Brown Butter Popcorn

Winter Wonderland.

2012-01-24T00:22:00.003-06:00

Lone Star Rainbow.

Some days I feel really frustrated about my self-portrait project. Most days I feel inspired.

I was feeling very low about taking pictures, in general. I think this has more to do with the snow (read: icy) conditions that we were having this winter. Until our big storm that has been lasting dumping snow on us over the last week, we've only had snow three days and we've been here for over a month now. The days get above freezing, which means things start to melt. The nights get well below freezing (-4 degrees F tonight), which means things freeze really hard. This combination means that I don't feel inspired to leave my home.

However, because I've committed to getting out and take at least one picture a day that I have my camera with me almost always now. If I'm going to go through the trouble of lugging it around, then I may as well use it - and I've been using it a lot out in the Upper Geyser Basin (ie the one right outside the Lodge). In fact, I've been taking so many pictures that it's hard for me to stay caught up with organizing and any adjustments that I do (which is minimal on my landscape pictures).

The storm that we just had completely transformed the landscape. We went out for a ski along Spring Creek and the up and around on the Howard-Eaton - it was calmly (i.e. no wind!) snowing the whole time creating a trail of wonderful powder that was so much fun to ski.

Here are some of my favorites - I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Thermal Run Off along the Firehole River.

Grotto Geyser Erupting.

Blowing Snow and Shadows.

Lone Star Major Eruption.

Thermal Run Off on a Cold Morning.

Heart Spring.

Doublet Pool.

First Attempt at Night Photography - Castle Geyser

Old Faithful Eruption at Dawn.

Twigs in a Snowy Crack.

Of course, that isn't all. Those are just my current favorites; however, if I were to remake this post in a year it would probably be a different handful that we posted. I feel like my landscapes are getting calmer - maybe it's just the winter.

Inspirational Photographers.

2012-01-17T09:10:00.000-06:00

Since I've been doing the Project 365, I've been researching other photographers. There are a few that I've come across that I may have seen a picture or two before but now am delving deep into their work and being inspired greatly! Here are just a few of those photographers and some of my favorite photos:

Sally Mann:

My favorite are her "Immediate Family" work. There are a number of them I've seen before - and am drawn to the grittiness, rawness of the photos.
From Wikipedia:
Mann is perhaps best known for Immediate Family, her third collection, published in 1992. The NY Times said, “Probably no photographer in history has enjoyed such a burst of success in the art world.” The book consists of 65 black-and-white photographs of her three children, all under the age of 10. Many of the pictures were taken at the family's remote summer cabin along the river, where the children played and swam in the nude. Many explore typical childhood themes (skinny dipping, reading the funnies, dressing up, vamping, napping, playing board games) but others touch on darker themes such as insecurity, loneliness, injury, sexuality and death. The controversy on its release was intense, including accusations of child pornography (both in America and abroad) and of contrived fiction with constructed tableaux. One image of her 4-year-old daughter (Virginia at 4) was censored by the Wall Street Journal with black bars over her eyes, nipples and pubic area. Mann herself considered these photographs to be “natural through the eyes of a mother, since she has seen her children in every state: happy, sad, playful, sick, bloodied, angry and even naked.” Critics agreed, saying her “vision in large measure [is] accurate, and a welcome corrective to familiar notions of youth as a time of unalloyed sweetness and innocence,” and that the book “created a place that looked like Eden, then cast upon it the subdued and shifting light of nostalgia, sexuality and death." When Time magazine named her “America’s Best Photographer” in 2001, it wrote:

Mann recorded a combination of spontaneous and carefully arranged moments of childhood repose and revealingly — sometimes unnervingly — imaginative play. What the outraged critics of her child nudes failed to grant was the patent devotion involved throughout the project and the delighted complicity of her son and daughters in so many of the solemn or playful events. No other collection of family photographs is remotely like it, in both its naked candor and the fervor of its maternal curiosity and care.

Gregory Crewdson:

Gregory Crewdson's photographs usually take place in small town America, but are dramatic and cinematic. They feature often disturbing, surreal events. The photographs are shot using a large crew, and are elaborately staged and lighted. Something that I don't have the ability to do but the colors and unusual subject are greatly inspirational.

Annie Leibovitz:

Annie Leibovitz is most well known for her photos of famous people. I started reading Vanity Fair a few years ago just because she is generally their photographer and her photos were so complelling that I would pick up a copy based on the cover photo alone. She recently (in the last few years) teamed up with Disney to do a photo series for them, which capivates me since these were all my favorites as a child. I could have very well picked any other photos and just been as pleased with the selections. She is an amazing artist.

There are, of course, tons of other photographers that I look at frequently. Some are landscape masters, some are struggling to get noticed by someone other than myself, all are amazing.

The Sacred Balance.

2012-01-11T14:29:00.000-06:00

I recently finished reading the book The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki. He takes the reader through the basic elements - air, water, earth and fire - and discusses how each of them were formed way back when the earth was still being formed, how they are when the Earth was healthy and how our transition from primate to modern society has affected them now. He continues on to talk about the importance of love in humans - how it is grows out of the love from our parents and communities.

For example, the air that we know around us was first created when the first organisms (single-celled bacteria) started using energy from the heat on the planet to start (for lack of a better word in my non-science vocabulary) live. They were similar to the cynobacteria and thermophiles that we have living in Yellowstone's hot springs - they don't have chlorophyll like most algae or plants but instead use the heat from the hot water to create the energy they need to live. When these first bacteria started to produce energy, they started to release oxygen. As life continued to progress (all in the oceans at this point) they continued to release oxygen (whether from photosystensis or the original form) which eventually filled up the ocean. Once the oceans became full of of oxygen, the oxygen particles passed out into the atmosphere. And evolution has continued into the world that we know today.

I was truly fascinated by the first few sections of the book. It made me more aware of how I use the resources that so many of us take for granted (and are in the grand scheme of things only been so ravaged in the most recent years). The later sections - once he starts talking about our need of love and community (which is true and he makes good arguments for) were a little more out of my realm of interest. I can see that we have a striving need for community. Although in the world today, it's less about who is your neighbor but more obvious in the online world. The blogs that we follow, websites we go to (and create ourselves), and our Twitter "friends" have become the community that more people relate to than the ones that our physical selves are members of.

I am trying to give more of my books away and am going to try to use my blog to help me remember what I've read, how it's affected me and what I've learned. This will probably be a book (at least the first two thirds) that I read a couple more times before fully understanding the balance that he discusses with precision and care. A balance that is being thrown off with consequences that is already becoming apparent as I watch the world around me more closely than I ever have.

007/365 - Photo Shoot.

2012-01-08T18:54:00.002-06:00

Today, I went out with the intition of a sad photo (or what I felt was sad) - I wanted a photo of my bare feet walking away in the snow with a rose falling out of my hand. I am missing summer today and wanted to reflect that feeling.

It's amazing how that idea changes once you get out in front of the camera. I never even really got one that I liked where I was bare foot just standing there (or walking). Instead, I started to enjoy the fresh crisp air outside and jumped for joy of life.

This one was my favorite closest to my original plan.

I cut my head off.

007/365.

My belly looks weird and my face looks scared.

P.S. My feet definitely felt the cold! Right behind my camera I had a sleeping pad with a towel and my warm socks and boots to slip into as I needed to. Even with that - I only took a small handful of photos. Hope you enjoy!

A Big Fat Thank You!

2012-01-05T07:58:00.000-06:00

I had a rather strange and wonderful dream last night. I was camping on my dad's lawn when I decided to go for a walk. On my walk, I ran into (almost) all of my old high school/junior high really good friends - some of them were as they are now (aka older) and some of them were as they were then (aka younger).

The thing is that I've always moved a lot as a kid so my group of friends was constantly changing, but I actually stayed in the same place during those cruitial years. Not that my best friend at the start of junior high was still my number one at the end of high school - but I was still friends with them. I still see their feeds on Facebook and am glad at their success and happiness.

I had a heart to heart conversation (in my dream) with almost all of them, especially Kelly (my junior high best friend - you know the one that "you will always love like a sister..."). She gave me a giant hug and told me that she was proud of me. Even if it was just a dream, I feel very thankful this morning to every friend whom I've ever had that has helped shape me into the strong and independent woman that I am today.

004/365

P.S. I have been awesome about keeping up with my self-portrait-a-day (even if this only day 4!). Take a look on Flickr.

New Year's Resolution.

2012-01-02T23:49:00.000-06:00

I always love having a new year's resolution but I've had the same one for the last few years - to have better posture. I do have better posture now (still not wonderful but I'm conscious of it so it's much improved)! That being said I've been trying to think of something for 2012 that would inspire my creative juices in the relm of photography.

I've varied up a lot of my work recently - with photographing at my mom's town and doing more black and white. However, I really wanted to do something out of my comfort zone so the perfect idea is to take a self portrait once a day (albeit a day late for 2012). (It's not my original idea - it's from Flickr's Project 365s that were super popular a few years ago. I've been looking at all of Lauren Lemon's photos from her project in 2009 as well as other photographers she mentions as inspiration. I want to learn what I'm doing instead of hoping that the good luck I've had with my camera just continues by some miracle.)

