After five days off, all good things must come to an end. My hubby George returned to California, Curt found a new place to park his trailer and I kidnapped Atsuko! She is joining us for the next week and hiking with me and the girls!

Curt drove us back to the trail and we hiked into Yellowstone. Our first bit of business was visiting the Ranger Station. Hogged Up is a kid at heart and, like the rest of us, needs to feel that something is being accomplished. After hours of coloring, answering questions, doing word search, drawing animals seen in the park, it was time to get our work accessed. We waltzed into the Park Headquarters in search of a Park Ranger.

Ranger Zander obviously takes his job quite seriously. There was no rubber stamp happening today. He thumbed through every page of our Junior Ranger Book, asking pertinent questions and reviewing all our cumulative results. Thank goodness we were deemed worthy of Junior Ranger status, took a pledge and are now equipped with stickers and badges! I have always wanted to become a Park Ranger, and now this dream is I fulfilled!

Afterwards we were ready to have lunch and head off into the park, knowing we were a bit more knowledgeable than days earlier. All except for my navigational skills. I have always deemed myself as a full on compass-head but I totally blew it today! I hit the trail and made an abrupt right turn, heading north. Atsuko, aka PT Cruiser tried to correct me to no avail. It wasn’t until I saw Hogged Up hiking towards me that I told her she was going the wrong way. Ah, no I am not,while conferring with her map and continued south. Oh boy, there is one thing that this trail will do for you and that is, keeping you humble. I ate crow, turned around and started my Sobo journey again. Sorry Atsuko. Who I am to not listen to you, especially when it comes to all things navigation? Needless to say, Atsuko is on the premier Search & Rescue Team of NorCal! She knows what way is south!

Being back on the trail after a five day hiatus is tough. I felt like I was starting all over. The terrain was pretty darn forgiving but the heat was not! Gosh, I should’ve been praising the Lord for the fact it hasn’t rained for days instead of complaining about the heat. I’m sorry Jesus. It seems like I’m saying sorry a lot today!

After meandering around the trail for a few more miles, we arrived at our assigned site on Upper Firehole Creek. Just like Glacier, Yellowstone requires permits and designated campsites. It was a great spot, right next to a lazy river with plenty of beach and areas to get in and soak. I was the first one in and just sat in the river. Before long, all the gals followed suit and relaxed by the rivers edge.

The Bear Hang was a bit challenging as the throw was close to 50’ tall. After a few try’s, Hogged Up and Fearless had rope secured and our bags were hung! No bears will be eating our food tonight. We had dinner and took a late night stroll to a few of the active calderas that surrounded us. Hogged Up led the field trip being careful to follow Bison Pies and not venture off into the unknown abyss. There are both active, inactive and dormant geysers around us. I had no idea that we would be camping right next to these melting pots. Pretty dang cool!

Well I’m glad to be back at it again. But it was another bittersweet day saying goodbye to George. He truly is my heart and joy, and I am counting the days to be back home. Until that happens, this girl and her friends will keep trekking towards Crazy Cook Monument.

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew‬ ‭19‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