We left Buffalo, WY on Friday and made a quick drive over to Yellowstone to begin our weekend boondocking in the woods with our friends Jack and Sarah. We actually stayed just outside Yellowstone’s eastern entrance. About 3 miles outside at a campground called… wait, for it… Threemile Campground.
We spent Friday grilling some dinner and planning out the weekend. We decided to just hang out Saturday for the 4th, then head into Yellowstone Sunday.
Our site was backed up against the Shoshone River, so we made sure to get their doggos some play.
Sunday morning we hit the road at just about dawn and started our loop around Yellowstone.
First official stop was West Thumb Geyser Basin:
Next was Old Faithful (obviously):
Next we found the parking lot for the Great Prismatic Lake. From there we did a quick mile-ish hike up to the overlook:
Continuing on our clockwise loop around the park, we started the drive out to Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We had been seeing buffalo and elk and bears all morning, but we hadn’t really caught a herd. We saw a small road with a bunch of cars stopped, the tell-tale sign of animals hanging out, so we took a small detour to check it out.
Okay, now here’s the story from my perspective:
We see a couple of buffalo:
At this point, Jack wanted to get out and walk over for a closer look. No problem, been pretty much doing it all day. Jenny and I were going to stay in the car, but Jack asks for Jenny to come and take a picture of him and Sarah in front of the buffalo. At that point, I don’t feel like sitting in the car alone, so we all trek out across the field.
We get as close to the buffalo as you’re supposed to, and Jenny starts to take their picture. At that moment I realize I left the windows open and my wallet was sitting on the center console in the truck. So I take a moment to turn away from everyone and make sure no one is walking by or hovering around the truck. And WOULDN’T YOU KNOW IT… I turn back around and I see…
“WHAT THE F*CK JUST HAPPENED?!?”
Seriously, that’s my gracious and poetic declaration in this beautiful moment. Don’t believe me?
I’m a jerk. Sorry all. But Jack gave us absolutely no heads up and that was my genuine reaction. It’s his fault is what I’m saying.
Jack and Sarah, we love you guys and we’re so f**king happy for you both. We were there for your first “I love you” and now we were there for the beginning of your next chapter. We’re so proud to call you both friends.
Once everyone’s shock wore off, we got to the canyon and started the hike out to an overlook point. Unfortunately, I picked the lower deck which took us waaaay down this winding path… not a problem until we had to turn around and hike all the way back up. Kinda brutal, but some nice shots.
After a long day of driving and excitement, we headed back to the campsite, drank some celebratory champagne, ate some dinner, planned every detail of the wedding OBVIOUSLY, and called it a weekend.
The newly engaged couple had little to no service all weekend but were able to shoot out a quick Instagram post when we hit a hotspot in the park. We took an over/under bet of 50 for how many text messages would pop up on each of their phones once they returned to civilization. I took the under… and lost. 70 and 72 messages each from what I was told.
We are now sitting in bumblef**k Idaho, and just the drive out here deserves its own post.
(Spoiler alert: it was the worst drive we’ve had this entire trip… possibly ever in my entire driving career. Never trust Google Maps with a 40-foot, 9-ton rig.)
To be continued…