I hate taking pictures of myself or even have other people take pictures of me. I've been trying to be better about it (with Graham's help) but I just feel awkward. I feel awkward when I take pictures of other people - like I don't know what I'm doing. This should help me take better pictures of other people since I'm practicing on myself.

I already had the idea of taking a self-portrait (with Graham) every day we were on the Appalachian Trail just for shits and giggles. I won't be able to upload them daily (or probably even until the end of the trail am I going to get around to doing anything with them) but I will save them all during my 6 month hiatus and overload everyone when it's done.

Of course, I came up with the idea while lounging in bed already ready to close my eyes for the night. So that's what I photographed:

001/365

Happy New Years!

2012-01-01T19:00:00.000-06:00

Winter To Do List.

2011-12-22T11:00:00.000-06:00

Every season there are always things that I want to do but just don't get around to it. This season there are a few things that I definitely want to do. I don't want to forget what those things are and I want to be held a bit more accountable so I'm relying on all you folks to help me with that task!

Tag along on a Steam and Stars Tour.
See a fox mousing.
Visit Shoshone Geyser Basin.
Ski the Contential Divide.
Go to evening Ranger talks. (especially the one about Bison!)
Canyon Ski Tour.
Build a snow cave.
Participate in Search and Rescue.
Photograph in -20 degree temperatures.
Olympics!
Down hill ski.

Me at Kepler Cascades.

I'll keep you updated as I check things off (or think of more things). Thanks for all your help in keeping me on task!

Dawn.

2011-12-20T09:58:00.000-06:00

Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.
~George Washington Carver

Dehrydrating Lessons.

2011-12-17T21:42:00.003-06:00

My poorly written and rambling post inspired me to write a better one!

I did A LOT of dehydrating of foods when I was at me mum's home. I dehydrated Ropa Vieja, Corn and Squash Relish, Jerky, Fruit Leather, Pork and Black Beans, Great White Northern Beans and anything else I had to throw in the pot and lots more (so much I can't even remember everything I made!). There are a few conclusions I've come to:

#1. I wouldn't dehydrate food (with the exception of jerky and fruits) if I didn't backpack. It's not that don't re-hydrate well because a majority of them do (especially the Ropa Vieja, which is like Mexican shredded beef). It's just that it's really not very practical to cook a meal, dehydrate it and then re-hydrate it for a boxed lunch in the office. Just bring in some Tupperware with leftovers. If you are worried about the world ending or a backpacker, the by all means dehydrate 'til your hearts content!

Cooking at my mum's. I loved having a window right there where you could watch the feathered friends!

#2. Dehydrated fruit can be more delicious than fresh fruit. Don't get me wrong - I love biting into a wonderfully ripened peach and have the juices drip down my face and hands. Dehydrating fruit intensifies the flavors making it a great snack for road trips or at the office. If you have some pears that are starting to get too soft, then slice up those bad boys; sprinkle on some sugar and cinnamon, if you wish; and dehydrate away. It saves your fruit and you aren't losing any of the wonderful sugars that make fruit a better option than a candy bar.

#3. Spread your food thinner than you think you need to while it is dehydrating. We were doing a pretty good job of this at first but then I started to get antsy and wanted to dehydrate more at once so I'd make it thicker. Not a lot thicker but a little bit. A little bit though equals over 15 hours of dehydrating action as opposed to 8 hours of dehydrating action. If you make it thinner, then the air can circulate around each kernel of corn or each bean easier and dry it out quicker.

Ropa Vieja ready to be dried.

#4. If you are going to be doing things such as fruit leathers or soups (we did a lot of soups), then you should by the fruit leather sheets. We did not do this. Instead we traced the tray on to parchment paper and cut out the parchment paper. The big difference though is that we had to do this probably 50 times, we threw a lot of paper away and it's more expensive (the sheets are less than $10!). However, they are impossible to find in small town Oklahoma and I didn't think about ordering them from the fancy interwebs until right before I left.

#5. Beef dehydrates well. I added chicken to lots of things because we had lots of chicken (left overs from Thanksgiving and left overs from making chicken stock). However, beef dehydrated better. Well no it's not even that, but it re-hydrates better. It maintains it's flavor better.

#6. Spray each tray with Pam before adding the food. If you do not, then it will stick and be a bitch to scrape off. It'll look less appetizing and you will be more apt to curse at the food as you are trying to pry it away from the parchment paper that just wont let go.

PAM!

#7. Have a way to store your booty. At first, we stored things in just Ziplock baggies and stuck them in the freezer. (I read somewhere that dehydrated meat is good for two weeks at room temp or pretty much unlimited in a freezer. Dehydrated vegetarian food is good for two years at room temp.) However, I started having nightmares of giant freezer burned dried corn chasing me (not really but I did start to worry). So we went to the store and decided to try to Ziplock vacuum hand pump suck-the-air-out-bags since they were $10 for all the supplies (about 24 bags and the pump) as opposed to $150+ for a food saver and the special bags. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. My mum is supposed to be borrowing a food saver from a friend at work to prevent the freezer burn.

#8. Make sure everything is completely dry. Wetness is what makes things rot. If it isn't completely dry, then let it keep going longer. By the end of the two week cooking/dehydrating marathon, I felt very comfortable as to when it was dry, but earlier on I was afraid of it getting too dry and turning to dust. I feared this because I read about it on other sites. Don't be afraid of that - it takes a long time before it is too dry. Be more afraid of it being damp.

#9. Make everything about the size of a bean. Not a giant bean like a lima bean or a tiny bean like a lentil but a normal bean - like a black bean. If it's not all the same size then some stuff will turn to dust while other stuff is still damp. (Like in the picture above, I ended up taking out the slices of carrots because they took way too long to get anywhere near dry.) If everything is uniformly sized but rather large, it will take forever to dry out or may not dry out in the center at all. I read to keep everything about a quarter of an inch by a quarter of an inch but it's easier for me to think about the size of a black bean.

Corn Squash Mexican Relish. All the same size; although, it could have been a bit smaller.

#10. I don't like taking pictures of food with my new camera. (I know this isn't a dehydrating lesson but it's a lesson I learned while cooking.) I have to wash my hands too often, pause my cooking groove and then I couldn't get the picture of inside the pot without often moving it to the floor and trying to angle it so it didn't look like it was on the floor. Back in the day, I photographed every step of the way, but I also had a different camera that made it a bit easier.

That's the big stuff. If you have any questions, please leave a comment - I'm feeling like an expert currently. My mum is taking over my duties as queen dehyrdrator while we are in the park so she'll probably have some stuff to add as well. (We do have a mini-kitchen this season - but no cooking utensils! We didn't know we were getting it so we didn't prepare!)

Stream of Consciousness.

2011-12-17T20:31:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I can't get motivated to want to write. The thing is though that I love to write. It feels good to put my thoughts somewhere more permanent than my head or chatting with a friend. I'm still not motivated but I figured if I just started then maybe something would come to me. I might wander.

We are back in the park for the winter season. This will most likely be our last season in Yellowstone. However, as every Yellowstoner knows, there are four lies of Yellowstone and one of them is "I'm never coming back." (The other three include: "I love you," "We'll keep in touch," and "I'm not getting drunk tonight.") It's hard to stay away from here. It's so stunningly beautiful and peaceful that it holds on to you and doesn't want to let you go. The idea of being able to wake up before being at work at 10:30 and go for a ski through the Lower Geyser Basin (home to famous Old Faithful and numerous other phenomenal geothermal features) is one that is hard to leave behind.

I've been looking at photos from other's AT trips and it makes me excited to be leaving with a plan. At least we aren't heading out into the real world with thoughts of an office job (which I don't believe I could ever do again!) or mortgage payments. What comes after the AT is still a BIG question mark and one that the answer to changes almost hourly (or at least that's how it feels). On one hand we love being out west. Who wouldn't? The mountains have a way of getting into your soul and holding you there while you just calmly breath in the fresh air. The freshly melted snow turning small streams into roaring rivers that wash you clean without even stepping into the frigged waters. On the other hand we would love to be closer to our families. They should just move out west and make it an easier decision. Oh well there is still plenty of time before that decision has to be made.

I haven't even taken my camera out of it's case since I've been back in the park. (And I've been here for a whole week now!) I'm a bit nervous to take my new camera out on skis and we have been rather busy preparing for opening day, which is tomorrow! We don't have nearly the amount of snow that we had last year. In fact, we are still using some wheeled vehicles and my ski poles hit the road often while skiing to work. Hopefully the snow gods will see our dances and dump several feet of big white flakes on us. Fingers crossed!

Laundry time! Sorry for the lack of any direction and the lack of postings lately. Now that my routined life is back, maybe I'll get better. Lots of love and best wishes to everyone during this busy time of year.

Dehyrdating Update.

2011-11-20T21:09:00.001-06:00

I didn't forget about sharing our dehydrating successes and failures - and we've been a long way since our first attempt. Our first night in Memphis, we (you should probably read I here) were so excited that we went to the store and got some fruit and ingredients for a pasta sauce. We made cut up some pears (in super thin triangle slices) and dipped them in pureed pineapple; pureed some pears and spread it smoothly on the dehydration leather sheet; threw some sliced pineapple on for fun and turned it on. We checked back on the status about every hour and ate many of the pieces as they slowly dried to their waterless state.

