| Fellwanderer Almuni Yellowstone Trek, Autumn 2002. |
Ok, so these are the photos from the fellwanderer alumni's walk through Yellowstone's Lamar River Valley. If you want the full story, courtesy of our trek's scribe (Pete Hield) additional notes from your's truly make sure to check out my log entry. The image here is our whole gang before we set off on the trek. The cast of characters includes (from back left, Mark, Linda, Jens, Chris, from front left Pete and Bracky - I was taking the picture) |  |
 | This was our first river crossing. The one on the log out there is better known as "linda the intrepid". She blundered into the icy stream not more than ten seconds after this photo was taken. |
This is our exhausted little band halfway along our walk on day 1. |  |
 | Our first night on the trail saw some interesting activities. This is our ritual hanging of the food bags which happened in a frenzy after hearing snapping branches in a nearby thicket. Turned out to be a racoon that was causing all the racket, but after seeing rangers searching for a rogue grizzly with tranquilizer guns our nerves were more than a bit frazzled. |
And there, up in the tree, were the fruits of our labor. Untaggling the knots that people tied in the middle of the night was far from easy. |  |
 | Day two was a beast, we almost didn't make it to our camping site and after getting there I could barely walk. Pete and Mark seemed unaffected by the long walk and went about building a fire such that we could conserve our petrol. |
And the fire was much appreciated by the whole camp (minus perhaps Jens, whose poles fell into the flames on day four and melted). |  |
 | We found a friend along our travels, here's Linda, Bracky, and Pete posing with him. |
And the walking continued. This was taken after we got ourselves nice and lost. Fortunately Pete's orienteering skills were sharp enough to notice that we were entirely in the wrong valley. |  |
 | Camp on our third night was in a beautiful clearing. |
But the clearing was nothing compared to the colours in the sky. |  |
 | Here's Jens showing how river crossings are properly done. |
And eventually we made it to our last campsite adjacent to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This was the view of the lower falls from a cliff nearby. |  |
 | Campfire on our last night in the backcountry. |
Of course, a trek would not be complete without a bit of luxury at the finishing line. We had a round of margaritas at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge on our last night and followed that with a steak dinner. |  |