Grant Village

Day 31, Friday, July 17, 2015
Start campsite 8J4 20-146CG, mile 1972.0
End 20-271TH trailhead, mile 1984.5, then WALK 7 miles north on park road to Grant Village.

Heart Lake opens the morning, with Mount Sheridan in background.

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The lake has a long sandy shore. No early fishermen were stirring.

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Then following Witch Creek, going along the Lake Geyser Basin, we find dozens of hot springs, steaming and simmering, surrounded by mineral deposit and sometimes sulfur smell.

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Some simmer, others go at a rolling boil. Regulations forbid soaking in a hot spring, if you could find one cool enough, but you are allowed to soak in a creek that a hot spring spills into.

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In one dry area along the path, I could feel warmth on the face. Bending down, touching the trail, and it feels warm. No springs or steam vents are nearby, just warm ground.

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Within a couple of miles of the trailhead other backpackers and day hikers pass the other direction. Few hikers compared to an earlier trailhead like in the Winds.
Reaching the trailhead.
I get to the trailhead at noon, and can find no one to beg a ride. I should have waited longer. The road to Grant Village is narrow, busy, with no shoulder at all. No one had room to pull over and offer a ride. Seven miles later, with weary legs, Grant Village comes into view at 3PM.

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I called during the walk to see if they could reserve a tent site at the campgrounds in the village, and was assured cyclists and hikers would not be turned away. I get my food supply box at the post office, register my tent site and put up my tent, get a shower, and do laundry.
While doing laundry I chat with James, who did the PCT in 2011, and is one year off from my age.

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He is hitching and hiking a week in the park, before returning home to do some house repairs for a friend needing to sell a house.
We keep running into each other in the village.
This is Hank the Cow Dog.

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Hank and these two guys are hitching from Missouri, after which one of them will start freshman year in college.

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Andrew just graduated from Perdue with a mechanical engineer degree. He is completing the Transamerica Bike Tour before his job starts.

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Here is Bob, , Andrew’s father. They are doing the bike tour together!!

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There is something charming about a busy public campground in a cool location like a national park, where people are willing to open up and share their stories.

Author: Jim, Sagebrush

Jim (trail-name Sagebrush) codes audio software for Windows, Linux, Android, and embedded systems. When not working at sagebrush.com, he enjoys backpacking, which this blog is about.