The pears dried really unevenly due to the fact that no matter how how you slice it - a triangle shaped pear slice's thin side will turn to dust while the other side still has enough left to make some pear juice. The thick layer of pineapple, which we used to help preserve the color because they recommend pineapple juice but fresh pineapple were on sale, clung to the sides of the pears. The what-was-supposed-to-be pear fruit leather turned a weird brown and slightly resembled a cracked piece of dark sandpaper. We tried to scrape the pieces off with a fork, a knife, a spatula but ended up soaking it in soapy water overnight. The pineapple; however, was wonderful! It was so good in fact that it didn't make it all the way to the total dehydrated state.

Since that first attempt we have successfully dehydrated chili (that has also been successfully re-hydrated), baked beans, fruit leathers (flavored with grapes, bananas, apples and pears) and beef jerky. The re-hydrated chili was for the most part delicious - the beef retained a jerky like texture and we used a little too much water in the re-hydration process but after hiking 16 miles with 30 pounds on our backs - it will be amazing!

We are at my sister's home now and have made a planned list of food stuffs to cook and dehydrate, including Carrot, Red Lentil and Ginger soup, Chicken Matzo soup, Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo (which we made today and enjoyed so much that it was dinner - but we're going to make it again...), Cuban Style Rice and Beans, Mulligatawny Soup, some jerky and more fruit leather. Stay tuned.

We used wine grapes to make our fruit leather. It kind of felt like a loogie.

Conservation.

2011-11-01T10:31:00.000-05:00

Cinnamon Black Bear.

A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children.
- Audobon Society

Homemade White Pizza

2011-10-28T07:33:00.000-05:00

Apparently, I wrote this before I came out to Yellowstone when I was chillin' with my mom (over a year and a half ago!). I'll share now because we had homemade pizza last night (visiting Graham's family in Memphis)...

When my mom was in Chicago, we went to Piece and she fell in love with their white pizza. She doesn't have any good pizza options in her town so we attempted a version of their white pizza tonight. I've often heard that traditional white pizza is made with Alfredo sauce; however, Piece's is made with a layer of garlic and olive oil. Now Mama Bear won't have to go to the corner store to get a frozen pizza anymore!

We started with a wheat pizza crust recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle from Barbara Kingsolver. We cut it in half since the recipe was for two medium pizzas. While the dough rose, we roasted a bulb of garlic - next time, two bulbs will be roasted. We used whatever veggies were available - sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, mushrooms, broccoli (from the garden) and ripe olives. We were worried about the crust being too dry but it came out wonderfully crisp and had a great flavor. The only change would have been more garlic and something with a tomato flavor on the other half (preferably fresh tomatoes from the garden).

Dissolve 1.5 teaspoons of dry active yeast in .75 cups warm water.

Add in 1.5 tbsp olive oil and .5 tsp salt in to the yeasty water. (It looks like an egg, which reminds me... My mom's neighbor (who has a crush on my hot mama) brought over some blue eggs that we've been eating for breakfast and in salads. The yolks are so bright and big and yet the overall taste of the eggs are so light!)

Mix in 1.25 cups of white flour and 1 cup of wheat flour.

We had to add in water slowly and we didn't even finish adding in all the white flour. The dough seemed a little bit of a tough consistency - but it ended up fine. Let it rise for about an hour or so.

While the dough is rising, roast the garlic. Cut off the top of the bulb, place it in a foil bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Close up the foil bowl and place in a 450 degree oven for about an hour. Check on it every once in a while and drizzle with more oil if necessary.

Caramelize the onions - slice them into half moons, saute them over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes until brown and shriveled in size.

Prepare whatever else you are going to add. If your mom is around, have her cut some olives...

...mushrooms and broccoli.

Once the dough has risen, spread it out onto a prepared pan (drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with corn meal to prevent sticking).

Smear the smashed roasted garlic and olive oil onto the dough with the back of a spoon.

We made half of the pizza with sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, mushrooms and the other half with olives, broccoli and mushrooms.

Cover the whole thing with cheese - mozzarella, Parmesan and goat cheese (if you have it).

Enjoy with hot pepper flakes!

Happy cooking!

Appalachian Trail.

2011-10-23T21:25:00.000-05:00

I realize that I often just tell stories of what we havedone but not what we will be doing. It’s mostly because I think of our future as being so variable that Idon’t want to say we are going to do this and then do that. However, we do have a few future plansthat are set in wet cement – this winter will be our last season in the parkand then next summer we will hike the Appalachian Trail.

[NOTE: I wrote this post a couple of weeks agoand hadn’t posted it yet – because that’s how I roll sometimes. I have also realized that I don’t sharea lot of the details of our daily lives – the tourons (like tourist combinedwith moron), the awful food and run ins with local power-hungry security (whichis like a rent-a-cop but not rented). I’m going to work on this as well… (And you can't fault me too much - I have improved on posting frequency!)]

Winter is a magical time in the park and I would like toexperience it one more time. I’mready to get some skis on my feet and go out in the quiet, calm after a freshsnowfall. The geysers and otherthermal features have a more poetic draw to them with the freezing air causesthe steam to multiply and the hush of nature allows you to hear the rumblebeneath your feet. The animalsthat spend their time trying to survive a Yellowstone winter, with -40 degreedays and 200+ inches of snow, is a very humbling thing to behold.

There are a multitude of reasons that we’ll be ready toleave the park after that – the main one being that we have little to nofreedom here (see above comment about localpower-hungry security). It’s not because we have a million rules (although, we are on federalland so any trouble with the rangers and not security means a felony…) butbecause we don’t have any facilities. If we want to make dinner, we don’t have a kitchen and even worse, wedon’t have a place to get groceries. We have a little camping stove and a grill but we have to drive at leastan hour to pick up fresh veggies and some chicken. (And I miss Rupert!)

We have decided that we want the things that come with the“real” world – Rupert, a dog, a garden – but we want one more grand adventure(and probably many others in the grand scheme of things). We debated the three major trails – theAppalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails – but decided theAppalachian would be the easiest for us since we are both fairly new tobackpacking and working on getting our gear up to par. We recently got a new tent after ourzipper broke on our last one! I’mlooking forward to the adventure from Georgia to Maine – approx. 2, 218 milesthat we’ll travel with everything we could need on our backs.

After the Appalachian Trail, we’re not sure where we willend up but we do know we want to be close enough to places that are rich enoughto allow backpacking in the somewhat near vicinity. We have found a peace out in the woods that will be hard toleave so we don’t plan on leaving it completely – “The Mountains are Callingand I Must Go.” -John Muir.

Food.

2011-10-18T06:06:00.000-05:00

One of the biggest things that Graham and I struggle with in terms of our backpacking trips is what to eat. It must be lightweight, won't spoil, packed full of calories, quick to prepare and tasty. (We have to carry everything on our backs, outside in the heat to replenish lots of used calories while using a gas (and we carry that too) stove with one 2 quart pot - and nobody wants to eat gross food.)

I always try to eat fresh/local/organic (which lets be honest hasn't happened much in the last year and a half because that is not what is served in the Employee Dining Room - hell, we're lucky if it's cooked all the way!) but we've found that the prepackage, full of salt and preservatives meal usually fits the bill over other foods (mostly the can't spoil and lightweight thing - potatoes are just not very light).

With the prospect of spending 6 months out in the woods (I don't think I've mentioned yet that we are planning a trip on the Appalachian Trail for next summer - more details to come with the next post) with the usual go-to's: Kraft Mac and Cheese with a can of chili (which is too heavy realistically anyway) or (newly discovered to us) Indian food in a bag with Minute Rice (which I then have to take Pepto and/or sit on a tree over a hole for 30 minutes - dang! Indian food is tasty but it does NOT agree with my belly) and then no matter what it is you have to wrap it up in a tortilla because it just makes it taste better (seriously, on the Mr. Bubble trip, Graham literally ate a chunky peanut butter, snickers and gummy bear "sandwich" wrap) - I have been on a mission for better health choices. (This paragraph should probably be more than one sentence - but I think it has character so I'm going to leave it.)

(I'm writing rather rambly - but it's currently 4:27 a.m. and I just can't sleep.) I started this blog as a food blog and I'm going to start back down that path in detailing what we make; how we package, store and transport the food; and then the actual preparation on the trail. The pictures probably won't be pretty in anyway but hopefully they will be helpful to other campers/backpackers/hikers (or as I've learned in my recent research - people who think the world is going to blow up or something so they need massive amounts of emergency food supplies - not kidding, click here). I have found a few pretty good sites but most of them seem started and then forgotten (the best one that I've found is from the Backpacking Chef) so hopefully this isn't some late night, sleep deprived dream that I soon forget about as well.

