Monday July 9, 2012

The boys must have been tired as they slept in this morning.  We had cereal and bagels for breakfast and Alex and Dan washed the dishes.  We made our lunches and made sure everyone had at least two bottles of water and we were on our way.  The boys had decided that they wanted to walk the Mt. Holmes trailhead so we headed north of Norris to find it.  There were three hikes originating from this spot so we chose the Grizzly Lake trail.  We met two rangers on horseback as we started out.  They had ridden up to check a cabin on the mountain and found that a bear had forced the door and made a mess of the cabin.  We continued on and came to a river.  There didn’t seem to be anyway to get across except to wade so we took off our shoes and socks and plunged in.  Alex and Dan got across first and then came back to help Theo and to become leaning posts for Dave and I (we apparently have very tender feet!).  We all got across safely, but our legs and feet were numb from the freezing water.  We walked for a while and found a lot of obsidian chips that we thought might have been shaped by Indians and then stopped for a picnic lunch.  After about 2.5 miles, Theo, Dave and I stopped while Alex and Dan walked up to the top of the rise.  They came back and said they could see the lake, but it was a mile away.  Dave was having some problems with the altitude so we all decided to turn back with the promise that the boys could swim in the river.  Alex and Dan swam in their shorts while Theo opted to swim in his jockeys (they all opted not to skinny-dip ad the water was frigid).  They all had a great time cooling off.  There was quite a current and Alex and Dan tried to swim against it, but it looked like they were swimming in place.  The boys skipped rocks while waiting to dry and then we decided to cross a logjam nearby instead of continuing on to the fording place.  Unfortunately, we had to scramble across and around a lot of downed trees (from the fire) until we finally found the path again.  We saw two sets of bear prints and one of a cub, but there was no sign of the animals (personally, I was happy.  I don’t mind seeing them from a distance, but certainly do not want to come close to one).  We finally made it back to civilization (the truck) and made our way towards camp.  We stopped at Fishing Bridge to fill up with gas and for cold drinks.  We are all journaling now and will start dinner soon (chicken and rice tonight).  We will pack up what we can tonight, as we will be leaving in the morning for Jackson Hole and hopefully a wifi connection so we can be in contact with you all again.