into the wild pt 2.

The day started with a chorus of manly noises. Normally, it would have been funny, but we were all cramped up in a van with a single window cracked. The night was restless. The Johnnie Walker couldn't help the packed living situation and the freezing cold that hit at about 3am.

Let it air out!

I got up to escape the fog of methane and picked up right where I left off the night before; building the morning's camp fire. We had a full box left so I got the fire started and placed the tea kettle onto the steel grill. There is nothing like having hot brewed coffee on a chilly morning camping.

Hot water brewing.

As the hot water brewed, I went to the washroom to freshen up. I was feeling the after affects of not having showered for 36 hours. Surprisingly, the washroom was heated and very clean for a campground. There was also a separate nook to wash pans, utensils, etc. Brownie points!

Notice in the washroom.

The water had just started boiling when I came back to the campsite. I pulled the kettle off of the fire and started mixing in the convenient 3-n-1 packets (coffee, creamer, sugar) I brought from home. 5 minutes later, instant coffee. As we stood there, sipping on our hot coffee and taking in the scenery, I thought, "This is what camping is all about. Let nature wash away all of your worries."

We were finally on our way at about 9am. The plan for the day was to make the loop from Madison campground to Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt to Chittendon Road (to hike up Mt Washburn) and then eventually down to Canyon Village to take in views of the Grand Canyon.

We passed many sights on the way to Mammoth but none more grand than the Golden Gate. It is a bridge that hangs around a mountain with the canyon below it. It reminded me of the Bixby and Rocky Creek bridges on the California 1 highway. This was a perfect picture opportunity, but instead it started an ongoing theme throughout the trip; amazing shot potential but the sun, for lack of better words, cockblocking the attempt. I tried to do as well as I could and came away with some adequate, although insufficient, digital memories.

Golden Gate.

By the time we got to Mammoth, it was about 10:30am. Driving into these checkpoints felt like driving into small towns. There was always at least a lodge, general store, gas station, and dining areas. We walked into
Terrace Grill hoping for a hearty breakfast filled with sausage, eggs and bacon only to have our appetites dashed with a sign that read "Serving Continental Breakfast.....Hot Breakfast 8 - 10:30am". We missed it by 5 minutes! Salt was poured into the wound when we saw a pair of gentleman indulging in steaming scrambled eggs and toast off to the side. Defeated, we resorted to coffee after seeing the limited menu and decided to walk around to see if there was a main dining restaurant. Sure enough, right behind Terrace Grill was the main dining room. It was closer to 11 now so we decided to wait a half hour for lunch to open.

About to miss breakfast at Terrace Grill.

Another ongoing theme of the trip, well at least for me, was souvenir shopping. I couldn't get enough of the animal/park ranger themed memorabilia. We went to the general store to burn time and I invested in a wolf hat for BAM (to match her outfit from the furry party) and mini park ranger vest for my nephew Xavier. All necessary items in my book.

Place to sign up for horseback riding.

Old Fashioned Yellowstone Tour Buses.

It was now 11:30am and we booked it back to the dining room. Xanterra, who owns all of the campsites as well as lodging, general store,s etc to the whole park does a great job keeping up with all of its amenities. Since they hold a monopoly on the whole park, I was hoping that the company was non profit but found out later it wasn't. Fortunately, they donate a certain percentage to the park to fund building development, infrastructure, etc. I read up on the company a little later and it seems they are committed to green initiatives like not selling plastic water bottles in their parks and using wasted vegetable oil to power a locomotive. Xanterra is also owned by Philip Anschutz, co-founder of Major League Soccer.

The cool thing we learned was some of the workers work solely during the summer and come from all over the world. That would be a cool thing to do during a summer vacation I thought.

We finally got the menus and I had my eyes set on the Salmon BLT. Hopefully, it would be better than the elk burger I had for dinner the night before. Luckily, it was.

Salmon BLT. Super yum.

It wasn't too long after that we were on the road again. I was in and out of sleep because of the food coma from lunch. I woke up to catch this.

I was starting to get anxious about Mt. Washburn. The mountain is 10243 feet at its summit, which is about equivalent to Mt. Fuji. If Mt. Fuji was any indication, this would not be an easy hike. Then again, from asking around, the hike should take between 1 to 4 hours each way depending on your skill level. Climbing Mt Fuji took 11 hours; 6 going up, 5 going down. Granted, the weather was sublime (during Mt. Fuji you were fighting wind and clouds at the top and torrential rain coming down) but would it be that much easier?

We got to Chittendon Road which is the approach to Mt. Washburn. It is essentially a gravel road up to a parking area. When we first hit the gravel, the van seemed fine. Bumps here and there. No big deal. When we hit the first incline, that's when things started getting scary. The road was marginally big enough for two vehicles to pass side by side. We were on the cliff side with no guard rails so every bump felt like a bump closer to the afterlife. Our van chugged along. The scariest moments were when we would approach a turn and my sordid imagination would envision a car from the opposite direction coming around the corner and t-boning us right off of the cliff. Yash kept his cool the whole time (remember that story about growing up in a civil war?). Amith and I, not so much. I averted looking to my right until we were finally up to the parking lot. When we got there, I was grateful. I hopped out and walked straight to the outhouse.

It took about 50 yards to get to the outhouse and I was already breathing hard. I was concerned. We were at about 8800 ft currently and it was about 1500 feet more to the summit. If I was breathing hard now, how would I fare at 10000 feet? I was no stranger to 10000 feet. When I was on Mt. Fuji, the last 500 feet up I was taking two steps at a time.

