John Colter Trail 1807 — 1808

Day 26: September 8th, 2005 Grant Village — Lake Village

Also today the breakfast buffet is really good. But then my server completely forgets me and I must wait for an eternity until she shows up again — what a great service…

Pretty much annoyed due to loosing so much time, I leave the Dining Room around a quarter past nine and walk back to my motel. Then I put my stuff together and load my truck. For checking out, I must drive over to the hotel reception. Then I am finally on my next trail.

A little bit north of the hiking trail to Heart Lake to the east is the hiking trail to Shoshone Lake to the west. This is my next destination. At the parking lot I meet a family, who is not sure, which way they should take to the lake. I already made my decision and will do a roundtrip: The Doghead Trail will take me to the lake and the Lewis Channel Trail will take me back. The latter is the longer hike and if I should run out of power at the lake, I can still take the shorter hike back.

Dogshead Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Dogshead Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Dogshead Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Dogshead Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Dogshead Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Dogshead Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Dogshead Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Then I start my hike. First I hike through thick forest, which was not damaged by the fire in 1988, like the rest. It is impressive, how long it takes for the nature to recover from such a big fire. On my hike a young lady runs the opposite way, who looks really exhausted. When she sees the end of the trail, she only rejoiced when passing me: “I made it” — I am really wondering, where she has started her hike…

Shoshone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Shoshone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

The trail takes me through swamp areas, then up to little hills and some open planes. You also run from time to time into areas, where a wild fire has been around. Finally I reach the picturesque Shoshone Lake. Unfortunately there was no higher elevation on the hike, like on Heart Lake Trail, where you have a chance to see the lake from a distant. But also the views from the lake shores are impressive. I look again for a decent spot to have a brief lunch break. Then I hike on around 1pm.

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Because I still feel fit, I decide to take the longer hike back — which I definitely don’t have to regret! The trail takes me along the small Lewis River with absolutely great views. In some areas you hike directly at the river banks, in some areas the hills rise to the right and left above the river. The hike is therefore a bit more strenuous, but as reward you could stop every couple of yards to take pictures or videos.

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

At a sharp river bend is a rock formation leaning towards the river and there is a great option to take nice pictures of the river. Then the trail continues at the river banks until it takes course into the forest. But soon the Lewis Lake comes to sight.

Lewis Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Channel Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Meanwhile I am already pretty much exhausted. The muscles in my thighs are aching heavily. A fisher comes towards me, who plans to do some fishing at the lake for a while. A little bit later I meet two hikers from Utah. Just past 5pm I eventually arrive completely exhausted at my car. In the meantime I am almost not able to move anymore due to aching muscles.

I put my stuff in my car and drive over to Lake Village. There is my reservation for the next night in one of the cabins. These are replicas of old cabins, that you can feel like in the past. However, this feeling does not really show up, when you have a whole settlement of these cabins in front of the giant hotel building…

Check in is at the hotel building, where is absolutely no chance to park. Only when I reach the very end of this parking lot, I am able to find a spot to squeeze in. When leaving my car, I am almost unable to move an inch due to my aching muscles. But after a few crippled steps I am starting to walk more normal.

The hotel is extremely luxury. I really don’t want to know, how much a room costs there. I check in and ask for a dinner restaurant. The hotel restaurant is already completely booked. But I can have dinner at the Lake Lodge Cafeteria. Just to double check I ask, if this is also a self service restaurant like in Grant Village. But she can ease me, this is a real restaurant. This sounds great. Eventually a good dinner tonight. And the best around here is, that you can park directly in front of your cabin, while the hotel guests have to walk quite a distance to their cars.

The cabin itself is really comfy, also without phone and TV. But this is something you don’t necessarily need. Beside this there is a nice bathroom and a coffee machine in the room. Because I am already pretty tired, I leave for the Cafeteria immediately. I am really glad, when I am sitting in my car and am able to drive the short distance to the Cafeteria.

But there is again a rude awakening. Beside that I am almost not able to find a parking spot, this is also a Fast Food Restaurant. But I have no other choice than to grab one of the dinner trays and to accept the situation grudgingly. It seems that also the food quality has adapted to my mood. But at least, there is something in my stomach…

Then I drive back to my cabin. There it is really absolutely quiet. This is better than any motel room. I check my video taping of today and I am even able to finish with everything before midnight. Sure, my freshly made coffee helps me here again — this is something I could really get used to…