7/9/14

Penny went with some of our co-workers to a 4th of July parade in the town of West Yellowstone on Friday. We both had to work on Saturday, so we didn't stay up late enough to go see the fireworks display in West Yellowstone. Saturday evening Penny was able to go on a bus tour called Twilight on the Firehole. It was one of the free tours that the company provides for employees throughout the season. It started at the Old Faithful Inn, where everyone met at the fireplace.

 

She got to ride in one of the old 1930's open top yellow busses.

 

They drove and walked around some of the thermal features near Old Faithful, like Grand Prismatic Spring.

 

Then the drove north along the Firehole river where they saw pelicans.

 

There were just enough clouds to make for some good sunset photos.

 

On Tuesday, our next door neighbors (and coworkers) went to Mammoth for a five mile hike on the Stage Coach Road to Gardiner.

Looking south at the Mammoth Hot Springs, at the beginning of the hike.

Looking north east across the Gardner River and the North Entrance Road.

 

We need to get a book that will tell us what the flowers are, that we are taking photos of

 

We had a couple of critters show us the way down the path, near the crest of the hill.

 

This is looking north towards the town of Gardiner.

 

Along the way we saw the remains of what we think was an elk.

 

Though mostly dry, there were a couple of water features in the hills along the hike,

 

and more flowers we haven't yet identified.

 

Although this looks very much like a dandelion seed pod, these are about 50 times larger.

 

In one of the lakes, there was a bird sitting in the tall reeds.

  

There's also quite a few prickly pears along the path and they are starting to bloom.

 

 Another flower we can't identify. The bee seems to be enjoying himself.

 

Still more unidentified flowers.

 

Near the end of the path.

 

On the drive home, Penny saw a pair of geese with their gosslings

 

This morning, we drove down to a turnout only 1.5 miles from the campground and hiked into Harlequin Lake, a one mile round trip. Along the way we saw more flowers we can't identify.

 

The beginning of the hike, before we disappeared into the forest.

 

The lake has quite a few Lilly Pads growing on it and they are in bloom

 

There was also a duck preening herself, with six ducklings, near the lake shore where the path meets the lake.

This is a shot looking out of the forest, back towards where we parked.

 

Our calves were sore after two days of hikes, so we took it easy the rest of the day. Back to work tomorrow.

It looks like we will have a volunteer position in Shedd, Oregon this winter, at Thompson's Mill. It sounds like an interesting position. In addition to giving tours of the mill and working on restoring it, we will also control the flow of the river during the rainy season.

With the limited bandwidth they have up here for internet service, I have to download the blog before 8 a.m. or it just can't be done in a reasonable period of time.

 

7/3/14

Monday evening Penny and I went for a drive after work. On our way home, we saw an interesting bird in the meadow just west of the Lower Geyser Basin. I haven't figured out exactly what kind of bird it was, since I haven't had internet service since the photo was taken, but it was a large bird, standing over 2 feet tall.

Tuesday we made a grocery run to Bozeman. There's quite a bit of road construction going on, so we had to take a round-about route to avoid most of it.

Yesterday we drove around the grand loop and stopped at Mammoth to sign up for the employee 100 mile hike club. If you keep records of your walks and hikes and it amounts to 100 miles or more during your stay at Yellowstone, you get a tee shirt, pin and a backpack.

Between Dunraven Pass and Tower Falls, we ran into a bear jam that took us 30 minutes to get through. People were stopping right next to the sign that says "No Stopping or Standing".

  

Just to get a picture of a black bear cub, that you could barely see with binoculars.

 

We are told we will be having a 4th of July barbeque put on by Xanterra. Free food is always good.

6/25/14

I had a customer come to my window five minutes before we closed on Saturday, complaining that there was a bison laying in his campsite right where his tent was supposed to go. It was our good friend and mascot Stubby. We called the rangers, who tried to get him to move and let the customer set up his tent, but Stubby would have none of it. Stubby actually got mad and made the ranger get back into his car and leave. I think the customer was moved to a site that the rangers hold, just for such occasions. A couple of weeks ago, Stubby walked right through someone's tent. Fortunately, no one was in it at the time. The day before yesterday he spent some time in our loop lounging around in different sites looking for some good grass to eat.

Yesterday, we went for a drive to Lone Star Geyser. It's about three miles southeast of Old Faithful. You have to hike or bike 2-1/2 miles from the parking area to the geyser. It's not a strenuous hike (other than the distance if you haven't hiked much) since most of the hike is on an old road that you used to be able to drive out to the geyser. It's a fairly flat hike that follows the Firehole River. It's quite beautiful scenery as you are walking. There are logs to sit on when you get there. We will probably do it by bike next time and take our chairs.

 

The geyser erupts regularly, every three hours. It has an initial eruption of up to 15 feet that lasts a few minutes, then it's quite for 30 minutes to an hour.

 

If you are patient enough to wait, you get to see a more spectacular eruption that lasts quite a while and throws water and steam up to 60 feet high.

 

 

6/16/14

The crew had a potluck yesterday evening. Everyone seemed to have fun and it was good eatin'. A few of us sat around a campfire until it started raining at 8:30. That pretty much broke the party up.

I had a customer come to my window a couple days ago asking about our "Full" sign out on the road. Rather than the usual "I know the sign says full, but I know that sometimes there is one or two sites left" question, this guy wanted to know what the "Full" sign meant. I explained that it meant we are Full. He then asks, "Does that mean there's no room to go see the sights in the park"???? In my best customer service voice I said "No. It only means that the campground is full". It still took another few minutes to get him to understand that he could still go see the geysers and animals, but he wouldn't be able to camp in this particular campground.

Tuesday we went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. It's a place where they house grizzlies and wolves that have become habituated or troublesome to humans (or in some cases where cubs were orphaned), as an alternative to euthanizing them after attempting to relocate them in the wild. They currently have eight grizzlies and six wolves along with some injured raptors. It's a very informative place and they appear to take good care of the animals.

Twice each day they hide food around the outdoor roaming area and release one or more bears so that they can forage for the food and the visitors can watch and learn. While we were there, they released the largest of the bears - Sam - who weighs 1000 pounds. He and his sister were orphaned in 1996 when they were 6 months old and started foraging human food because they had not learned to hunt or catch fish. 

 

A couple hours later they released a brother and sister pair named Kobuk and Nikina who like to play with each other. Each of these bears only weighs 500 pounds.

 

On the way home, we decided to drive over to Grant Village, since we hadn't been there yet. Coming out of Grant Village we saw a doe elk with her baby crossing the road. They moved into the forest, so we didn't have time to get many good photos of them.

 

Wednesday we drove around the entire loop, with the hope of finding more elk with calves. Unfortunately none were out where we went.

It was snowing over Dunraven Pass and in most of the park. It was only sticking at the higher elevations though.

 

 We stopped to see Undine Falls between Mammoth and Tower.

 

We also passed by a buck elk in velvet in the Hayden valley.

 

Basically, it was just a relaxing weekend for us.