We are getting ready to head home (Memphis, Texas and Oklahoma) to visit the respective families. During this time, we are going to cook some foods that could then be dehydrated - or if it would be possible to dehydrate the ingredients and then quickly make the meal after rehydrating. It's not the same as fresh/local but hopefully we'll pick some of that up along the way too. I have learned that you can dehydrate almost any food (like rice and then it'll have more nutrients than the Minute Rice but not noodles - but we can just bring those raw, which is basically dehydrated anyway, and add them into the cooking process). I'm currently working on a list of recipes I think might work - and since this all currently hypothetical since I've never dehydrated anything in my life up to this point - I'll just let you know how they go so we discover together.

The other idea that we had is to make super muffins or biscuits but the concern is that they'd get too crumbly. We might still make some, freeze them and have them shipped to us periodically. By super muffin I mean one that has protein powder, flax seed, nutritional yeast and anything else we can throw in to it to add more calories (I did say we wanted lots of calories right? specifically protein. The average AT hiker burns between 3000 to 4000 calories a day! and we have to carry the food to replenish that on our backs.) I believe we could make tasty ones (and I love to make muffins!) and they would be good for breakfast or a snack - it's just the crumbly part.

Any other food preparation ideas?

I played golf for my birthday. Graham said I looked like Hunter S. Thompson in my golfing attire.

P.S. I'm glad to be talking about food again. I don't think this is an idea that will leave me once I'm finally able to get some sleep. Definitely more details (about the Appalachian Trail and food) to come!

Look!

2011-10-18T00:10:00.000-05:00

Glacier Lily.

"Look! Look! Look deep into nature and you will understand everything."
- Albert Einstein

Senor Bubble.

2011-10-15T12:20:00.002-05:00

Graham and I recently hiked out into the Bechler Riverregion (the southwestern corner of the park). The area in general has the reputation of being fairly busywith traffic but also as being one of the more interesting backcountry placesto hike.

Lone Star Geyser.

We started out along the Lone Star trail, which we skiedpretty commonly in the winter. When we were about 50 yards from the clearing of Lone Star Geyser, itstarted to erupt. We could feelthe mist of the water so we started running to catch the tail end of it. I’ve probably been out there 15 timesand have never seen a lot of activity although it is has a fairly frequenteruption interval (3 hours).

Dragonfly.

The rest of our hike that afternoon was through smallgeothermal areas or old growth forest (probably about 160 years old). The dragonflies seemed to congregate inthe thermal areas where mating dances were occurring on fallen over logscovered with thermophiles. (Thermophiles are heat loving micro-organisms that thrive in the hotwaters in the park and give many of the springs their bright colors.)

Shoshone Geyser Basin.

The next morning, we took a short detour to the ShoshoneGeyser basin. It was really coolto see such undisturbed thermal features. Walking around the Upper Geyser basin usually makes me a little sadbecause you can tell where objects have been thrown into the pools (or wherethe pools were damaged during the process of cleaning them out). I would have loved to spend the day outhere exploring the area but we still had 8 miles to hike before our destinationfor that night.

We stopped back at our site to pick up our packs and havelunch. The next stretch of trailwas all through old growth forest and over a (mostly) gradual hill. I had been wearing my raincoat due tothe large amount of mosquitoes that were feasting on me, but it made me superdehydrated. The hike wassignificantly harder than it should have been and I had no energy – despitedrinking over 4 liters of water in about 4 miles. I protested against going all the way to our site and we setup camp with some nice guys that were on a multi-night backpacking trip. Thankfully they didn’t mind sharing thesite with us.

Graham.

That night we woke up to a electrical storm and a drizzlingrain. I had left my boots outsidethe tent and didn’t want to unzip the tent to grab them due to having zipperissues (our tent officially went out of commission on this trip). Thus, I finished the hike in my sandalsand had to pack my wet boots out.

My super white legs in Mr. Bubble.

We got up early and hiked out to Mr. Bubble, a thermalfeature that you can soak in. Itwas a really relaxing way to start our day and a treat to experience withoutanyone else there. Graham did burnhis foot by stepping in an area that was entirely too hot, but not anything toobad. Across the river was another(much hotter) Hot Spring, supposedly Grandpa Bubble, which was beautifullybubbling away.

Grandpa Bubble.

After relaxing, we started out the 15 miles back to thetruck. It was an amazingtrip. Although we had a few minormishaps and were utterly exhausted by the time we got back, it was well worththe effort.

Winter!

2011-10-08T14:22:00.001-05:00

I am super jazzed about the upcoming winter season!!! A couple of days ago it snowed about 4 inches and a surprisingly large amount of stuck (especially for how warm it's been). Sadly, I don't have any photos of it to share since my camera recently went cupt. A couple of weekends ago we went camping at Agate Creek and in the morning when I went to turn my camera on it made a clicking noise for like a minute and then it takes pictures that look like this: (I have been taking pictures, but with my film camera so it'll be a while til I see those...)

Picture from my broken camera.

The snow makes Old Faithful look more like home to me. The surrounding hillsides are blanketed white and the tree branches are holding heavy armfuls of snow. It's beginning to melt and it will most likely be all gone by the time that I'm done working and am spending some time car camping out in the area while I wait for Graham to finish the season.

I have my last shift of the season this afternoon and then we are heading to Bozeman to hang out with a dear friend and talk to a gentleman about a camera! It's a Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSL! (I am super jazzed about a new camera!) As I've mentioned - I struggle with the limitations of my camera and have been wanting a new one for quite a while. If it's in good shape (it's used), then I'll get it. If not, then I'll keep looking.

Skiing!

Mountains.

2011-09-29T10:56:00.000-05:00

Mountains inspire awe in any human person who has a soul. They remind us of our frailty, our unimportance, of the briefness of our span upon this earth. They touch the heavens, and sail serenely at an altitude beyond even the imaginings of a mere mortal.

-Elizabeth Aston

Graham's Dad Visits.

2011-09-24T21:43:00.000-05:00

Fly Fishing.

It’s always exciting when family gets to visit. It’s a pleasure to be able to show those that we love the area where we live and what we get to experience as part of our daily lives.

Graham’s dad and his buddy went to Sturgis for some good clean motorcycle riding fun and then headed west to visit us in the park. The first day that we had off with them, we went to the Lamar River to try some fly-fishing. Graham and I don’t really have a lot of success in general and this day was no different. Although, JR had a good point – they call it fishing and not catching for a reason.

We did see quite a few snakes in the river, which gives me the heebie-jeebies but we sat and watched one catch some minnows for it’s dinner. We rode (us in the truck and them on their bikes) the rest of the way through Lamar Valley before heading up the check out the Canyon before the last of the sunlight went down over the hill.

The next day we were planning on fishing on a boat but they were all booked up. So we all pilled into the truck and took a tour of the upper loop, since they did the lower loop one day when we were working. We didn’t see a whole lot wildlife wise – except for some Big Horn Sheep near the northern entrance that seemed a little distressed so many people were around so we didn’t stay for very long. We stopped at all the major viewing points and wandered around a little bit.

Big Horn Sheep

That evening we grilled out some veggies and pork chops, which were delicious. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend where we got to show the park to friends and family.

Simple Beauty.

2011-09-18T16:42:00.000-05:00

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

-Anne Frank

Photographing.

2011-09-15T12:22:00.001-05:00

I don’t claim that I know what I’m doing when I’m photographing– but I really enjoy it. I couldn’t give you an explanation that would make you understand what an f-stop is or how to adjust your camera because I only have a vague conception of a lot of these terms.

I’m also a really impatient photographer. For example, I woke up this morning before the sun was up to head out to Hayden Valley to photograph whatever was around. (I was hoping for Bison since it is their rut season and they have taken over – but I didn’t even see one.) I got out there early enough to scope out the scene and pick my spot. I climbed up on a hill to get a good overview of the valley and then I didn’t want to sit and wait for the lighting. So I climbed back down and started to look around some more. Of course, during this looking around the sun peaked up over the edge and I wasn’t in any spot during the BEST lighting.

I’m working on this impatience. I know it’s a problem. I have other problems too.

I don’t like photographing from the road, which is what a surprisingly large number of “Yellowstone Photographers” do. (“Yellowstone Photographers” = someone who sells their pictures for a decent price.) That means if there is a pull out crowded with people to see a wolf that I won’t pull over, unless it was just discovered and there are only 5 or so cars or if the wolf runs in front of me.

There are times when I do photograph from the road, usually when I’m driving to pick Graham up, and I get frustrated that all the others around me have significantly better cameras. I am trying to take one picture and my camera has to unfocus and then refocus itself before one snap is taken and by then the subject has turned it’s butt to me. However, all around me I hear these people click, click, clicking away – sure to have gotten 10 pictures during the time it took me to take one.

I always wonder if their pictures are really worth anything though. (I have learned that having a nice camera doesn’t make you a photographer.) I’m especially frustrated this morning. I know I’ll get to where I need to be one day (equipment and knowledge wise) because I’m working on it but in the meantime I have some mornings where I just want to throw my camera at a tourists head after they come running over – yelling at the wife in the car – and scare off the Great Blue Heron that I have carefully snuck over to get a descent shot of with my little bit of knowledge and whimpy camera.

Great Blue Heron.

I just had to share my frustrations. Overall, I love photographing and will continue to do it if for nothing else but my own enjoyment. I appreciate all/any of you that have stumbled to here and enjoy my pictures and words – thank you!

