Democratic Vistas

July 8, 2010 (afternoon)

When I was wandering around Jackson Hole last night, feeling a little like the poor kid at a country club dance, I looked for a grocery store to buy supplies. I found a deli, but it was closed. No grocery store. I guess grocery stores are a little too middle class for Jackson Hole.

Yellowstone does have a few gas stations that also sell some camp supplies, but I didn’t cross one on my way into the Madison campgrounds.

After I pitched my tent, I drove out the west gate, about 14 miles, to West Yellowstone and picked up food for the next three days: a loaf of bread, a package of baloney, a dozen eggs, some pre-cooked sausage, a few small onions, and some frozen hash browns.

(The problem with planning meals for one person is that you can’t buy a half-dozen eggs at most places, or a single chicken breast, or one hamburger. My solution is to buy for one meal and then repeat that meal over and over until the supplies are gone. Remember, butter and salt make almost anything taste good, especially if you are hungry.)

For the next two days, I had my food for about $24,including a bag of ice.

For lunch, a baloney sandwich. Recipe: Lay two pieces of bread on top of the cooler, squirt on some mustard (I had this left from my last campsite), rub the mustard around with your index finger, lick your finger, pick up the sandwich with one hand, eat it as you start a hike. Clean up: No dirty dishes, one slightly yellow finger.

For breakfast and dinner, four times, no variation, the Yellowstone Meal. Recipe: slight onions thin, sauté in olive oil (I brought this from home), throw in a handful of frozen hash browns, cook until brown and crunchy (use a fork to move things around), crumble pre-cooked sausage on top, crack three eggs on top of the sausage, simmer a while, then scramble up the eggs at the last minute (if they’re not entirely done), put the fry pan on the picnic table, eat out of the fry pan. Clean up: one knife (from cutting the onions), one fork, one fry pan.

The Yellowstone Meal