maybe 4) and we had our dinner with him and watched the whole game. The Indianapolis Colts were up 25-9 going into the fourth quarter, but the Baltimore Ravens made a huge comeback, got to overtime, and ultimately won the game. It turned out he had money on the game (on the Ravens) and was quite pleased with the outcome. It couldn’t have been too much money because he was remarkably calm about it when it seemed clear they would lose.
But really, he was a baseball fan, and the third game of the Dodgers/Giants series was also on. So we talked a lot of baseball for awhile, but also some football, a little basketball, hunting, fishing, Internet and God knows what else. We enjoyed his company until the 4th beer or so when, as usually happens, he started getting louder and less fun to be around.
In the meantime, he distracted us enough to not realize that it had been steadily snowing for the last 4 hours and there was now a good 4 or 5 inches of snow on the ground. We were only about 500 yards from the RV park but the real drama was getting out of the parking lot. The truck is BIG and the space was small and the truck wasn’t getting much traction. But after awhile Les managed to get out to the road. The more intelligent Montanans were safely at home, which we could tell because there were no tracks in the snow. Luckily we were close to where we needed to be and we slowly and carefully made our way there, then down the relatively steep hill.
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