We got geared up and ready to go. Before we started the trail we passed by the bulletin board where they have information about the trail and other reminders. We couldn't help but see the sign that repeated, "Do you know what to do if you see a bear?" This kept us on our toes and reminded us we were indeed in bear country.

Run! Jk.

We started the ascent and it took less than 5 minutes before I asked the other guys to stop. I was gasping for air. Two things crossed my mind - 1) This was not going to be easy and 2) Why didn't I work out the last 3 months before the trip!? Loathing myself, we continued on until the incline didn't become as steep.

Initial Ascent.

We repeated the same steps for what seemed like hours. I would lag about 5-10 steps behind the guys, which kept reminding me of those shows on Animal Planet where the tigers would prey on those that fell behind the pack. Unfortunately, that was me. I would then "pretend" to want to take a picture of the landscape but really I was just trying to scrap up whatever pride I had left to catch my breath. When we got closer to the top, I no longer cared about pride, I would just say, "I need to stop." Then Amith would get into some sort of Captain Morgan pose and ask one of us to take his picture. Then we were off again.

Come back you guys!

I must admit there were times where you would look back and were awed by this sprawling landscape.

 

We were a good hour into it and I was cursing life as well as all of the kids who were coming back down skipping and smiling. They would blurt out smart remarks like, "You can do it" and "Only a little bit more to go." Ok maybe the comments weren't smart, but I was in no mood.

At about an hour and 20 minutes we get to a spot where there is a bench. Amith went to go explore further down. I took full advantage of this rest stop and put down my now heavy bag. I finally caught my breath and took in the scenery. The summit didn't seem so far off now and what seemed impossible now seemed the opposite. There was slight breeze in the air.

Taking a much needed breather.

After the much needed rest, we charged on for the final stretch. The cruel thing about climbing Mt. Washburn is almost at all times you can see the watchtower at the summit so it gave you this false sense of thinking you were almost there when in reality you still had about 45 minutes to go.

It's so close yet so far.

When I took the final steps to the top I was no longer feeling the last two hours worth of strain, sweat and heavy breathing. I was content with making it and basked in the glory as so many other hikers have done in the past.

Almost....

Finally...

There.

We walked into the watchtower which had some information and binocular stations. We learned that the life of a watchtower ranger is not so glamorous. During the winter, they could be there alone for months. During the summer, their prime responsibility is to look out for brush fires as well as make sure the managed fires don't go where they're not supposed to.

I took a much needed restroom break. Again, at over 10000 feet, the bathrooms were clean!

We took our time taking photos of the landscape and refueling our bodies with energy bars and water.

It took us a little over an hour to get back down without stopping which makes a case for how much altitude plays a part in how strenuous ascending a mountain is. Unfortunately, due to the disparity in time, my right arm was much darker than my left arm. I'm sure you can figure out why.

Mt Fuji vs Mt Washburn: Mt Fuji is much harder than Mt. Washburn. 11 hours vs 3.5 hours. 'Nuff said!

We headed back down the ominous gravel road and onto Canyon Village. On the way, we were reminded how treacherous the area can be; a family was standing next to their SUV that had fallen into a ditch and took a couple of trees with it.

We got to Canyon Village at about 5:30pm. When I hopped down on the ground, all I felt was pain through my legs. It felt like all of my muscles were cramping at the same time. The Tylenol I took before climbing Mt. Washburn had now worn off. I popped another one as soon as I could feel a headache coming. There are not many times I say I feel my age but this was definitely one of those times.

After Amith checked in, we headed straight to South Rim Drive to take some great pics at Artist Point. From that vantage, you can get a picturesque view of the 308 ft Lower Falls waterfall. You could tell everyone was both mentally and physically tired but we willed ourselves for the last great photo op of the day. Unfortunately, the sun was setting and right in line with the waterfalls so after taking countless shots and tricks I decided to give up and live to fight another day. Darn you sun!

Trying to use the trees to block the sun. Lower Falls in the distance.

After the Grand Canyon, we headed to our cabin. It was only $96 dollars a night, which at the time I thought was a great deal. Once we got in our cabin, I knew why; very spartan room and no air conditioning/tv/etc. I didn't care for any of the latter. It was now more than 48 hours since we last showered and all any of us could think about was getting clean.

My voice got higher after I drank this.

Before we could jump in the shower, Amith calmly called us to come outside. Once outside, I didn't know how he had managed to stay so calm. Before us stood three colossal bison about 60 yards away, right in front of some other cabins.

Then, without hesitation, a slew of Chinese tourists come lagging behind them like paparazzi and start taking pictures. Now I don't know which was more amazing, the bison in a residential area or the picture takers oblivious that they were only about 10 yards away from being mauled.

I guess they didn't see the warning signs.

Regardless, shower time was beckoning.

After washing away the grime and dirt of the last two days we were now refreshed and ready to have a peaceful dinner. We headed back to the Canyon Lodge Village and chilled out in the lounge since there was a 40 min wait. The lounge looked like we were transported back to the 80s like in Hot Tub Time Machine. I appreciated the nostalgia and cozied up to my leather armchair. If it wasn't for the other guys, I could have passed out and stayed there the whole night.

Eventually, our pager buzzed and we sat down to enjoy a much earned chicken wing, artichoke dip and mini burger dinner. After dinner we retreated back to the hotel and slept to prepare for our last day of the trip.