NOTE: I wrote this after a morning where I felt super frustrated and inadequate. However, as time has progressed and I look back at the photos from that morning - there are many that I truly love due to the beauty and peace they instill in me. Funny how that works. I thought I'd share anyway.

Encouragement.

2011-09-09T23:28:00.000-05:00

No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.
-Ansel Adams

Electric Peak.

2011-09-01T15:59:00.000-05:00

Us.

Some hikes kick your butt much more than other hikes. This one kicked our butts. We hiked a total distance of 20 miles and an elevation gain of 5,700 feet. We started before the sun was up (around 5 a.m.) and got back to the vehicles 15 hours later. It was absolutely stunning.

Sunrise.

The first half was an old dirt road that was closed to vehicle traffic. (It would have been so nice if the road had been opened up!) We watched the sun come up and brighten the mountains surrounding the northern entrance into Yellowstone National Park.

Wildflowers.

After we got to the end of the road, we had to cut across a beautiful display of Golden Aster and Lupine to follow along the ridgeline to the mountainside of Electric Peak. The ridgeline had a rather undistinguished trail that was hard to tell which path was the real trail and which path was a game trail. Eventually, we made it to the tree line and paused to get our rain/windbreakers on since the wind tends to be unrelenting once you get to this point.

Epic.

We moved up the steep mountainside to arrive at the rocky (aka skree) peak that we had to traverse across to get to the actual peak. This is where the group got split up (and after a rock smushed Graham’s finger and he threw a temper tantrum) – Graham decided to turn back and I didn’t want to take the dangerous path by myself. When Josiah, Berlynn and Cody got to the saddle (right before the actual peak) a group of Big Horn sheep crossed the snow right in front of them. The other half of the group, Sam, Hannah, Graham and myself took a nap on the sunny mountainside to rest for the 10 miles back down.

Total Summer Mileage: 201.5

Today.

2011-08-27T09:41:00.001-05:00

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Paintbrush Divide.

2011-08-21T13:10:00.001-05:00

Paintbrush Divide.

This past weekend Graham and I headed down to the Tetons for some backpacking. After talking to the Visitor’s Center Backcountry Office, we headed to Cascade Canyon, to the North Fork with the possibility of going over the Paintbrush Divide and down Paintbrush Canyon. The Ranger-on-Duty warned us that unless if we were intense climbers that we would probably need an ice axe – so our plan was to go as far up the divide as we felt safe and then turn around when necessary, which never ended up happening.

The Grand Tetons.

We parked by the String Lake Trailhead and started out going around Jenny Lake to the exact point that Bailey and I took the shuttle to a few weeks ago. It was super crowded (and no one moved over to the side to let us pass – we moved over for everyone else except two small parties)! We finally made it up and past Inspiration Point, where we heard there were two moose a short distance further (which kept the mass crowds moving down the trail a bit further than otherwise).

Bull Moose.

We did run into two big Bull Moose. One of them was resting in a swampy area slowly chewing on grass and cooling off from the heat of the noonday sun. The second one was standing in a shady area munching on some willow a short distance (maybe five to 10 feet) from the trail where a crowd had gathered to photograph. We quickly moved away from this scene since Moose are known to be a bit aggressive and we didn’t like the proximity.

On the trail.

After we turned up the North Fork, we steadily climbed ‘til we were where the trees were significantly smaller and sparser. This was where we set up camp for the night while the majestic Mount Owen and Grand Teton proudly stood watch over us. There was a mother Marmot and her baby that hung out on a rock about 10 feet from the tent for most of the evening – just lazily watching the sun go down.

Marmot Mama and Marmot Baby.

Shortly after we were done making dinner and relaxing for the evening, we heard what sounded like a low grumble off in the distance, which caused me to let out a small yelp. Graham jumped with a start as well – our first thoughts going to a bear. However, it turned out to be a harmless hummingbird that had appeared very briefly. As we were getting ready to crawl in the tent, the mountains turned a brilliant red as they caught the last rays of the sun’s energy.

Tetons at Sunset.

The next morning, we started our trek up to Paintbrush divide. We went up the rest of Cascade Canyon to Solitude Lake, which still had ice covering about a third of the sub-alpine lake. From there we took an abrupt turn to start climbing up the canyon wall. There were a few small patches of snow, but nothing that was troublesome.

Graham and Solitude Lake.

The divide was stunning (see first photo) – we were above a bowl that overlooked Mount Woodring and Mount Moran to the north and The Jaw to the south. We paused here to enjoy a simple lunch of some tuna fish, pretzels and an apple. From there were traversed down the bowl and through Paintbrush Canyon. About a third of the way down was through snow, so I was glad we were going down this way (as opposed to up) so we could slide down on our butts (which can be a rather cold endeavor) or on our feet.

Graham on a snowy slope.

It was a great weekend that wore us out. I am glad that we get out and enjoy the beauty that we have around us at all opportunities that we have available.

Grass.

2011-08-18T10:59:00.007-05:00

We have a Yellowstone calendar behind my desk (and I couldn’t even give you the details of who puts it out or who took the pictures). A fellow friend of mine and I were discussing one of the photos – a photo of some grass. It’s a strange calendar picture so he commented, “Who takes pictures of grass?!”

I do! I love grass! I didn’t think about it at the time – but I even have a tattoo of some grass. (So does my awesome Sister!) I get questions about it all the time and I never really discuss the meaning behind it – but I think it’s my favorite tattoo.

Jack Rabbit during early spring.

When my Sister was just getting into making jewelry, she made this piece that I instantly fell in love with. After I first saw it, the image of it stayed in my head for weeks. I was learning a lot about food at the time – and how cows evolved naturally to eat grass (and chickens to eat grass/bugs and pigs to eat anything as long as they can dig for it and…).

I partially wanted it to remind me of my amazing Sister who has the passion to do anything she sets her mind and heart to accomplish. (She recently got the same tattoo in the same place – with the addition of my name underneath!) I partially wanted it to remind me of our responsibility to keep the food chain natural – and the Earth as it developed with as little of our involvement as possible.

Geyser Hill at Sunset.

Since that time, I’ve learned so much more about the natural cycle that humans don’t consciously shape. The wild animals that roam freely in my backyard remind me that the earth doesn’t belong to Homo Sapiens but that it we are blessed to share this planet with a great many creatures – many that are struggling to survive in a harsh environment that is to shrinking smaller than ever patches.

Pronghorn are some of the most beautiful and exotic (in my opinion) looking creatures in the park. They are known as the Antelope of North America because they can run up to 60 mph for up to an hour, which allows them out run any potential predators.

Pronghorn

They have the longest land migration path out of any North American land animal. They summer in Yellowstone (Northwestern Wyoming) and travel 150 miles to winter in southern Wyoming. Archaeological evidence indicates that pronghorn have traveled this same ancient migration route, which is less than 150 yards wide in some places, for at least 6,000 years. As more and more of the land in between is being divided up (and yes, Wyoming has stayed wild enough that this is just now becoming an issue), the Pronghorn are running into more and more issues with the barbed wire fences that have been put up around gas fields and in private lands. Many of Pronghorn make it through the fences; however, others get tangled on their way through and don’t make it to their destinations (or get stopped along the roads due to passing cars). Their numbers are decreasing as dangerous man-made obstacles divide their home range into smaller segments.

I have truly learned the importance of protecting our natural resources and the value of protecting that which we have managed to save thus far. I want to start doing what I can to help the small patches of native grasses (and all that lives on this amazing planet) continue to thrive where they have for thousands of years. I want to start sharing my knowledge that I’ve learned and experienced. I like that my tattoo started with inspiration from an amazing person – and has evolved into inspiring me to start to do more with my passions.

Canada Goose and Gosling.

I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do – yet. As I work down this path, I will share what I learn. I truly believe that the more I have learned about the little things I can do to help, the more that I apt to participate because (as NBC, I believe, says) the more you know…

P.S. Happy Birthday Sister!!!

Avalanche Peak

2011-08-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

I never would have imagined that I would have the joy to stand on mountaintops, camp in Alpine meadows or rest on the edges of canyon rims. I couldn’t be more thankful that the path I have chosen to meander down is a breathtaking journey.

Ms. Bailey Faith’s Visit.

2011-07-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

My niece, Bailey, came to visit me last week. At some point, I decided it would be awesome to have my sister’s kids come out and visit me when they were around the age of 16. Sam came to visit me a few years ago when I lived in Chicago – and we have blast visiting Navy’s Pier, the top of the Hancock building, getting our nails did and attempting to feed her Octopus. (She was not a fan of the last part…)

Graham and Bailey sitting at Storm Point.

Bailey was truly a trooper. The first day she was here, we went for a hike out to Storm Point (after a pit stop at Artist Point and her first Bison Jam). It’s a 2.5-mile hike out to a rocky point on the northern edge of Yellowstone Lake and home to a rather large Marmot family. Along the route, the bridge was washed out due to the high waters of the creek that you pass over. Bailey, Graham and I each tried a different log to make it across – and each of them moved rather suddenly to make for a treacherous stream crossing experience.

