Departing Yellowstone and the Tetons was hard, I could spend months just there hiking and exploring around, but my crazy time table said it was time to say good bye. The next leg wouldn't be solo, and human interaction sounded nice. A person to discuss how crazy this week had been, being only 4 days into the trip. I was set to meet with Kari and her father to climb in Sinks Canyon for a few days, as well as slow down and collect my thoughts. (Not to mention maybe bribe Kari's dad to show me how to fix my stoll broken window).
The drive uneventful with beauty scenery, meaning a few stops for photo opts. As well as spotty cell signal to let my parents know I'm alive so far, which was actually saying something.
As I coasted into Lander, I was reminded of a few things.
First, that it's 4th of July, and that means fireworks. You may have seen one or two displays, but nothing like this place. A Safeway parking lot yieled my temporary resting ground, and WiFi to download messages. But also a 360 fireworks show. Everywhere I looked, there were fireworks going off for the better part of an hour. It was incredible!! So u popped open my trunk, and a can of beans, and just watched.
Second, a quote my mom told me when I was young that stick with me, "Son, the only difference between you and the man living on the street, is the choices you make." A very sobering thought at a time like this. I wondered what choices I had made that lead up to this moment. I was alone, on the 4th of July, eating a can of beans, sitting my my trunk in a Safeway parking lot, watching firework displays all around me.
Third, I still had a broken window and no safe place to sleep for the night. Quickly I finished dinner (the can of beans) busted out a map, and checked my messages. Thankfully Kari provided some amazing directions to a place about a half hour South of town. The highway exit was easy to spot, but harbored a rutted out road that my car floated over. . With only one small bad turn, I rolled into camp at 1030 to a happy Kari, good conversation, and a safe home for the next few days. .
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Apparently I’m still sleeping in, and waking up at 8 am is late. Kari and her dad were wide awake, breakfast consumed and waiting for me to gain consciousness. With quick breakfast burrito and a packed bag, Kari and I were off to do some climbing. Though the day was much gloomier than previous, the cool down was a nice change of pace.
The crag parking for
Wild Iris lot was just 10 minutes away off a fork in the dirt road. A beautiful open field separated us from the gorgeous cliff line of the main wall, our destination the Hot Tamale Wall for some 5.8 sport climbing. Even with the "late" start we made it to the wall by 10 am through a few drizzles of rain but nothing that could deter us. Kari lead a 5.8 but got hit by the crux. I finished the lead and she top roped/cleaned it. I found another 5.8 and lead it. Again Kari top roped/cleaned it, not digging the grade and feeling drained from her awesome vacation. I tried a fun 10a that felt a little spicy but maybe I'm just out of shape from not climbing enough.
Bags packed we made it back to the car as the real rain storm began (great timing!!). Back at camp food made our stomachs happy, and we set off to wander around Lander for the afternoon/evening. A long drive, Kari thankfully drove since my car was still out of commission (non working window).
The
local gear shop in town had free wifi, a key for any traveler and who doesn't love wandering around the local gear shop looking at all the shinny stuff? They told us of a bar around the corner to grab a drink, bite, relax, and of course more free wifi. It was a
cool bar with good food. An open table called our names, coupled with local brews and food, we relaxed from the rain to chat.
Part way through our conversation the bar lit up with applause. It dawned on us that the FIFA women's world cup soccer match was on, and America just scored a goal in the first 2 minutes!! We stayed for the next 45 minutes to watch Team USA kick some serious ass.
The town of Lander is like any other small town USA: a main street with shops and a few odds and ends on either side with a few jewels hidden on the side streets. One of those gems is the National Outdoor Leadership School, aka
NOLS. If you've never heard of it, don't worry, it's in it's own niche of famous. Unfortunately being a Sunday, everything was closed, as well as NOLS. We wandered a bit more then scrambled back to camp.
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Kari's dad had a beautiful fire built and we chatted as the sun fell before all crashing out at 9:30, exhausted in our own ways. The plan to wake up early to climb the next day failed due to the weather again; being as damp as a marathon runner's shorts at the finish line. Kari and her dad decided to make their way home and I figured it was time to fix my car at the local dealership.
The day was spent mostly just going through the thousands of photos I had taken already and getting the previous blog posts updated. Seeing my photos on the big screen I found a few things I was doing right and wrong, but over all the photos were good.
With a fixed car and a late day, I set my sights on Devils Tower for the night, a 6 hour drive to the North-East corner of the state.
As always, you can see all the photos by visiting my
Flickr account here