The best laid plans

When we arrived in YNP, we were told that hitchhiking is legal within the park, or, at the very least, an accepted practice. One woman that I work with hitched every day for 2 weeks from training class at Mammoth the 5 miles to her RV in Gardiner. Her average pick up time is 5 minutes. Other returning park employees recommended making a sign that reads, "Employees," and the destination for quick pick ups. Apparently, 5 employees from Thailand managed to hitch from Mammoth all the way to Livingston, MT and back without trouble. Since all trails don't end where they begin and backpackers often need to get somewhere without a car, hitchhiking seems like a viable option for travelling to or from trail heads without the use of 2 cars. However, Alex and I are hitchhiking failures.

It all started with a good plan to get to the Hoodoos, 4 miles north of Mammoth. To hike out and back would mean a 4 mile hike uphill and an 8 mile total trip, not do-able in an evening. Hitching out to the trail head would result in a pleasant 4 mile stroll downhill, through the Hoodoos, around the upper Hot Spring Terraces, and back into Mammoth. The Hoodoos are weird rock formations, like giant statues not quite formed into discernible shapes, that I have been wanting to walk through since we arrived here in April. Alex and I both worked an early shift on Monday, so we decided to have an early dinner and go for it. I made my sign, " Employees to Bunsen Peak Trail head," and off we went, taking our friend K. and his new hiking stick along. We tried to pick a good spot - the Hot Springs parking lot, where cars would have plenty of room to pull over. I held up the sign and Alex and K. held out their thumbs, me sure that we'd be picked up within a half an hour, and we watched the evening traffic drive by. RVs, cars full of tourists, cars full of gear, cars with one driver and 3 empty seats in the back, couples that wouldn't look at us, despite having an empty back seat. We smiled and waved at the Park Rangers and dump truck drivers, knowing they probably were prohibited from picking us up. Some people smiled at us and waved, but the camping gear in the back seat indicated that they couldn't squeeze the 3 of us in with their gear. So we waited, and waited, and watched the sun drop lower in the sky. Finally, Alex called, "Enough," pointing out that we wouldn't have time to hike the 4 miles back before sundown. I refused to give up so easily, holding my sign out all the way back to the hotel, where T, the bellman, expressed great surprise at our hitchhiking failure, suggesting that we give it one more shot in front of the General Store/gas station. But, alas, by this point our wills were weak and we ran into some friends eating ice cream. Sometimes, the best laid plans change into other plans, so joined our friends for ice cream, went to play on the Fort Yellowstone playground, marvelling at how we used to be able to do pull-ups, swing across the monkey bars, bravely jump from the swings at the highest point of the arc, and I somehow fit on the slides, then we ended the evening in our room watching "Alice in Wonderland." Perhaps it wasn't so bad to fail at hitchhiking after all.


In other news, the scary elk have taken their calves and wandered off and, after 2 days of warm sunshine, it is once again snowing. Ahh, Yellowstone.