The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was responsible for the name Yellowstone National Park. Mother nature had placed a high plateau of earthly material with a beautiful color of yellow in it. She also provided a river to cut a massive canyon through that mountainous area. That river not only cut a canyon but also developed two white clear waterfalls. The first sight of that beauty of nature is awesome. The five of us were so impressed that we spent the rest of the day gawking at its wonder. We hiked to the bottom of lower falls. We pitched camp at the visitors park; prepared our dinner; rolled out our bedding; sand a few songs and then crawled in a bed on the ground. All thankful for the day’s grand ending.
The next day saw us at Mammoth Hot Springs. Mammoth never impressed me but it mad a hit for Andy Isakson and Les Douglas. They hiked most of the area looking and talking about how those terraces were built by water alone. Mammoth would be the end of our Yellowstone Trip. The next day would begin the return trip to Ogden. I enjoyed my first Yellowstone trip with Dick [illegible] (Weese?) but this trip, with my 12th Street friends, was the best of all my visits to Yellowstone Park.
As we left Yellowstone we thought we would have an uneventful trip home. That was not the case. Up to this point we had experienced zero car trouble. On the return trip we decided to go by the way of Malad instead of Logan. Just outside of Malad pavement ended and gravel took its place. In less than ten miles we had a flat tire. We had no spare, so it meant jacking up the wheel, removing the tire, patching the tube and replacing the wheel. Now that is not a bad condition once, but as we traveled on we continued to have flat tires. How many? We never could remember. One thing we do remember. We had so many flats that we wore out our hand pump and on the last flat we had to stop a car and borrow a pump. Fortunately we came back on pavement and that ended the flat tire epidemic.
The Yellowstone venture was an outstanding part of all of our lives. The enjoyment as the repeated stories told by all of us over the next many years. It was a great trip. What made the Yellowstone trip so outstanding was the combination of the participants.
Each one had a different personality. Each had situations and problems. For instance Ivan Hardy was of a serious nature. He had a certain wit that was dry and you wanted to listen closely to his responses since they always carried a message. Joe McCracken was the wit of the crowd. He always was able to come up with a joke about everything. Les Douglas was the doer. Never did Les remain quiet. He started the fire; put the fire out with water; got the wood; cleaned the camp; did the dishes. All of this with a certain amount of glee. Andy Isakson was the pessimist. He was always afraid something would go wrong; the car wouldn’t start; the fish wouldn’t bite; it would rain that night; we wouldn’t have enough food. Charlie Ward was the authoritative type. He wanted to tell everyone what to do next; where to go next; how long would we stay; who would pack the car; get the wood; cook the fish.
We never had a serious argument. Everything that we did seemed to be done with eagerness and with total agreement. Campfire evenings had their gaiety, with song and laughter. They also had their serous side as we viewed our future lives. Little did we know what life was about to bring to each of us. Nor did we know when or where life would come to an early end or would stretch into old age. As always it was good to not