That evening we hiked out to Cascade Lake for Bailey’s first experience camping not in the front yard of her house. (Unfortunately, we forgot the camera at home!!!) She hiked the 2.5 miles to the campsite with a fairly heavy pack through a rather wet, marshy, mosquito infested area. She had her first try at fish – a freshly caught fish from Lewis Lake seasoned with taco seasonings that we turned into fish tacos along with fire-roasted veggies. It stormed through most of the night. We slept on a hill that made us slide down all night so we woke up every hour or so to squirm back up to the front of the tent. She drank (filtered) water from a lake. She never even complained once.

Bailey and me in front of Morning Glory Pool at sunset.

That next evening, we made a fantastic dinner of fettuccine alfredo and bruccheta. Mmmm. Then we went for an evening stroll around the Upper Geyser Basin, home to Old Faithful Geyser, Morning Glory Pool, Castle Geyser and many more. We left just in time to meet the mosquitoes during their dinnertime – but we had the boardwalk (relatively, especially for summer) to ourselves and to catch the amazing sunset. We also got to see my favorite geyser, Grotto, erupt.

Chromatic Pool.

Bailey and me in front of Hidden Falls in Grand Teton N.P.

Graham went to work the next day – so we went down to Teton National Park and Jackson for the day. We took it fairly easy and took the shuttle across Jenny Lake and hiked a half-mile into Hidden Falls. We were hoping to see a moose along one of the riverbanks but didn’t have any such luck. Bailey did spot a Sandhill Crane, a large bird that feeds in marshy fields and is endangered.

Sandhill Crane.

We went to dinner in Jackson Hole – named after a popular fur trapper that made the large valley in front of the Tetons’ his home while trapping beavers during late 1800s. On our way back home, we spotted a big Elk Buck foraging in a small valley. His antlers were still in what is called Velvet, which is when the antlers are growing with a layer of skin over the antlers. During the late summer, the antlers will begin to itch, sort of like dry skin, and he’ll rub this layer off. This is the first sign that rut season (i.e. mating season) is about to begin.

Bailey with the Antler Arch in Jackson Hole, WY

Bailey is what you would call a “bear enthusiast.” One of her main goals was to see a bear up close in the wild. We had been kind of avoiding bears up to this point, since we were out in the woods where it is a bit more dangerous than alongside the road. (The bear attack in Yellowstone happened the morning that we were hiking back from camping at Cascade Lake – only 2 or 3 miles from the attack. Unfortunately, the couple didn’t have bear spray with them and they ran away instead of backing up slowly or playing dead when attacked. Don’t worry Mama Bear – I know how to be safe in bear country.)

Grizzly Bear feeding on a Bison carcass.

However, this morning we woke up with the sunrise and went out in search of wildlife sightings (and most specifically a bear). We headed out to Lamar Valley, known as the Serengeti of the West due to the large big game herds, like the Bison and Elk, which call it their home. The large amount of prey means that predators are never to far away. There was (supposedly) an elder bison that had died about 150 (or so) yards away from the road that was being eaten by a Grizzly Bear. We stopped to watch (with the assistance of friendly owners of power scopes) as that bear eventually got full so s/he wandered away to leave an opening for a lone black wolf. About 20 minutes later, a Black Bear came wandering up from the west – only to be taunted by some of the Bison on his way. Although it was a distance away, it was really cool to see the interaction of the animals unfolding in their native habitat.

The next day, we summited Mount Washburn, elv. 10,243 feet. There was still quite a bit of snow (and despite a few spills), we made it to the top of the mountain to see 360-degree views of the park. We passed along the homes of Yellow-Bellied Marmots, Ground Squirrels and Pikas – smaller high altitude mammals that survive due to the cold, harsh climates of mountaintops. We also got to see a herd of Big Horn Sheep – at first from a distance and then on the trail. I’m proud of Bailey for making it to the top and seeming to enjoying every step of it.

Big Horn Sheep on the side of Mt. Washburn.

On her last day in the park, she woke up early to go on the Wake Up to Wildlife tour in the Historic Yellow Bus. She (and I) were hoping to see a Bear close enough that it looked like more than a rock to the naked eye. She was lucky and saw a Black Bear right next to the road. She said she wanted to scream and jump up and down but successfully contained her excitement to crazy amounts of picture taking.

That afternoon, we hiked almost all the way to Fairy Falls. At the start of the trail, we scrambled up the hill to get a bird’s eye view of Grand Prismatic, the largest (370 feet in diameter) hot spring in North America. However, when we were just around the bend from the fall, the weather began to take a turn for the worst – windier and lightening getting closer – so we headed back to the truck in a rush. Right before we turned around, we ran into another large Buck Elk standing right in the middle of the trail.

Grand Prismatic as viewed from the nearby hill.

The next morning, after we started to head back to the airport and thinking the adventure was over, a Cinnamon Colored Black Bear ran across the road right in front of us as the sun’s rays just barely reached over the mountain’s peak. It couldn’t have been a better ending to a wonderful trip that I’m glad I got to experience with her.

Slough Creek Camping – 2S2

2011-07-15T10:40:00.000-05:00

Graham and me, in front of Barronette Peak.

Graham and I went camping where Hornaday Creek runs into Slough Creek. The waters of Hornaday, where we had to walk through the flooded bank to get to our campsite on an island, will eventually head out into the Gulf of Mexico in the form of the Mississippi River – the route containing: Slough Creek, the Lamar River, Yellowstone River, and finally the Missouri River. I don’t think the island that became our home for the night is usually there, because we had so much snow this winter that all the rivers, creeks and streams are flooded well above their typical banks.

We started at the Slough Creek campground that was a popular site to view the den of the Slough Creek wolf pack last year. Many of the wolf pups in the park have not survived recently due to a strand of distemper, a common canine puppy disease, that has been affecting the last few litters. (I don’t remember if that is what happened to the Slough Creek pack or not – it’s just been happening to a lot of the packs.)

A Bull Bison that ran us off the trail.

At the beginning of the trail, we hiked up over a hill to be greeted with the shear rock face of Barronette Peak grinning down at us being gripped by the beard of winter’s snow. We hiked along the banks of Slough Creek and through fields of the of spring’s painted show of early wildflowers –Vase flowers, Rocky Mountain Irises, Arrowleaf Balsam Roots, Phlox and others.

Sandhill Crane feeding in a marshy area.

A bison ran us off the trail by being planted squarely in the middle with a menacing look on his face while chewing his grass. After climbing over that hill, we saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes gathering their dinner from a nearby marshy area.

Shortly after that, we got to our campsite where we promptly set up – starting a fire, setting up the tent and making dinner. We feel much more prepared and better equipped this year after our trek around last fall. We still need to get better at packing food – we always have enough it just never really tastes like anything.


Barronette Peak.

Our friends, Josiah and Berlynn, arrived well after the stars brightened the dark sky. We went to sleep shortly thereafter and slept so well due to the sounds of the rushing water that ran only about two feet from our pillows (or balled up dirty sweaters). We left early the next morning to pick our friend up from a canoe/camping trip. I could have sat out in the field beside us content all day due to nature’s beauty that abounded us.

Total Summer Mileage: 116.7

Good Day.

2011-07-01T20:39:00.000-05:00

Lamar Valley Bison.

However orderly your excursions or aimless, again and again amid the calmest, stillest scenery you will be brought to a standstill hushed and awe-stricken before phenomena wholly new to you.

-John Muir

Winter Blues.

2011-06-25T10:17:00.000-05:00

Shooting Stars found on Dunraven Pass.

I feel like for the last few months I've been grasping at what little signs of spring are available - the baby bison or a few little patches of green grass that pushing their way through the snow. I can officially say that I'm not have to search any more but now spring has just become apparent in the world around me. Thankfully! I was starting to get the blues super bad from being locked up inside.

The Canyon area is starting to display a multitude of Glacier Lilies out in the cabin areas, which is such a joy to walk by on my way to work as opposed to a pile of snow! The most snow free hikes are still in the northern range so that's where I've been heading on my weekends - but still got in a smaller hike before work the other morning!

Mount Washburn.

I'm currently reading Second Nature by Michael Pollen, which is fantastic and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has ever known the joys of dirty fingernails after a day of playing in a garden. One of the sections that I have found most interesting so far is his chapter on weeds. Throughout much of the book he struggles between taking up the Emersonian view on nature and just letting it do it's own thing versus being a person who has a garden and tends to the needs of those plants. So when weeds start to infest his garden, he struggles (not due to a lack of a hoe and two good arms) to keep the weeds at bay.

He does some research that is rather interesting - a lot of the plants that we consider weeds - dandelions, milkweed, etc. - are really plants that were brought over by the Europeans and have thrived in our society where we tend to the land. After reading this chapter, I started thinking about the dandelions that we have here in the park - and they all tend to be beside the road or in Mammoth (where they continue to manicure the lawn due to historical significance). It makes it easier to know information like this to balance Emersonian ideals and still be able to kill the plants that have moved in to take your tomato's spot.

Now that spring is actually here, I feel like I can relax and mediate in the warmth of the sun's rays. Bailey (my middle niece) will be coming out to visit me in about a week and a half - I'm super jazzed to show her the park. It's an amazing place and I hope that she can follow John Muir's advice:

Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grass and gentians of glacier meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of Nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nautre’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

June showers bring July flowers.

