No longer able to climb anything in bad weather we decided to relax and do some sightseeing. We drove north and spent a day in Yellowstone national park, saw the Old Faithful Geyser. Yellowstone doesn't have very dramatic mountains like Grand Teton but its vast landscape exudes a feeling of primordial wildness. We saw many buffalos roaming about, their heavy, hairy heads lazily grazing the grass. There were valleys full of volcanic steam going up in the air, and others with large herds of buffalos. We headed northeast through Lamar Valley which was recommended for viewing bears. Although there were people with telescopes telling us about them, it was difficult to see them. The road through this valley was familiar to me as I had gone through here years ago. The dramatic peaks of Absaroka Range started to appear, but we turned back because of time. We couldn't find any cafeteria open in the park at all after dark and had to be content with some snack.
The next morning we left the climber's ranch to go back to Salt Lake City to catch our flight. The drive through Wyoming's vast open country was amazing, with snow-capped mountains visible on the horizon. I love this wide open feeling. I thought gas was not far away by looking at the map, without realizing how vast the distance was. We almost ran out of gas for the car. Fortunately we asked a forest service ranger we passed on the road, and found gas a few miles later. This gas station has a number of funny signs,