Day 10 – Monday : GTNP (13 km on foot) We’ve covered a lot of miles in 10 days, so decide to lie in bed for a bit longer this morning. There is talk of going for another kayak, but I think we all need a rest. Bryan, LaDawn and us wander off for a leisurely coffee and some cake.
Now full up we need a ride back to our campsite, so what better than to flag down a friendly Ranger with a Ranger.
I tense up over every bump, but the little truck rides smoothly. I should have guessed this when Brian climbed in the load bed and the suspension dipped – it doesn’t have much payload capacity, and return has a nice car-like ride. I have a European truck labelled as a Ranger but you wouldn’t want to ride in the load bed – you would probably come away with spinal injuries.
Bryan Appleby was hoping to take a Ranger-lead walk but after lunch isn’t feeling too well so returns for a lie-down in his camper while CJ takes over.
It is only a short walk, but CJ points out many things we would otherwise miss, including signs of grizzly bear claws above head-height on one tree.
The weather starts to look more ominous.
CJ warns that he will need to cut the walk short if there are signs of lightning. He warns of this again as the rains picks up, and Brian and I look at each other as a crack of thunder intrudes from somewhere behind. Needless to say the walk is slightly shortened, but we see a lot, and get soaking wet into the bargain.
Brian and LaDawn’s kayak needs returning, or they will be charged for another day’s rental, and it doesn’t seem worth it given the weather. Brian and I take the Toyota Four Runner with the kayak on the roof and head for Jackson leaving the girls at the camper. We plan to meet up at a certain time for dinner, completely underestimating the traffic involved.
On our return, due to our incredible lateness, we assume that Sally and LaDawn have already gone to the restaurant with Bryan. We swing by the campsite and I rush out to check our camper in case they are still sitting inside while Brian turns the car around. The camper door is locked; they’ve clearly gone. In the corner of my eye I see a hybrid electric car with some people nearby petting a dog, and put it down as being the dog walker with the electric car I had seen the day before. I jump into the passenger seat of the Four Runner and we roar away in the rain, heading for the restaurant. We are hasty to avoid the rain and get to the restaurant quickly so the whole manoeuvre is completed in seconds and from the outside must resembled a Bonnie and Clyde style bank robbery get-away.
However, upon reaching the restaurant the girls are nowhere to be seen. We are puzzled, until a few minutes later some wet and bedraggled girls turn up rather annoyed with us. It turns out the people petting the dog were Sally and LaDawn. Our cops and robbers movie style get-away was done so quickly that by the time they said “hey, that’s the boys over there” we were accelerating away. They tried rushing after us waving arms frantically, but we weren’t looking in the mirror – we were two men with food and beer on our minds and nothing was distracting us from that. Not wanting to get wet the girls resorted to hijacking some poor campground resident with a car and forcing him to take them to the restaurant. His objections of “But I don’t know you…” fell on deaf ears.
Bryan Appleby doesn’t make dinner; he is still in his camper unwell. We enjoy a lovely rib dinner and toast him in his absence. People are even less inclined to want to get wet on the way back, so we all squeeze into the Four Runner – Sally and I in the front passenger seat, LaDawn lying across the camping and kayaking equipment in the back, and return to a nice warm dry camper for us and a damp tent for Brian and LaDawn.
