Day 90 Welcome to Idaho

24.6 miles

4am start to hit the trail by 4:45am to reach the opening of the famous all you can eat breakfast buffet at the Old Faithful Inn. 

I was away in the dark, my head torch providing a narrow beam to illuminate the way. Luckily trails in the park are maintained to a fairly high standard and this route doubling a sled dog run in the winter had reflective markers high up in the trees. 

They say to avoid hiking in the dark as it increases the likelihood of bear encounters but there was no avoiding it this morning. As an added safety measure, I had my bear bell strapped to my hiking pole. It’s constantly jangling sound can be annoying but it was worth the inconvenience for any forward warning that the sound would throw off to a bear and have it move off. No bears were encountered on my very early morning hike in to Old Faithful. 

The sun was rising as I reached the ‘village’ and I had 15 minutes to spare before the buffet opened. It is very popular with hikers and tourists alike and can be fully occupied. Positioning my self close to the front of the lineup I secured a table.

The buffet did not disappoint and was worth every dollar. It doesn’t matter how much I eat there is no keeping weight on. Loading my first plate it was chock full of bacon, eats, sausage, potatoes and maple toast. Of course second helpings was a must. Plate two, fresh fruit smothered in yogurt, pastries galore and the tastiest slice of coffee cake I’ve ever had. Followed by juice, more coffee and ice cold water. I was absolutely full and it would see me through until well into lunch time. 

Still too earlier for the general store to have opened, I sat in the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn to charge my phone. When the store was open I flew across to pull together a very expensive but much needed small resupply that would see me through to West Yellowstone. 

Time to hit the trail. I wandered over to the Old Faithful Geyser however it would not erupt for several hours and I had a big day ahead. I did not have a permit to camp in the park tonight and needed to make my way across the boundary and outside the park, still 16 miles off. I headed off not waiting for Old Faithful to do its thing. That’s ok, there were plenty more small geysers, boiling pools and steam vents to view along the way. 

Other than one hill climb the entirety of the day was flat and fast, albeit in either the depth of pines with few views or through sparsely treed, old burnt country. 

I caught up with Etienne at Summit Lake for lunch where we exchanged contact details and bid each other farewell as we would head on separate paths from this point. Etienne would take the Blue Line towards Island Park, where as I would stick with the Redline through tomorrow before commencing my choose your own adventure route to Butte. Reality was that once departed we would not meet again on trail unless fate has some other plan. It was a pleasure to have hiked with him and so good that what we were able to catch up again three months later after our initial slog through the New Mexico desert together.

Summit Lake would be the last water source for 22 miles so I ‘cameled up’, drinking half a litre, before filling all my water containers. 

From the lake I had 5.7 miles to the Wyoming-Idaho border, greeted by a small hand written sign for both north bounders and south bounders. The Red Line would follow the Idaho-Montana border for several hundred miles and then weave back into Montana proper however I will leave the Red Line tomorrow afternoon entering fully into Montana until reaching Canada. So really I only have a day and half in Idaho. 

Reaching the Idaho border I was still inside Yellowstone NP and had another 2.5 miles to go to reach the boundary. They say you have this distance to commit any crime and get away with it. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it comes down to a conflict of jurisdiction. What takes precedence – Idaho state law of National Parks federal law? 

Making it to the park boundary, I was spent owing to early start to the day, hiking only another one and a half miles before locating a suitable campsite just off trail and calling it a night.