Week 5, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho (US)

4/7

Rose at 6.15, breakfast (without coffee, grrr), packed and on the way to Bozeman to celebrate the 4th ofJuly. Laterz...
Drove all day (panorama pic) to find a campground round 5 pm, 20 K outside Bozeman though. So guitar, a IPA , and an early night it was. Slept good.

5/7

Rose at 6.30. Ready and packed at 7.30. Shopping at Walmart and on our way to Yellowstone NP now.  See u there.

1st day in Yellowstone park. Found a nice camping spot (and an annoying park ranger who told us to remove our tents). Afternoon: climbed over a little mountain to get to the hot springs.

Found a nice hotel, where we could shower (man was that good). Descended our way back to camp. Nice meal and nice conversations,  which really created a groupfeeling. Slept good.

6/7

Drove all day through the park. Its as big as half of the Netherlands,  so... we did our mileage.
Stopped at 6 spots to hike and enjoy the scenery.

Then, the struggle to find a campground. It took untill i 8 pm before we found one. So, wildcamping (outside the park!!) it was. It was way after 10 pm before we were done eating and setting up camp. The IPA after that was incredibly delicious. Slept as if i was unconscious.

7/7

Rose at 6.45, breakfasted, toiletted with the bears, packed and on our way back into Yellowstone NP.
Again: geisers, hot springs, waterfalls, wildlife, annyway ...look.

Found a comfortable campground round 5 pm, so some time for ourselves, ending up in a campfire and beers obviously.

8/7

Slept in until 7.15. Breakfasted and now leaving Yellowstone NP. On our way to Grand Teton NP. Laterz..

Then this moment: entering Grand Teton NP (beautiful rivers, snowy peeks of the Rockies, magnificent lakes), with Arvo Part on your headphone. Listen and look and try to imagine this intense feel of surreal,  ultimate happiness. Almost too much to handle.

Arvo Part, Salvine Regina ... https://youtu.be/f1CNNf9iU9Y

Arrived at the campground around 13.00. Put up tents, went to the village, to find laundry, showers and wifi. Oh yeah, what a luxury.
Did a small hike and returned to the campground for a swim in the nearby lake (overviewing the snowy peeks of the Rockies)

 <Bijan's pic to be added>.

Then cookgrouptime. Lauretta (our chief cook) made a great italian meal again (forgot the name). Sinncewe

Since we have the day osff tomorrow the campfire/guitar/beer event lasted until 1 am. Slept like a log and woke up hung over. Naughty me.


9/7

Slept in until 8.30. Hung over (-ish). Cleaned and packed the kitchen (my part of the cookgroup duty). Went for a shower, laundry, a luxury lunch, wifi and a blog update. About to go back to the campground. Laterz...

Walked back the the truck and slept for 2 hours. Feeling a bit feverish... hmm.
I can tell that im leading a rough(ish) life now. Little wounds all over. Some of them a bit infected. Can hardly get my hands and feet clean. Dirt in the pores of my skin. Despite the shower of this morning. Anyway... lets do a good night sleep and see how i feel tomorrow.

Rest of  the afternoon was in relax mode. Bit of rain, cup of tea, dinner, chats over campfire and an episode of fringe in my tent. Early and long night (with a bit of storm).

10/7

Rose at 7.00, breakfast,  packed and on our way south again. One more night in Grand Teton, then Saltlake City. Laterz...

First a smal trip to Jackson lake ...

Then a 2 hr hike around lake Jenny, with lunch at the hidden  falls.

Now on the road to the last campground in Grand Teton. Long drive. Will wants to be as close to Salt lake city as possible i think.
In Idaho now.... no campground yet though.

Found a nice spot at 7 pm.
I helped the cookgroup to  setup kitchen. Rest was to busy finding good spots for their tents. Bit annoying i must say. Some group members tend to think of themselves only (and  still have a loud mouth). Oh well ...

Rest of the evening: chats. Episode of fringe and a good night of sleep.

See you next week.