2011-06-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

Spring is finally starting to hit the high country here in Yellowstone. I live at the highest elevation that holds a hotel in the park – at just a little over 8,700 feet. That’s not to say that it’s warm or nice weather – in fact, it’s been rather chilly and rainy for the last few days. It’s ok though because rain means that the snow is melting! That means that we will be able to hike up in this area soon!

Everyone around here seems to be a little bit more on edge because we can’t get out and hike. I finally did a yoga session when I got home from work today (It’s my Friday! WHOO!) and I feel so much better – relaxed.

I’ve forgotten the amount of stress that I used to carry on my shoulder’s daily when I was living in Chicago. I am able to get lost in things other than my work – and I relish in that fact. I’m going camping in a couple of nights (and there is supposed to be a Lunar eclipse!), which makes me excited that my life has gone down the path that some might say is the less traveled path.

I am thankful that I am surrounded by the beautiful Earth and friends whom I love dearly. I just wish that the snow had already seeped into the Earth to provide food for the flowers I’m so looking forward to seeing as we hike by.

Happy Opening Day!

2011-06-03T13:29:00.000-05:00

Alum Creek, which looks more like a lake due to snow melt.

Canyon Lodge opens to the public today - still buried under about 3 feet of snow! Since we moved up here (a little less than a week ago), it's snowed every day but one and we went skiing on Memorial Day. I've even had a few chances to sneak away and take some photos. (Oh! Hopefully I'm getting a new camera in a couple weeks - I found one I want used for a super great price!!!)

Great Blue Heron catching a fish.

I've been appreciating the birds in area a lot more this year. It's possible it's just because I'm learning their names and a few random fun facts here and there. I've headed out to Hayden Valley (the valley in the high plateau that a large number of animals migrate to during the summer months) in the evening to see what I can see.

There has been a Great Blue Heron that has been hanging out where Alum Creek runs into the Yellowstone River. There is a bridge right before this happens, which has been funneling fish right into the Heron's mouth.

Great Blue Heron with fish.

When I went out yesterday, there was an American White Pelican that was also feeding just a short distance away. I've heard that Great Blue Heron's will be territorial about their feeding grounds; however, I doubt this one really wanted to try to fight off one of N. America's largest birds.

American White Pelican

10 Days Later.

2011-05-29T19:31:00.001-05:00

I had been so proud of myself for consistently posting; however, it's hard when you don't live in an area that encompasses an internet signal. I'm not trying to make excuses and just to be better - but I'm not going to lie about the challenges that I feel.

I haven't even had any chances to go out and take photos! My desk arrived (I'm working as the asst. front office manager at Canyon Lodge this summer) and it has been pretty much non-stop training since then. I've also been using my film camera a bit, which means I miss out on half the photos to instantly have access to. We moved up to Canyon today - in the middle of a snow storm. The good news of that is that we can still go skiing, which I plan on doing tomorrow!

Just wanted to quick check in - I hope everything is going fantastically with everyone!

“Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever.”

– John Muir

Eternal.

2011-05-19T16:47:00.001-05:00

“The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

-John Muir

First Camping Trip.

2011-05-17T11:56:00.003-05:00

Windy Forest Trail

This past weekend, we decided to go on the first camping trip of the season. I am pretty sore and exhausted today – but I had a blast the last few days. The only part of the park that is remotely dry and almost completely uncovered from snow is the northern edge.

We started out at the Hellroaring Creek trailheaded. Our friend, Jesse, walked with us to the suspension bridge, but then stopped to hang up his hammock and relax for the afternoon.

We continued on to the Hellroaring Creek, where you have the option to ford or to walk an extra 3.6 miles to a footbridge and then back (to where you can see the sign explaining this about 100 yards on the other side of the bank). We didn’t think about it being springtime, so we had to take the extra detour because of the melting snow swelling all the rivers and streams.

Goose and her Gosling.

By the time we got around the river, the sun was starting to set over the valley that we were meandering through. The valley is pretty marshy with raging streams coming down from the mountain runoff that we had to navigate through. The almost full moon rose up behind a hill that was being grazed by a small gang of bison.

About the time we were starting to turn on our headlamps and rely heavily on the light from the moon, we herd a strange noise. Graham, who was about 20 feet ahead of Adam and me, came back to us with a terrified look on his face. Suddenly two grouse flew out of the trees to our left and across the trail. We were glad that it was just a couple of birds – and we were almost to our campsite.

The next morning, we headed back to the road via Blacktail Canyon. It was beautiful, prime bear country – although, I think the grouse were the scariest thing we saw on the whole trip. At first, I was a little sad to see winter leaving, but now I am excited that summer is getting started.

Running Summer Mileage: 36 miles

Farmer Pa.

2011-05-13T22:50:00.001-05:00

"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own."
-Andy Warhol

When we were on our break, we visited my dad's land out in east Texas. It's near the historic marker for Muddig, which I have attempted to do some quick internet research on and wasn't able to find much. All I could find was a flickr member's description that includes, "This road is gravel now, but the thick sticky blackland mud roads out here can stop an average driver in a 4 wheel drive vehicle in less than a hundred yards. If you can drive a two wheel drive vehicle down one of these roads when it's muddy, you are one hell of a driver." My dad does this on the black, sticky mud - at about 40 mph.

One morning I woke up early and took some photos while Graham slept in. It was an absolutely beautiful morning and fell in love with the property. He has 40 acres and is attempting to encourage the regrowth of Texas Native Grasses. They typically hold on to a continued existence by surviving along the fences that separate the lands into farming plots. My dad has cleared out a lot of the brush and crowded trees to provide space. He mows once a year - in every August - to provide the grasses with their best growth chances during the fall months.

There are a couple of ponds, one that was there and one that has been added, and a little A-frame cabin that my dad has put extensive work into. He has taken it from an almost bare (and what was there was often rotten) cabin to a fully livable (or almost) home. He has raised the whole thing approx. 10 ft, added a bathroom (with a fully working toilet and soon shower), and currently is adding a kitchen sink. The whole thing is heated by a wood burning stove and kept cool by opening the windows, which isn't technically that cool in the Texas heat.

I will admit that the cabin and land was a sore subject with me for a while; however, I can see how happy it makes my dad. After my experiences (and my alterations in priorities), I can understand why. It's nice to be able to have a place that you call yours that isn't surrounded by everybody else's zooming around. I'm proud of my dad's land and the solitude and happiness provided to him.

Spring.

2011-05-12T09:24:00.000-05:00

“From form to form, beauty to beauty, ever changing, never resting, all are speeding on with love’s enthusiasm, singing with the stars the eternal song of creation.”

–John Muir.

It’s almost the one-year anniversary from the date that I first stepped into Yellowstone National Park, which has become my home in almost every sense of the word. It’s a place where I feel most comfortable in my surroundings – whether it be relaxing next to the Canyon with me feet up or tromping through the woods. It’s a place that I strive to know as much about as possible – from the wildflowers that are first starting to peep through the melting snow to the bears that have recently awoken from their winter slumber.

The changes that occur throughout the year are so much more prominent in the springtime. The snow is starting to melt (especially at Mammoth Hot Springs, where I’m living at for the next few weeks) and details of the earth’s beauty that have been lingering under winter’s hold are starting to reveal themselves.

The Sagebrush Buttercup made a welcome appearance in time to help provide nourishment to the newborn Red Dogs that have started to dot the herds of winter weary Bison. The yearlings that have toughed it out through one of the harshest winters the park has seen in years has been playing and romping with extra energy from the sun’s heat.

A variety of birds have started making their migrations north. One of my favorite birds, the Mountain Blue Birds, has started looking for partners by dancing in the evening around carefully chosen nesting sites. There is a Snowshoe Hare that I have discovered living near the top of the Mammoth Terraces and have often seen eating grass and dandelions around sunset.

Although there are days that truly feel and smell like spring, there are still the occasional snow flurries. Areas located higher in elevation still contain up to 22 feet of snow, keeping the mountains under winter’s grip. It’s only a matter of time ‘til the snow melts and is running from the mountaintops through the rivers and eventually out into the ocean or possibly used to quench the thirst of a newborn.

Possibility.

2011-04-27T10:00:00.000-05:00

I'm heading down to Austin, TX for a dear friend's wedding this weekend. I'm super jazzed to see old friends that I haven't talked to in at least 5 or 6 years. (I'm also excited for some warm weather - it's currently snowing big ole' snowflakes!)

Last week (or maybe the week before), we drove out to Yellowstone Lake through Hayden Valley. We didn't see much in terms of wildlife - a few bison, a couple coyotes and an eagle. At one point, we were so distracted with a bison on a hillside that we didn't notice the coyote crossing the road right in front of us. It's amazing how much we can miss if we stop scanning for possibilities.

Have a great weekend!!!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T10:31:00.001-05:00

During our break this spring, we spent time visiting and enjoying our families. It's always nice to remember those times when we are no where near those whom we love and love us unconditionally, especially on holidays. Here are a few photos from when we visited Graham's sister and kids.

