DHMH 2014: Yellowstone

Hundreds of miles from the nearest civilization stand four naked men.  Behind them rises an epic eleven thousand foot mountain and in front stretches a crystal clear lake surrounded by tall alpine trees.  Overhead is a picturesque unadulterated blue sky dotted with a few white clouds and at their bare feet a small pool of steaming water bubbles.  The long haired man looks at his watch and exclaims, “it’s about to blow!”  Suddenly the geyser erupts, expulsing huge jets of boiling water high into the air while the men jump up and down at its base yelling at the top of their lungs.  Welcome to the sixth and a half annual Dan Hoffman Memorial Hike of Yellowstone National Park. 

I had travelled for a couple weeks from India to be there, but preparation for this moment began eight months earlier when I was making decisions about when and how long I was going to stay in India. Everything must be planned around the DHMH.  Almost every year somebody has to do something as drastic as quitting a job or leaving a country in order to make it.  Waking up in the bed of Ryan’s truck after our late arrival into camp the previous night and hearing the laughter of my best friends as they sipped steaming coffee in the cold morning air made it all worth it. 

“That means you cannot be on each other’s campsites. Not to sleep and not even for dinner.” sneered the old lady in the backcountry permit office as she started the cheesiest bear-awareness video ever created.  I exchanged looks with Dan.  As usual, many rules would be broken on the DHMH.  Sometimes I think if park rangers had their way visitors wouldn’t even be allowed in the park. 

I pried off my boots and peeled away the sticky socks underneath before I even sat down.  A refreshing breeze cooled my blistered toes as I dropped my heavy pack and slid into the sand, pushing them through the pebbles.  It was well into the first day and after seven miles of hiking we had finally reached Heart Lake, an oasis as still as a photograph and teeming with trout.  It didn’t take long for me to drift off to sleep in the afternoon sun as I waited for the others to catch up.  This is the life. 

I shielded my sunburned eyes as I scanned the distant horizon.  Thirty miles to the south towered the Grand Teton mountain range, the only thing I could see that appeared higher than me.  It was the second day and I was standing on the peak of Mt Sheridan, gasping in the thin air and perspiring from the challenging climb but triumphant in my accomplishment.  Only one of us ended up with serious altitude sickness and surprisingly, despite everything India had thrown at me, it wasn’t me.  I watched a hawk soar down below along the cliffs above the snow fields and felt that he should be envious of my freedom. 

A bright white skull lay just under the surface, grinning up at me eerily.  It was surrounded by hundreds of other animal bones at the bottom of the geyser.  The water was a tropical blue and as clear as glass.  White and yellow mineral deposits contrasted sharply around its edge and a thick stream of vapors and steam drifted up from its smooth surface.  I dipped my pinky finger quickly and jerked it back out even faster.  So hot.  My little off-trail excursion had paid off; there are only a few places on the planet where these exist and here I had one all to myself.  Off in the distance I saw some more steam; one of these geysers was about to blow!

Standing naked at the edge of a geyser as it erupts and looking up at the vast quantity of boiling water coming right for you is a unique experience not soon forgotten.  It’s this kind of adventure that makes campfire instant meals the most delicious and nourishing delight ever tasted.  It’s these types of experiences that cement friendships and produce deep, life-changing conversations.  It’s these moments and relationships that money can’t buy that keep us coming year after year regardless of lower priorities.  The sixth and a half annual Dan Hoffman Memorial Hike of Yellowstone National Park: another epic success.