My assigned campsite for the day was at Moose creek – just 12 miles away. I crossed the Firehole River and after a bit entered the Shoshone Geyser Basin. I’ve been here several times over the years and was a little dismayed to see that the Park Service had placed signs all over saying to stay on the trail. You used to be able to wander all around and look at the thermal features as closely as you wanted, including those far off the trail. But not anymore <sigh>.
The trail goes along the shore of Shoshone Lake where I found a bunch of delicious tiny strawberries before ascending the slope and traversing some thickly wooded side valleys. I passed my assigned campsite at noon and couldn’t bring myself to stop and waste the day, so I kept going. After descending back to Shoshone Lake I crossed the lake outlet which was up to my waist and fairly wide. The water kept getting deeper so I decided to return to the shore and try again further down the creek and away from the lake itself. This was much better and I was able to cross without getting my pack wet.
The trail here crosses a low area named Dogshead Channel which consisted of small hills and billions of relentless mosquitoes. I fought them off all the way to the highway, where I hitched into Grant Village for a burger, fries, and ice cream.
I also needed to go there because I’ve developed a horrible rash on the insides of my thighs and arms and sides. I think it’s hives, possibly brought on by an immune response to all the bug bites? Anyway, the itching is insane and I’m going to damage my skin scratching at it. I bought every anti-itch cream they had – Preparation-H and Benadryl. I think the Benedryl is more relevant so I applied a bunch and took two Benedryl orally.
I thought about hitching back to the trailhead and stealth camping, but I wasn’t feeling well – there may be more to this rash than just itchy skin. Instead, I got a campsite here at the campground. I got the tent set up just before it started raining. It’s been raining now for a couple of hours so this is a real rainstorm. I did 22 miles today.
Oh, I saw my 6th bear! This one was coming down the trail towards me, maybe 30 yards away. I saw it first and stopped. After a few seconds it saw me and it stopped. I said “Hey bear, Nice bear”, and started slowly backing up. I got the bear spray out as the bear stared at me. After quite a while it casually started walking off the trail towards the creek below. I got a video of it when it was quite a ways away. What a calm, nice bear! I feel a little bad for it – they must get tired of constantly trying to avoid all the humans in the park.
A few yards down the trail I discovered an ant colony in a rotten chunk of wood. Everything was torn up and strewn all over the trail, and the ants were scurrying all over carrying their larvae to a safer place. I think this is what the bear was eating before I came along. Since I scared the bear away I suppose I could have claimed this bounty for myself, but I decided to keep moving.