Yellowstone's Wrangler Lake, Bog Creek, Joseph's Coat Springs, Broad Creek, Wapiti Lake, Hot Springs Basin, and Pelican Valley. Part One of Two.

[scatman]

Usually that is how it is.
Every good trip report needs a protagonist, in this case @scatman. Then there is the antagonist, enter the Sinister Spoon. I consider myself the tritagonist -- he who was there to witness the events but played no real role in the back-and-forth battle between Hugh and the Spoon. I am willing to tell the story so that others can know how one larger than life utensil almost brought a grizzled veteran of the backcountry to his knees when it came time to eat breakfast. The drama that unfolded over those five days/four nights in September is difficult for me to covey with the written word and photographs. I simply hope to provide a foundation on which someone more talented than myself ( @Rockskipper ) can build a true to life experience that allows the reader to feel the spoon's mass and Hugh's disdain.

You will be glad to know that I've wrapped up sizing pictures and stitching together a few videos. Now I just need to get a few minutes to sit down and piece together part two for those that are interested.

I may have already given too much away with my previous picture preview. . . but here is another teaser to whet your appetites.

View attachment 116126

Notice that I'm still wearing my wet shoes in your picture.

 

[Pringles]

I'm too scared to go off trail. I'm too scared to walk through a thermal area without a trail. I'm just barely brave enough to read trip reports where the people do those things, so thanks for taking the time to share it. I am waiting patiently for the alluded to book!

The pictures were wonderful. I look at the people who drive through Yellowstone and never get anywhere besides roads, parking lots, and boardwalks. They don't know what the place looks like, or feels like, or smells like (other than sulfur from some thermal areas). They don't understand how the hairs on the back of your neck prickle when you spot something big and brown and up ahead, whether it's a bear or a bison or an elk. They don't know what it's like to wake in your tent, out of a deep sleep, because an elk bugled really close by. I'm so glad most of those people aren't in the backcountry, and that you post pictures of those areas that I'll never get to. Thanks.