The Mountain Is Calling, And I Must Go

Once again for our day off Rachel, Katie, and I set off on another 9-mile hike to Fairy Falls. This time we brought our Turkish friend along Izzet. The first part of the trip was interesting with Izzet screaming in the backseat of the car to play “Fergalicious” on the iPod. After satisfying his Black Eyed Peas music needs we arrived at Fairy Falls hiking trail. The four of us laughed, made conversation, and stopped all along the way for photo opportunities. When we finally arrived at the waterfall we of course took more pictures and then sat down for a small, but delicious picnic of summer sausage, pepper jack cheese, and crackers. We then made the wrong choice in deciding to follow Rachel down a path she swore she had taken before and assumed looped around. After walking about 3 extra miles than we were supposed to in the WRONG direction we realized that Rachel had lead us astray and was no longer the leader. Although we took an alternative and longer route we got to see a lot of interesting things along the way like an elk carcass, some lone buffalo, and geysers that we wouldn’t have had the chance to experience otherwise. Even though our feet and legs paid the price from the few extra miles of hiking it was once again a great day.

When I returned to Grant Village that night my aunt and uncle, Kathy and Ryan Kephart, had just arrived in Yellowstone and asked me to join them for dinner along with Flip and Karen Watson at the Grant Village Restaurant. It was nice to see some people I knew and share some of my pictures and exciting stories with them.

Later that week I met up with my aunt and uncle again and drove to West Yellowstone where we had dinner at a great Italian restaurant called Pete’s. I finally got to satisfy my enormous craving for pizza. On the way back we got to experience Yellowstone at dusk and on the verge of a huge lightning storm. Just before the storm rolled in we got pictures of shadowy mountains, smoky geysers, and full on rainbows. It was some of the best sightseeing I’d experienced since being in the park.