Snowed the morning of April 15th. It was sticking above 6000 feet. We're staying in an RV park just outside the north gate at 5500 feet, so it was melting as it hit the ground, but we had to drive up into it for our first orientation class. The rest of the week was generally clear, with lots of bison, elk and pronghorn along the way. It snowed again near the end of the week but melted off within a day or two.

Those of us that have been here more than two years didn't have to stay for the last two days of class and got to move down to Madison campground early. The few of us that did, gathered around a campfire that evening and were greeted by a grizzly bear walking through the campground loops. It appears to be the baby (now 3 years old) that was with the sow that came through camp the last couple of years. Some of the new workers, that are afraid of bears, will be happy to know that it walked right through their campsite.

 

On Sunday the 24th, we got to take a bus ride around the southern loop of the park. It's supposed to be an orientation to the park for the new employees, but returning employees can also take it. We didn't see as many animals as last year but we did see one grizzly bear in the Mud Volcano area. It even sat down and posed for a portrait while we were there.

 

We started working at the campground the day after the tour with a week of training and opened the campground to the public the last Friday of April. We have yet to fill all the campsites but every night we have more campers. We will open the last two tent loops May 13th.

May 4th, we made a trip to Livingston to see Matt's in-laws who are making a trip to Philadelphia to see the kids. As it turned out, they were on their way to see us at the same time,, so we unknowingly passed each other going in opposite directions. They were able to call us from the Old Faithful area, while we were at their RV and we got together for a couple of hours that afternoon.

After they left, we took a drive to the Madison Meadows, just to take a drive. We stopped in a turnout to watch a herd of  bison. I was able to take a short video of one of them scratching itself on a boulder.

On May 9th we took a drive to Lookout Point north of Yellowstone Lake. The lake still has ice around the edges but the middle is fairly clear. On the way back we saw a Blue Heron in Yellowstone River hunting for food and was able to get a short video of that too.

We are still short a couple of people, so we will be working longer hours until the new people make it to Yellowstone.

March 4, 2016 We took a day trip up to Sisters Oregon, in the Cascade Mountains. Had a nice time and got a few good photos.

 

We left Thompson's Mills in Shedd, Oregon on March 27th and headed for Puyallup, Washington for a week. Before we left, we took a trip to Silver Falls State Park, northeast of Salem. One of the hosts we work with at Thompson's Mills is going to host at Silver Falls for a couple of months starting next week and wanted to take a trip up there to see where it was and how to get there, so she wouldn't have any problems getting into her site. While we were there, we drove through the park on the main road and took a short hike to the southern falls. We got a few pictures and had a great time.

 

 

We left Puyallup Sunday, March 3rd and drove to Memaloose State Park on the Columbia River, just west of The Dalles, Oregon. We stayed for three nights. On Monday, we drove back west, to see the Multnomah Falls. We hiked almost two miles, up around the main falls and stopped to see Horsetail Falls. It was a little drizzly but not bad. We got wetter from the spume from the falls than we did from the drizzle.

 

Wednesday, March 6th we headed for Farewell Bend State Park near Ontario, Oregon. We've stayed there a number of times before. Friday we took a day ride to Hell's Canyon. It was a very interesting and beautiful drive, though we would have liked to see it before they put the three dams in, whose reservoirs now cover what were probably some other spectacular sights. At the end of the road (from the south) you end up at Hell's Canyon dam, where you can finally see the natural river and canyon..

 

We saw a mountain goat resting on top of a ledge, overlooking the river while there.

 

One the way back out of the canyon, we stopped to check out some water falls coming down the canyon wall, across the river. The first photo shows the overall scene, the others are of the details that are hard to see in the first photo.

 

 

To the left of those were two more.

Saturday we headed into Idaho and stopped in Declo for one night.

Sunday we made our way to our final destination of Gardiner, Montana, just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone. We drove through Yellowstone to get there. The drive was nice because at this time of the year most of the park can only be accessed by employees and hikers or bikers. We saw no more than a half dozen other cars during the drive but we saw dozens of bikers and a few hikers. We saw quite a few bison, many walking down the road. Most of them were only a couple, to a few, years old. We also saw, what we believe is the first baby bison born (red dog) this season. It was just stumbling to its feet, with the help of its mom, when we drove by. We weren't allowed to stop along the road, so we couldn't get the best photo, but we did get a long shot of it. You can see the baby just in front of the mama's nose in the photo below.

 

January 23, 2016

We've been in Shedd, Oregon since the middle of November, after a three week stay in Puyallup, Washington. This year, we are special projects hosts, which minimizes our time spent giving tours. It allows us to help improve the mill, so that the visitors can have a better experience.

Since we've been here we've had -

Beautiful sunrises

Great Blue Herons roosting on the mill race banks (with a really mean look in his eye)

 

Frozen spider webs

More beautiful sunrises

 Rainbows

Enough rain to flood the basement of the mill

 

And the floods brought their own kind of visitor

 Birds, oh so many birds 

 More rainbows

Along with the rain and floods comes the debris that's carried down the river to block our head gates

 

Which means we have to clear the mess so that the gates can be opened and closed to reduce flooding.

 

 

And not to be missed are the bald eagles. We saw eight of them on one of our short trips. Here are two of them in the same tree.

