Lost Cabin and Lost Campsite

Sunday, June 12, 2011

We awoke in the Lost Cabin Campground in the Big Horn National Forest in the Big Horn Mountains, between Buffalo and Ten Sleep, Wyoming.   It’s a good thing we stayed on the East slope of the mountains, because everything on the west slope was snowed in. We stopped for fuel in Greybull and headed on toward Cody, Wyoming. We made a stop in Cody for groceries and another to take photos of the Buffalo Bill museum.  Fred and Wilma call ahead and made reservations at the Canyon Campground in Yellowstone National Park.

When we entered the park our first stop was the Fishing Bridge VC to get passport books stamped. We also found a penny smasher at the Fishing Bridge General Store which we put to use.

The next stop was the Canyon VC where additional passport stamping was accomplished. Between Fishing Bridge and Canyon we stopped at the Mud Volcano viewing area. The odor of the pool of mud was something near dirty socks and rotten eggs. We didn’t stay long.

After the Canyon VC we went to the campground office to check in.  Fred had made reservations for 2 camp sites. Fred gave them his confirmation number which they brought up on their computer, but with only one site reserved. The clerk added the reservation for Barney and Betty and assigned them site K232.  The clerk then tried to assign Fred site K233, the adjacent site, but it would not work. The clerk then tried to assign Fred to site K231, but that didn’t work because he was partially in K233. Another clerk came and they eventually got Fred and Wilma in site K233. We went to the K loop to set up the rolling caves. Fred and Wilma popped into K233 without any problems. The camp sites were laid out with K231, K232 and K233 in sequence on the same side of the loop road. We found K231 and K233, but K232 was missing. Turns out that it had not been plowed and was still under two or three feet of snow.

The campsite that wasn't there

Betty and Barney's new campsite

We all went back to the registration office and in just a few minutes Barney and Betty were reassigned to K231. We are all finally in and buttoned up for the night.

Around 4 am Fred and Wilma heard noises of something around their rolling cave. Fred got up and checked, but didn’t see anything. A little later they heard what was probably a raccoon scoot across the top of the cave. Wilma lit a torch and aimed the light toward the vent over the bed, and whatever it was got real excited, scurrying around on top, until Fred and Wilma heard a scratching sound as whatever it was got too close to the edge, and slid off the front corner. Little paw prints on the windshield and hood give evidence that Fred and Wilma didn’t just imagine the nighttime disturbance.

More from the Bedrock Bunch later.