Day 101 – 8/1/13 – 22.9 mi (1808.6)

With only 22 miles between campsites, we had plenty of time for distractions today, the most important of which is The No Poop Challenge. It’s not what it sounds like! Here’s how it works: everyone starts out with a dollar bill. If you talk about poop, in any way, you must forfeit a dollar to whoever catches you. If you don’t have any dollars, you are free to talk about poop, potentially baiting others with dollars into talking about poop. The person with the most dollars at the end of the day wins. It turns out this is a really hard and really entertaining game.

We walked around Heart Lake in the morning and into a geyser basin. Ninja and I were ahead and left the trail to find some hot springs noted on our maps. We found a bathwater warm creek in the shade and soaked for 45 minutes. It was awesome! Sweetfish went ahead to the road to get to town for lunch. The other 4 found some other area to dip their feet in some hot springs.

We passed a bunch of steaming vents and hot pools on the way out of the geyser basin.

Ninja and I also decided to hitch into Grants Village, a campground and store 7 miles up the road in Jellystone Park. Tourists are afraid of hitchhikers, but we got a ride after 15 minutes. We found Sweetfish at the store, and I had a bad hamburger and good ice cream. We also decided to bring back some treats for camp tonight. It’s Rockin and Silly Chili’s last night on trail; they have to go back to work and school. Pickins were slim at the store, but we got some beer and fixins for s’mores.

It was after 3pm until the three of us got back to the trail. We still had 10 miles to go, but they went quickly.

About a mile from camp, I caught a whiff of smoke. We have never had a campfire on this trail. Could it be that the others had serendipitously started a campfire for s’mores?? We picked up some firewood and walked into camp whooping with excitement. I was also strutting, feeling cocky with $3 in my pocket. It was quite a day for the others too. LoveNote had $3 and Silly Chili had $1. We decided to keep the game going until we reach Old Faithful tomorrow. The winner gets to use the money to buy ice cream!