Encore

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7:52 am - Thursday - August 3rd - 50º F, 82% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear blue skies.....wow, CALM and clear blue skies.....each is a rarity, but both at one time....double WOW! Forecast high for Gardiner is 81º F (Mammoth Hot Springs - 76º F).

So, what do you do after an epic 13.5 mile hiking day?  Well, follow along to see.......after a very full Tuesday we slept in until after 8 am getting over 9 hours of sleep.  We had both intended to be up early again, but at 6 am my eyes refused to open, so I just went back to sleep for 2 more hours.  I was surprised that I was not really sore.....just a little stiff.  After just a few minutes of being up and moving around the stiffness seemed to recede to the background.  We did want to take another hike Wednesday to add to our '100 Mile Hiking Club' mileage, and to get us over the 45 mile mark, so around 10:30 am we headed back to the Swan Lake Flat area, which is just across US-89 from the Bunsen Peak trailhead.  On the other side of the road is the Glen Creek trailhead which runs about 2.1 miles to the 

Snow Pass/Fawn Pass Junction just 2.1 miles distant.  Our plan was to hike at least out to the junction and turn around giving us 4.2 miles to add to our mileage log......

.......the trail was mostly flat with a couple of gentle ups and downs, and we found ourselves at the junction sign within 50 minutes.......

.......it occurred to us if we just hiked another 3/10's of a mile that our round trip total would be 4.8 miles and that would put us just over the 45 mile mark, so on we continued....

........3/10's of a mile further put us at the beginning of a long climb which, we decided was a perfect turn around point......

 At the 2.4 mile mark.....time to turn around!

......the hike back to the Glen Creek trailhead was mostly a slight downhill walk.......

.....we arrived back at the car to find that our GPS tracker showed us having covered 4.9 miles......doh!  If we would have walked just another 20th of a mile we could have hit 5 miles exactly!  Nonetheless, we were happy to have added a short hike to kind of loosen our legs up from Tuesday's endeavors, and it was just perfect.

The Glen Creek trailhead is just 5 miles south of Mammoth Hot Springs.....as we crept down the final grade into Mammoth Hot Springs we couldn't help but notice how many people were out and about.....the traffic slowed to a crawl, and we soon discovered the reason......

.....an elk cow grazing just outside the General Store.....just past the General Store we noted that the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is finally open for business after a lengthy remodel.....now to see if business picks up at the General Store!

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel open for business

TLE suggested we stop at 'The Corral' for a burger.....Yelp gives them a solid 4 stars on 55reviews, while TripAdvisor gives them 4.5 on 147 reviews.....we would be solidly in the 4 star camp.  This place is quite pricey....$11.95 for a burger.....add cheese and bacon and you're over $14.  TLE got their Salmon Burger.....add two beers and you're right at $38!  Now, to be fair, their hamburgers are amazing.....I chose bleu cheese as the cheese on my burger, and the bacon was thick, and lean.....the hamburger patty was enormous!

The Corral (Yelp picture)

 TLE's salmon burger

What puts them over the top is their alfresco dining, which is all they offer.....fine with me!  The outdoor temp was in the high 70's which made it a perfect day for sitting outside.

Oh, I forgot to mention that on our way up to Swan Lake Flat we stopped off at the USPS  to pick up a package our daughter Kate had mailed me......a bag of my favorite cigars, which can only be bought at Rite Aid drug stores.  There are no Rite Aid drug stores within a 100 miles, so she agreed to buy them and mail them to me.......it's a good thing because I smoked the last one I had a couple of days ago!

The Panetelas!

We were home by 2:30 at which time I changed clothes and took a nice long nap.  TLE went to the store while I napped and returned just as I was waking up around 3:20.  We lazed around the rest of the day gearing up for our return to the working world Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you need to buy something from Amazon, think of us.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.