day 1-3...........so i made good time to st louis, and i didnt think ofit til a few days into the trip, but it was very fitting that i came through that way; the supposed gateway to the west and i would be seeing almost every state out in the west on my journey. i made good time and made it to lawrence kansas in time to secure a campground cabin because the sky was filling with dark clouds and i didnt want to travel with a wet tent the next morn. once settled in i went into to town, looking to see if it was as cool as i thought it might be. there had been a famous punk club there in the 80s called the outhouse, way out in the boonies, but every hardcore and punk band had played there back in the day so figured there might still be a cool scene there. there was, i got pointed to a place called the replay lounge and it was indeed a cool bar but i was road weary so only stayed for 3-4 drinks then split. cool town, no wonder william burroughs spent the last years of his life there... so i make really good time and get past denver the next day, about 40 miles past to the campground i had figured on staying and was handing over the money right when the bottom fell out of the sky and dumped on me standing there at the window. now my tent being all mesh until i get the rainfly on, i did not relish spending the night in a tent with a wet floor so i politely asked for my money back and backtracked to denver and got a highway motel room and watched the storms rage across the top of denver all night from the balcony. so the next morning it is back up the mountain and up the freeway until i found highway 40 and thus the cool part of this epic road trip began, all two lane blacktop to idaho/montana border. i stopped in a little cafe and had some awesome trout and eggs for breakfast, really hit the spot, then i climbed up and over mountains until i got to steamboat springs where i had researched an out of the way hot springs spa called strawberry park, really cool rocklined pools terraced in this tiny closehung hollow on the side of a mtn. soaking in hot springs i have found to be the only cure for the altitude sickness i get everytime i come through these mountains, unfortunately the cure doesnt last very long so was back to suffering from lack of oxygen a few hours after leaving the area headed north. such gorgeous country, i wish it didnt make me suffer so everytime i come. except for a quick stop to wonder at the gigantic van gogh, i made decent time through the mountains and landed on the utah/wyoming border in ashley national forest in an almost deserted campground. i was the only tent, and there was only 2 rv's down at the other end of the grounds. i was a little pensive about tenting it in grizzly country but a local had clued me in that wasp spray works just as well as bear mace and costs 30 dollars less so i may have looked ridiculous walking around with my can of raid but never needed it, thankfully. awesome sunset upon a ridge... broke camp in the cold around 6am and made my way up through the flaming gorge into wyoming; man what a bleak desolate land that is but not without its own beauty, i wandered for miles without seeing another vehicle, im talking 20's and 30's of miles up and over mountains with epic views of... well nothing. few plants grow in some of those spots, much less any trees. youre left with sage and some other kind of low scrub brush for any distraction but somehow it really is gorgeous. so i finally make it to the tetons and wander up this 12 mile gravel road up the side of mountain until i find the hot springs at granite falls. built by the wpa during the depression, a swimming pool clings to the side of a hill where the hot water flows, unfortunately it wasnt very hot, kind of bathwater warm but mostly lightly visited because of the remoteness which was just the way i like it. i would come back and stay in that valley, the falls are really nice, with a tiny rock corralled pool with hot springs water coming out there too, and there is dispersed camping all along the river heading up the mountain...real chill. so UNLIKE yellowstone, which was just a clusterfuck of dumb tourist herds, i hated it and will never go back...after being alone much of the trip off in back country lonesome highway-land, bumping bumpers with the madding crowd just didnt suit me at all. it was like being tormented with an endless cades cove experience for a lot of the 3 1/2 hr drive; it took 4 1/2 to finally get through the park.
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