We checked out of there by eleven, and I drove us north to Tower Roosevelt, which is a group of cabins, authentic cabins, and a real lodge that is now a restaurant too. We looked around and before long, we were back on the road, going northwest to the Mammoth Hot Springs Area.
It was a nice drive and we were surprised by how much was in this area. There was Fort Yellowstone, a large visitors’ center, hiking trails, hot springs, and, of course, the grand hotel, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, the kind of place where kings and statesmen used to stay. We got out and walked in and around the buildings and saw the large, map in the hotel. The next time I come here, I’ll stay here.
I came here, though, to hike, not just take an architectural tour. Even before we left Monterey, I told my girlfriend my plans, and she was okay with it.
“There’s supposed to be some good hiking just south of here,” I said while we were leaving the Mammoth Springs Hotel.
“That’s fine,” she said. “I brought my book with me. I can just read in the car.”
“I’ll be gone a long time,” I said. “You could stay here at the hotel. There’s a bar and a restaurant.”
“How long?” she asked.
“A couple of hours, two hours, I guess,” I answered.
“Then nahh, I’ll stay in the car. I might want to catch a nap.”
We said farewell to another building that seemed strangely out of place in the big wilderness and moved on. As we started south, we ran into the limestone formations, some of which were close to the road. The limestone formations here were stunning, especially Minerva Terrace, but we just looked as we drove slowly by, the traffic in this small area was intense. I wish we would have stopped here. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Well I do know that a few minutes later, at least, I was thinking about bears. A large grizzly bear gave us a visit near here—it walked right by us as we sat on the road, stopped because the cars in front of us were stopped. After it lumbered past us, I thanked all that was good in the world, and I began thinking of what to do if I ran into one of those beasts while I was hiking.
But in no time, we were going at a good clip, the road nearly empty just south of everything. There weren’t many people here in the hinterland. It felt as if we were in a forgotten part of the park, a lost realm of sorts. While I was taking mild curves with all the speed that I dared, knowing that if I went any faster, I would endanger any animal that happened to dart in front of me, I started thinking about bears again. I almost wished I had gotten the bear repellent canister for fifty bucks—I saw it while I was in a store near the Old Faithful Geyser.