Land of Geysers: Take 2 (2007)

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	Chris volunteered to be the first to cross the river after asking who was first and I told him he could have the privilege.  He rolled his pants up high for what looked to be knee deep water. Well, it got deeper the closer he got to the far bank and his pants ended up getting soaked. Chris also gave me a report on the conditions of the stream bottom telling me where the gravel bar went and where pockets of mud with a cover of vegetation were.
	Upon reaching the far bank, Chris scooped snow down off the bank and climbed out into the cold snow after his feet had been in the cold water for what I'm sure seemed like an eternity to him.
	I had my boots loose and ready to remove while I waited for Chris to get his wits about him again. I took my boots and pants off and strapped them to my load that I had sitting up on the snow shelf left when I shoveled the bank off the previous day. Taking one last breath, I walking up to the load preparing to sit down and put the obviously heavy and unwieldy load on my back, I touched the pack and the snow shelf collapsed sending the edge of the sled directly down on top of my foot. Luckily it didn't cause a laceration but just a few scrapes and a mild bruise.
Somehow I got the pack on my back only to find that the hanging boots and camera made the load impossible to control. The load shifted one way and then the other nearly taking me into the river at one point. It didn't take long to realize that I was going to need to split the load. I didn't want to take the pack off again so I frantically removed my boots and the camera from the load and put them down on the bank. My feet were already so cold that I couldn't feel them so I had to move quickly. I sat down and  slipped off the bank and into the river, the water really didn't feel to cold but it was only because my feet were beyond feeling anything. I walked the gravel bar using the pulk poles for balance and moved as quickly as I could. I felt the mud areas covered with some vegetation and avoided them as best I could. The bank was getting close and I only had a few steps left before I could plop the load down on the bank and have Chris pull it up and off me. From the way the mud had felt earlier I assumed I could take a fast careless step or two and if I lost my balance I could flop the load down on the bank before I fell into the stream.  Well, the first step was a deep mud spot and my load took a sudden shift when I corrected for the mud. The shifted load was taking me down and fast. I had no choice but to dive for the bank and hope my feet could keep up a bit. It was heavenly to feel the load not slide off the bank and put me underwater. I waited for Chris to grab the load so I could move my feet and get a better purchase with my feet. My torso was into the water enough at that point that the water was up to my belly button. I felt Chris pulling on the load and I released the pressure I'd been holding so the load didn't slide off the bank and started to move one foot. Well, just at that time Chris let go of the ski he'd grabbed because it was just pulling out of the load. God, that was cold when the load took me down enough that my face hit the water. Luckily Chris had pulled the load up on the bank a bit more and it didn't slide off the bank. Chris very quickly got another hold of the load and started pulling while I slipped out of the pack straps so I could go back and get the rest of my gear. My feet and legs were so cold that I couldn't feel to pull my pants back on, so Chris helped pull my pants over my wet feet and legs.
	We got going as fast as we could but it was a mile or more before I got feeling back in my feet. The meadow we were crossing was beautiful but it wasn't until I started warming up again that I was able to appreciate it.
	With the two hours it took to deal with the river and being wet we decided to stop early and build an igloo in what looked to be one of the last good views before we again headed into the woods. We had traveled about two miles since the river crossing and I was warm enough that I was beginning to feel good again. We were out in a large meadow and we found a small stand of trees that had a broad drift behind it so we could build the igloo on top of the drift and have the door come out the side of the drift. Again we had sugar snow and we built into the dark but completed the igloo early enough that we made it to bed at midnight instead of at 4:00am like the previous igloo.
The next day we again went on a short day trip further along a new route we'd chosen to the top of the hills we'd planned to get to eventually. The day was a brisk day and my clothes were still a bit wet from the river crossing the day before but dried well by the time we got back to the igloo that afternoon.
	We took it easy that evening taking time to cook a meal of roast buffalo and fresh veggies sautŽed in olive oil. It was ironic that the heavy foods that had put me into the river the day before were now giving me the reserves to stay warm.
	It was snowing quite heavily at times that evening but it did clear later.
	We even took time to go out into the cold that we later learned from park reports had dropped to Ð32f during the night. The full moon was brilliant and made for great views. We heard trees cracking through the evening as the temperatures dropped.
	The next day was our fifth day in the backcountry and we had one more night we could stay in our igloo so we headed out early on the trail we'd broke the day before. When we reached the bottom of the hill we wanted to climb, we began breaking trail again and soon came upon a hot springs area that was not marked on the map. We wanted to follow this drainage up to the top of the hill so we picked our way through the area on the scant snow.
	It soon became apparent that the bottom of the creek was not the way to go so we started breaking our way up and out of the ravine we'd come into. We soon climbed high enough that we got above the thermal areas and the creek was bridged with snow well enough that we could follow the bottom of the ravine. It ended at a small head wall with a gully going up each side of the cliff. We went up the one to the left of the cliff and gradually made the top of the hill.
It was getting late and we knew we didn't have much time to explore but there were some hot springs marked on the map that were only a miles distance so we took a bearing and headed that direction for an hour. It was bitter cold and the terrain was rolling and wooded so we relied solely on the bearing and time to find the springs. The first springs we found were not all that spectacular and we began looking around a bit but suddenly we got a good whiff of rotten eggs.
	We followed our noses to another thermal area that had some nice pools. With the fog coming off the waters and ground all around and depositing itself on trees it almost seemed enchanting.
	As we were leaving we saw Sasquatch and it scared us so bad that we made it back to the safety of the igloo before dark.
	The next morning we left the igloo that had been our home for the last three nights. We headed back to the trailhead on another route that eliminated the river crossing and only required 200 ft. of vertical gain. We climbed the 200 ft. quickly and then traveled across a flat area again using a bearing while looking for the park's trail that we could hop on and descend back to the trailhead.
	We found the trail without any problems but it hadn't been broke so we started breaking trail down. We had views of the hill we'd traveled over and built the first igloo on the first day of our trip.
	When we reached the bottom we came upon some buffalo and elk that didn't seem to mind us being there at all. It was a bit spooky but we were able to pass without getting them too excited.
	We were on a trail and we knew there was a bridge over the river we had to cross before we got back to the trailhead. The problem was a small part of the river didn't have a bridge over it so we had to shuffle the pulks over and climb over on logs ourselves.
	It was a welcomed sight when we once again saw the thermal area at the trailhead.
	We climbed and went over the hill on the right at the beginning of our trip and came back over the hill on the left of this picture. At this point I'd had enough of a work out and I stuck my thumb out for the next snowcoach that came along asking for a ride back to our rented room.
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