| Tuesday, May 25, 2004 |
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Occay..now I'm wide awake and finally happy to eat some decent Asian food after a week in the wilderness. Here goes my accounts for the past few days...
May 18 (Tuesday): Woke up early because we(Alex, Ilham, BC, Ija, me) were supposed to leave Madison at 8:30am. But as usual larr, this prob and that prob, we left only 2 hours after the planned time. Alex and Ilham drove most of the afternoon and evening and I took turn in the midst of the dark morning. We stopped at 5.30am this small farm to refill gas. It was a beautiful morning.
May 19 (Wednesday): I continued driving to Yellowstone National Park. I drove past a huge dam. The water is the color of aqua, and the water is flowing slow. It was a mesmerizing sight. Stopped at a very small town for breakfast. It was odd, seing so many old people around, looking at us as if we were aliens. I couldn't imagine living in a place like that when I am old. Ilham took over when we reached Yellowstone. We stopped at Yellowstone Lake and the Canyon. Gosh, the waterfall is gorgeous! We spent some hours just taking pictures and driving around the northeast side of the park. Surprisingly, we met two Indonesians and an American who has been to Malaysia quite a number of times. When nightfall reached, we decided to lodge at Mammoth since the cold weather did not permit us to camp. I cooked dinner and later that night, we played Bullshit.
May 20 (Thursday): In the morning, we drove to Mammoth Campground and set our base camps. Then, we drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs. To view this amazing God creation, you have no idea what you'd missed for just not being there. The water was crystal clear and you can see the corrals, with hot springs coming out of the lake and falls. It was like watching a scene from LOTR. Later, we went to Bunsen Peak. The hiking proved to be strenous. We had to pass snowy and rocky trails to reach up the mountain. I was really afraid of height, so I kept praying not to mistep. The peak is 8564ft high. I was glad when we finally reached the top of the peak. The view from the top is amazing. We had the chance to see mountain tops covered with snow, the clouds, the small road below. We had our lunch on top of the mountain. The hike down the mountain is more challenging since it is steeper and it started to rain ice. In the evening after the rain stopped, we went to Tower Falls and took the trail down the river to see the falls. When we returned to our base camp that night, I immediately went to sleep because I was hell tired.
May 21 (Friday): We left Mammoth and headed south towards Old Faithful. On the way, we stopped here and there to view the wildlife and to take photos of the beautiful scenery. Since the weather is getting colder, all of us decided to not camp for the rest of the week. After checking in at Old Faithful Inn, we went to watch the Old Faithful geyser's eruption. Ilham and Alex took a nap after that and the rest of us decided to do some souvenir shopping at the inn's gift shop. Later at around 4:00 pm, we drove down DeLacy Creek and started hiking towards Shoshone Lake for 3 miles. It felt like the longest 3 miles I've ever walked. We had to pass snowy trails, went through meadows and the pine forest. We reached the lake only an hour and the half after that. Though tiring, the long hike was worth it. The lake was enchanting and we took time taking photos. For a moment, I felt like the world belong to no one but us. When it was getting darker, we decided to hike back. Halfway, we panicked because the trail we went through was totally different from the one we previously took. Plus, it was getting darker. Thank God, I remembered to bring my compass and my hiking book that I bought at the gift shop. Around 7.30pm, we managed to get out of the forest. What a big relief! At night after taking showers and having a nice chat with a Malaysian who is working there for 3 months, we played cards again and went to sleep.
May 22 (Saturday): This day, we left Old Faithful and drove all the way to Grand Teton Park. There was nothing much to do there since horseback riding and boat trips are still unavailable till June. We stopped by at a Red Indian Museum and I bought myself a pretty beads necklace made by an Indian herself. We also stopped by a horse ranch and Teton lake. Then, we drove around the park to capture more photos of the wildlife and the beautiful sceneries. In the evening, we finally reached Jackson Hole town. This time, I really felt like I was in another part of the world. The town was pretty small. One would call it a cowboy town. Most of the shops and motels were built by woods. Though it felt odd at first, I came to love this very different town. It was just a new pretty sight for me. We went from shops to shops at the downtown looking for souvenirs and Wyoming t-shirts. I get to see a lot of Natives accessories and arts. I love every moment of it.
May 23 (Sunday): It was time to leave for Wisconsin. I felt kinda sad since I was really enjoying my time being in a new place, doing new activities and attaching myself to the nature. Going back to Madison means going back to routine. Boring. Plus, I was not fond of the idea of having to spent a day in the car again. But well, bye bye Jackson town.
May 24 (Monday): Reached Madison at around 2pm. Hmm....odd it feels, to see buildings around. And odd it feels, to use this computer again. But yay, my result this semester was not that bad!
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| posted by efarina @ 6:10 PM |
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