 

 

I'm sure there will be more later.  

We had our last day off on Wednesday the 14th and decided to drive around the lower loop one last time. We saw a bunch of bison and one male elk. We were able to get a picture that shows just how stupid some of the people that visit Yellowstone are. Fortunately, the rut was over, so the guy in the photo did not get attacked by the elk.

 

We also stopped at a turnout just north of the campground and climbed down the hill to the bank of the Gibbon River. With water levels at their lowest for the year, you can see the results of thousands of years of erosion on a rock in the middle of a river.

I also made a panorama of the river.

 

We left Yellowstone for the season Tuesday, October 20th. We only went about 130 miles and decided to stop in Declo, a place we've stayed a couple of other times. Penny was able to get a few photos of the sunset, looking across the Snake River.

 

We will be heading towards eastern Oregon today and will stay at Farewell Bend State Park for a couple of nights.

Wednesday September 30th, Penny found a couple of squirrels playing "leapfrog" on our porch and got a few pictures.

 

photo   2747 crop

 

The next day, one of the herd of elk that have been hanging around the campground came in for a snack and a nap. In the evenings the guy below has been bugling up a storm.

 

photo   Bull Elk (6) crop

 

On Sunday the 4th, we went into West Yellowstone. We made our way back to camp around sunset. Along the way, we noticed a beautiful sunset in our rear view mirror, so we stopped to take a couple pictures.

 

photo   Sunset (3)   Sunset (6) crop

 

Tuesday October 6th, we hiked the Hoodoos just south of Mammoth Hot Springs with our regular hiking buddies and another coworker. We did this same hike last year and there are photos in the section from last year below. Penny did find an old log that squirrels have been stocking up a store of pine cones for winter.

 

photo   Squirrel Food (1) crop

 

Last year, our camera battery went dead before we finished the hike, so we didn't get any photos of the hot springs area. Because of movement of the hot spot below the ground surface, the water outflow has moved to an area that is only viewable from the trail behind the terraces. Most visitors don't get to this area because they don't want to get out of their car.

 

photo   Thermal Features (6)   Thermal Features (31)   Thermal Features 54

 

At the end of the hike, we had to walk between a creek and a building. As we got to the back side of the building, we noticed a few elk enjoying the green grass. The smallest elk was taking a siesta. Even though we were closer than we normally would have gotten, it didn't seem too bothered by us.

 

photo   Elk (4)

 

Penny and I decided to go to the Canyon area to take a short hike Wednesday afternoon. We were thinking of doing Uncle Tom's Trail but since we hadn't done the Red Rock Trail this year, that's what we decided to do. I recently bought a copy of Adobe Elements, so I was able to make a panorama view from the bottom of the trail.

 

photo   Panorama1

I also went back and made a panorama of some Riddle Lake photos I had taken.

 

photo   Riddle Lake Panorama

 

Though not as good as it might be otherwise, I also made a panorama of some of the shots we took at Beartooth Pass

 

photo   Merged panorama

 

We have about a week left before we head west. Because they are reducing staff now, we may have to work more hours than we have been. Penny will only get one day off this week, so we probably won't be doing a lot of hiking. Our next blog post may not happen until we get back to Puyallup for our doctor's appointments in late October.

Wednesday September 30th, Penny found a couple of squirrels playing "leapfrog" on our porch and got a few pictures.

 

 The next day, one of the herd of elk that have been hanging around the campground came in for a snack and a nap. In the evenings the guy below has been bugling up a storm.

 

On Sunday the 4th, we went into West Yellowstone. We made our way back to camp around sunset. Along the way, we noticed a beautiful sunset in our rear view mirror, so we stopped to take a couple pictures.

 

Tuesday October 6th, we hiked the Hoodoos just south of Mammoth Hot Springs with our regular hiking buddies and another coworker. We did this same hike last year and there are photos in the section from last year below. Penny did find an old log that squirrels have been stocking up a store of pine cones for winter.

Last year, our camera battery went dead before we finished the hike, so we didn't get any photos of the hot springs area. Because of movement of the hot spot below the ground surface, the water outflow has moved to an area that is only viewable from the trail behind the terraces. Most visitors don't get to this area because they don't want to get out of their car.

At the end of the hike, we had to walk between a creek and a building. As we got to the back side of the building, we noticed a few elk enjoying the green grass. The smallest elk was taking a siesta. Even though we were closer than we normally would have gotten, it didn't seem too bothered by us.

Penny and I decided to go to the Canyon area to take a short hike Wednesday afternoon. We were thinking of doing Uncle Tom's Trail but since we hadn't done the Red Rock Trail this year, that's what we decided to do. I recently bought a copy of Adobe Elements, so I was able to make a panorama view from the bottom of the trail.

 

I also went back and made a panorama of some Riddle Lake photos I had taken.

 

Though not as good as it might be otherwise, I also made a panorama of some of the shots we took at Beartooth Pass

 

We have about a week left before we head west. Because they are reducing staff now, we may have to work more hours than we have been. Penny will only get one day off this week, so we likely won't be doing a lot of hiking. Our next blog post may not happen until we get back to Puyallup for our doctor's appointments in late October.