Taste: Journey II

In the morning we drive through inner Wyoming like a defensive lineman. We stop by a bar called Bitchs corner bar. Apparently legendary we learn of the locally hated first batch of Wyoming’s own whiskey. This whiskey is now a smooth, rich and expensive whiskey. The first batch was somewhere between petroleum and white lightning apparently. Bitchs is also supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the Union.

Driving through Wind River National park the podcast turns from movie, to movie, to Wind River and I make the connection that my lad had put this podcast on for just such an occasion and that this podcast had come out years ago. Wind River is a movie about domestic violence perpetrated on Native American women. The movie’s director and writer was a white man. Sometimes when I go through places with rich Native American history I feel a sadness and a loss and a great overwhelming peace.

We immediately set in to conversation with the person to find out that she had tended bar all across the United States, was twenty-two and lived with her boyfriend. We settled in amongst ourselves to discuss the fact that we thought they were a them rather than her, possibly a little too loudly. When Ryan went to the restroom the couple guys next to us asked me in a brusque way if “we wanted to go”. I responded immediately that we did “not want to go.” Ryan came back and we headed towards the door and the two guys said, “hey, you don’t have to go.”
During the night the wind howled and whipped through Wind Creek and around the corners of the cabin motel we stayed at.

We made it to Jackson Hole by morning. Driving past the Tetons on the way there the mountains were completely covered by clouds. In Jackson Hole town square we found a farmers market with tamales.

As we go through the gate into Tetons National Park they let us know that the day is free. What luck? We get into our Colter Bay campsite and it turns out it’s the last night the campground is open. What luck? Campground reserved we go on a hike. Fifteen minutes into our hike we ran into a black bear on the trail. What the duck?

His shoulder tries to shake out of my grip as his eyes look back to the bear to my hand and his shoulder and then to my eyes and in so many words ask, “are you trying to murder me?” My eyes say in so many words, “Ryan, if I wanted to murder you I would be outrunning you right now”.

I looked over my shoulder to our mother friend and once she realized we had tucked, turned and left she took at an extremely aggressive pace away from us.
Out on the beach we found a fox. A fox that didn’t run away from the crowd gathered to watch it. As everyone turns around to give the fox a respectable distance, including two babes, my friend Ryan moves in for what would be a successful social media post.

Up the Big Mountain

More like babe mountain. We are packed as though we could be covered by an avalanche and stuck up there for three days. During the whole trip up and down both of us used about three things from our backpacks.

There is a brunette turbo babe pointing her phone at a blonde woman squatting behind a tree. As soon as I see it I duck my head and turn the corner of the path before the corner of the path. My friend at first confused, comes to attention and follows suit. As we huff and puff up the trail the girls giggle hysterically.

We keep asking every group that we pass if the turn off to the secret Delta Lake is still ahead. Each group continues to tell us that it is just a little further ahead and that the turn off is to the right after a switchback. “Ok. Cool. Thanks.”

“Hey. Do you know if this is the turnoff to Delta Lake?”

“Yeah. Bro. You just follow the path and when you hit the boulders go up.”

“Ok. Cool. Thanks.”

Delta lake is for some reason not a trail that the park promotes. The trail we had gone up is officially a path for Amphitheater and Surprise Lakes that looks over Jenny and Leah lakes. All you have to do to get to this ‘discouraged’ path is “take a right off of a switchback, and you can’t miss it.” If I had just been more interested in the blonde behind the tree that the brunette was pointing her smartphone towards I would have found this turn off but I averted my eyes and acted the gentleman.

We followed a path that seemed more like a deer path. After being alone for an hour we both independently started to understand that we were truly blazing our own trail.

As we gazed down at the turquoise lake from such great heights a sense of wonder and accomplishment settled upon us. All we had to do was find our way down to it.

As we nibbled ourselves like mountain goats or big horn sheep down a cliff side I found my friend on his stomach in the dirt hanging onto roots and myself a little further on jollily leading the way and in that jolliness of “oh gee. It really is quite easy”, almost losing my footing and falling off.

We celebrate at Teton Village. We find a restaurant that is open and smash on good food and cocktails. Somewhere out in that darkness a wind whipped through the Tetons and around corners of the cabin that we were drinking outside of and said, “Swift, Silent, Deep.”

Ryan rolled one and took it.

Then I took it.

Then I dropped it into Yellowstone Lake.