Day 9

I woke up to dogs barking and Mom screeching when she opened the tipi flap.  There was a moose running down the campground road!

And then buddy barked at a park ranger and chased his rig.  Bad dog.  Not good PR.

Hot oatmeal for breakfast.  Very grateful.

Just got done chastising the dog for having his nose too close to Joshua's bowl.  :)

This was the day of trying out the cooking stove in the tent using the heat proof hole in the top.   It work, but needs some tweaking and improvements before it’s a viable system. 

It was cold and spitting rain until early afternoon.  The inside of the tipi stayed dry except for where condensation dripped from the very middle that wasn’t covered by the liners. 

Only the ladies bathroom was unlocked.  :)  He's a good sport!

We spent a lot of time exploring the stream and taking pictures, waiting for the sun to come out and dry things out.  

Love that bridge!

Various cool pictures I wanted to share:

Old faithfuls that aren't so old.

We had cold cuts for lunch and packed everything except the tent and water filter.  We took the van down the campground road past the “dead end, no turn around” sign.  :P  There were lots of neat little cabins and pretty hills back there.  We hiked through the woods on the north side of the road up a National Park hill to a meadow the boys hand found on the topi map.  From there we could see mountains we snow peaks!

Love the white trees!  Not sure if they're birch or aspen ...

Making him carry his own leash.  :)

Drinking it in!

Mountain man

Isn't that a pretty rock?

We left Middle Fork around 3 or 4 in the afternoon when everything was finally dry and headed toward Sitting Bull Campground, hoping for a view of Cloud Peak at 13,167 ft.  

We were well rewarded, thought I’m not sure if it was really Cloud Peak we were looking at.  Pictures on Day 11.

Again, no water or trash, and vault toilets.  Jeremiah hiked down to the creek in the meadow to haul wash water and water for the filter. 

Pasta and salad for dinner.  It was 38 degrees when we went to bed around 9pm, as it started raining.  I loved being in camp before dark!

The solar lights we've been using in the tent.

1,846 miles in.