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[Matt]

After spending the night at the Fishing Bridge warming hut, we had breakfast at the nearby grocery store. Fortified for the day ahead, we headed north. The scenery continued to be awesome and on our way to Canyon we saw some large, beautiful falls. We also saw the rocks that give Yellowstone its colorful name.

In Canyon we stopped for lunch at the local grocery store. While there we met an interesting guy who has twice hiked the Appalachian Trail. Currently he is on a 2,500 mile bike ride. While talking to us he gave us a great travel tip about campsites. He told us that national campgrounds often have a few sites exclusively for hikers and walkers. Therefore, a campground listed as “full” might actually have a site left for a person traveling on foot. Later in this post you will see that this information came in handy today.

After lunch in Canyon, we headed toward the west gate of Yellowstone. During the day Brandon and I were concerned about making it to the next campground before the office closed. We pushed ourselves to walk 43 miles and arrived at the Madison campground near the west gate of Yellowstone by 10 p.m. We discovered the campground was full and the office had just closed. The ranger was nearby and informed us that hiker sites were available and opened back up so we could set up camp. In addition, he lent us a big flashlight to use while we set up our tent.

Brandon and I have been extremely impressed by every Park Service employee we have met. Each has been very helpful and courteous, going out of their way to assist us.

We tried to contact Brandon’s friend, Jordan; he wasn’t available so we won’t be able to see him on this trip.

Before going to sleep tonight, I called home from an old-fashioned phone booth with swinging doors. Neat booth. As we crawl into our sleeping bags, you can be certain that we are tired but happy to be camping in Madison, Wyoming.