July 30th
I’m in this strange existence where sleeping indoors is as difficult as outdoors. Those closest to me know I’m a bit of an insomniac; usually getting about 5 0r 6 hours sleep each city night. Now, on the trail, I go to sleep around 9:30. I usually wake up every few hours to turn over. Perhaps longer or shorter depending upon the weather, animal noises (real or not), and the number of sticks, rocks, and pine cones I missed while clearing a space for my tent.
Now, when I try to sleep in an enclosed room, I awaken even more often. This is a touch frustrating since I associate a town visit with four things: food, shower, sleep, and resupply.
I waited outside the West Yellowstone Visitor Center to change my backcountry permit. To ensure first-in-line status, I arrived about 15 minutes early. I noted the large print saying it would open at 8:00. Then, I endured that awkward social experience of people coming up, walking past me, looking at the door, and then pulling on it. Two people were quick to advise me that it was not open yet. I thanked them for the benefit of their intellect. Amazingly, none of the people queued up behind me. They just left, perhaps to find a souvenir shop open.
Contrary to most experiences I have with bureaucracy, the re-permiting process went somewhat smoothly. Backcountry permits are handled through a separate office and process. This is extremely valuable to CDT hikers that often have little control over their exact arrival dates. The person handling it in office was a retired park service employee from another section (environmental education). He wasn’t totally comfortable with a cancel and reprocess, so he phoned in to the central office and eventually it all seemed to work out where I kept my itinerary but just bumped everything back one day. I joked that I hoped I did not have to watch”the video” since I saw it in Glacier and had survived a bear encounter. He said that I would have to watch the video because Yellowstone bears were different from Glacier. Trying not to be a smart-ass, I nevertheless asked whether they spoke different languages. Unamused, he informed me that Glacier bears were mostly vegetarian with a plant based diet while Yellowstone bears were mainly carnivorous. The tone led me to believe there are probably situations where a bunch of yellowstone Rangers walk in to a bar filled with glacier Rangers and start talking smack about those plant-eating glacier bears. Much like the old movie scene with the inter-service military bar brawl, I’m sure the Law Enforcement Rangers come in to sort things out after the fight.
Rest assured our Park Service has a separate yellowstone video. I was keen to note that eye contact was not as important to Yellowstone bears as it was to Glacier bears, perhaps indicating that vegetarian bears are more sensitive.
After an hour, I was all done except for the $9.00 fee which I had to pay in the main area and bring back the receipt. Thankfully, I was not in a hurry so I enjoyed listening to the discussion between the man at the counter and the only park service person staffing it. They spent 15 minutes discussing whether or not there was rock climbing in the Park.
Done with my paperwork, I set about eating, napping, and getting my gear ready for a return to trail. The hotel owner agreed to drive me back to the pass. Thus, I spent the rest of the time updating my blog from the office computer rather than my phone.
backpacking over the hill 