Back Country Camping!

No Yellowstone experience is complete without camping in the back country. My coworkers/friends and I decide to give it a whirl. Being the outdoor amateurs that we all are, we decide it is best to first make a visit to the Back Country Office, here in Mammoth Hot Springs. There, we meet Ranger Jim, who is full of insider knowledge and is very helpful. He suggests a 2.6 mile hike into a campsite that he thinks will be doable for us.

Of course, no back country camping trip is allowed without first viewing a 20 minute video of preventing bear attacks. Sigh. It's hard to do anything here without being reminded of the worst case scenario. Guess it's best to be safe than sorry! Ranger Jim only has our best interests at heart anyway. So, after 20 minutes of watching actors react calmly to a grizzly bear attacking them in several different situations, we feel ready (and a little more scared) to venture into the back country of Yellowstone.

(I realize that I didn't take any pictures of myself on this camping trip! Oh well. There's nice pictures of everyone else.)

With gear on our backs (and probably a little too much gear) we merrily go on our way...


Justin's tree-branch-gear-holder. Looked like Tom Sawyer!...


I was so excited to see some riders on horseback along the way...


Headin' on down the trail...


Some buffalo along the way...


Dustin finds the skeleton of an elk's head...


And promptly adds it to the antler art of campers gone by...

Notice my addition of the tp roll on the upper right corner. I think it makes it just a little more arty. I could totally see this at MOMA.

Justin creates a swing from the food pole with rope and a tree branch...


Aww...roomie Cathleen enjoys the swing...


Beautiful view...


A picture of a mountain before sunset...


And the same mountain after sunset...


I am happy to report that none of us get eaten by a bear. Hooray!

In all seriousness, though, I don't mean to make any of you worry! I feel that I need to make a disclaimer about all of my bear references. In reality, there are 400 bears in this park, which spans 2.2 million acres. Since the opening of the Park in 1872, as Danny so kindly informed me, only 5 people have been killed by bears here. (And I use the word "only" in the utmost respect to those 5 people who lost their lives.) In fact, that bus driver on the first day was right when he said it is seven times more likely to get struck by lightning in the Park than be attacked by a bear. I learned that last Tuesday, 9 people were struck by lightning on the boardwalk next to Old Faithful - just 4 hours after I was there! Goodness gracious. Luckily, everyone survived. I think it's best to enjoy each day we have, not take it for granted, and love life now! We can never predict what will happen, but we can enjoy now.