Enjoy this day of brightly colored eggs and big family dinners!

Back Home.

2011-04-21T18:02:00.000-05:00

Big Horn Sheep Youngsters.

After our brief break visiting family, we are back in Yellowstone. I would have liked to post sooner (and my mom got onto me for taking a break); however, I've been lacking internet signal. After quite a lengthy discussion with the internet provider, I plugged and unplugged the box and it started working today! It's the simple things...

Mama Bison and not-even-day-old Red Dog.

The other day, a group of us from my training class and I went for a hike on the Rescue Creek Trail. We started from just inside the North Entrance and went out about 2.5 miles before losing the trail under a snow covered, bison protected pass. We originally attempted to go around the bison by climbing a hill but that was when we realized it was snow covered and weren't quite sure which way to head. Instead, we climbed up the rather high hill to get a great view of the surrounding mountains. Scrambling down was indeed an adventure.

On our way (out and back), we passed through a couple of valleys that were laden with wildlife. Up on the hill there were Elk and down in the valley was a scattering of Pronghorn, Bison (including one red dog i.e. baby bison) and Big Horn Sheep. On our way out, the Big Horn Sheep youngsters (about a year old) came incredibly close and were playfully head-butting each other. Early practice for when they are fighting to be the dominate male.

Sexy lady Pronghorn with two males.

Then on our way out of the valley, there were two males that were fighting with each other. We stopped to take their photos while a female (the one we presume they were fighting for) wandered over curious about us. She wandered withing 5 feet of us with her two male suttors following shortly behind. It was truly an amazing way to getting back into the park.

I am hoping to be better - starting now I want to start posting twice a week (with the only exceptions being when the internet is non-existent, which I'm sure will happen when living out in the middle of nowhere). Have a great weekend everyone!

Farewell Yellowstone Winter 2011.

2011-03-07T23:46:00.000-06:00

Last Photo of the Night.

It's been an amazing winter - peaceful, beautiful and wonderful friends. Last night was the Survivors Party - celebrating the end of the season that we all shared together on this small, snowed in location. We are leaving at 5 a.m. tomorrow to start on our journey home. Good night and sweet dreams. Gunga Ga Lunga!

Gold Medals!

2011-03-03T00:16:00.001-06:00

That's right - we won gold medals. I worked during almost all of the Olympic events - except Snow Sculpturing. This event was held on the last day and the most beautiful day (weather wise). Graham, Craig and I took this pile of snow...

...and turned it into the Roosevelt Arch. (The letters look creepy - we did our best with green food coloring mixed with water.) We were starting to get so exhausted near the end that you couldn't walk all the way through the arch - but I could fit under it with only slight ducking. The moment we broke through to the other side was such a joyous moment for us. (It says, "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people." March 1, 1872.)

Back to my Roots.

2011-02-26T13:37:00.000-06:00

I recently was reading back through when I originally started my blog. I really enjoyed how I shared little bits and pieces of my daily life. I've really enjoyed sharing my pictures - but I miss just sharing random stories as well. So I'm going to start going back down that route and getting back to the beginning.

It's been snowing here pretty heavily for the last week or so. Wind gusts have reached well past 45 miles per hour. The prospect of having to ski the quarter of a mile to get to work is not a pleasant one to look forward to. That also means that I really haven't been out skiing as much. (Although, I did ski Fern today!)

The day that all the snow began to dump on us was also the day before I had to work the graveyard shift. So in an attempt to tire myself out, I went out for an 8 miles ski down Spring Creek. I ended up being dropped off with Ranger Orville Bach and a nice couple from Seattle. We skied mostly together and had lunch at Lone Star Geyser. Since we were really enjoying not being around the crowd that was soon going to mass exodus out the way our original plan had been, we decided to break the Howard Eaton trail. Howard Eaton is in the "more to most difficult" trail; however, there was so much snow on it that whoever was in the lead didn't get any speed going downhill.

All of this didn't wear me out though. I only had an hour nap before having to work all night! Sorry to those people around me - I'm sure I wasn't nearly as pleasant as I normally am.

2011 Snow Lodge Winter Olympics - Opening Ceremonies

2011-02-23T14:42:00.000-06:00

I've been mentioned that we have our own Winter Olympics here - Rainer beer: official sponsor of the 2011 winter games. There were started in 1985 as a way to help keep stir crazy, snowed-in employees from going absolutely bonkers. There are few traditions that have been started - such as Gunga Ga Lunga and Rainer Man.

Opening ceremonies were held a few days ago. Everything starts with a parade and quickly progressed into a speech. We learned of the Birkebeiners who sometime around 1200 were ruling Norway. The opposing party came and kidnapped their infant king, King Ràiner. They were well known for the amazing skiing abilities and went out during the winter on their trusty skies to bring King Ràiner back.

We continue to have Birkebeiners who protect the queen during the Winter Olympics. They perform each event in their woodsman clothes, shield and staff. Later this afternoon, we competed in the tug-o-war (on skis) and won!!!! "Team Rainer" beat "Team Other Beer" for the Gold Metal. Then merriment was had by all at the Appalachian Appreciation Dance.

There are quite a few more event such as the Snow Pole Throw, Bison Chip Toss, Slalom and more. I am afraid that I'm going to be at work during the rest of the Olympics, but if by some magic I end up attended anymore events - I will share them with yall. Gunga Ga Lunga!

Happy Birthday.

2011-02-20T08:41:00.001-06:00

Happy birthday to my beautiful mom! (Her birthday was really yesterday - and I did call, I'm just a little late on the blog post.) I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you (like last year). A beautiful sunset always reminds me of my mom - and I wish she could be there to witness them with me.

I've been working the graveyard shift the last few nights and feel any brain power that I have left fading. I'm going to get some shut eye so I can wake up for the 2011 Snow Lodge Olympic opening ceremony - Gunga Ga Lunga!

Almost Over.

2011-02-12T12:54:00.002-06:00

I feel like we just got here and there are only a few weeks left. I was so excited when we started seeing mountains off in the distance (way back in New Mexico) and it just continued to rise until we pulled up under the Roosevelt Arch. Yellowstone had been dressed in a blanket of snow - it was amazing.

Since our first (very poor) attempt at skiing, we have spent many hours skiing through the peaceful forests and snow covered meadows. I've seen more geysers erupt than I would have thought my life path would meander by. I've really been blessed to have enjoyed an amazing winter in Yellowstone. I'm excited for the next few weeks - Snow Lodge Olympics 2011!

Being Better.

2011-02-07T08:25:00.000-06:00

I'm going to really try to commit to posting more than I have been recently. I'm not even going to try to give an excuse as to a lack of posting - just a promise to do better (even if some of them are brief postings...like today...)

There is a nice layer of powder over everything this morning so I'm going to ski a short loop trail before going into work this morning. I hope everyone has a fantastic day! Stay warm.

Frosty grass in front of Old Faithful Geyser.

Sunsets.

2011-01-29T14:01:00.000-06:00

I'm going to keep this brief because I have to head to work shortly (and I am finishing chores that I neglected during my four day weekend). Instead, I skied around the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (my summer home), played around on Watertower, skied up to Mallard Lake and Lone Star Geyser, and witnessed some of the most amazing sunsets of my life. Definitely an awesome weekend. I hope everyone is wonderful! Enjoy!

23 Miles on Skis...

2011-01-26T20:30:00.000-06:00

...in two days. My last weekend was an absolute blast - I skied to Fairy Falls, which I went to with my family this past fall, and to the Continental Divide.

I didn't really take many pictures out at Fairy Falls or on our way back. It was a super blustery day - we had multiple offers from snow coaches to give us a ride back to the lodge. The falls were beautiful. In the winter, they get a ring of ice that starts to grow at both sides of the falls and creates these magical ice formations. I want to head back out there on a clear blue day; however, those are something of rarities out here this winter.

The next day, Graham and I got dropped off at the Continental Divide trail head and skied to the top of the mountain. We could have stopped in the saddle that overlooks Shoshone Lake. We didn't realize this and made the trek all the way up the top of the mountain to get this small glimpse of sunlight on a fairly distant mountainside through an even smaller clearing in the trees. It was absolutely amazing to look out over this area.

On our way back down, we ran into three older ladies (one is a ranger and the other two were Yellowstone Association employees) who kicked our butts to get out of there. However, they did tell us about an overlook just off the saddle that gives you a decent view of Shoshone Lake. It is rumored that you can see all the way to the Grand Tetons on a clear day - not on the day that we were out.

We skied back down the hill and along Spring Creek. Our original plan had been to climb out on the Howard Eaton and have a fast down hill finale. I ran into a napping (only briefly) Graham as we left Spring Creek. We took the easier and slower route past Kepler Cascades. The rest of the evening, we were both zombie-esque as we recovered from an extremely long day.

Settling In.

2011-01-18T11:40:00.000-06:00

I've had an amazing past two weeks or so - I've been taking advantage of skiing and being out in the park as much as possible. The previous weekend, Graham and I went to Bozeman, MT to get a few things that we were low on and some snacks for the room. I had the morning off before we were supposed to catch the luggage coach out of the park, so I went skiing at Spring Creek with a couple of friends.

It's an absolutely beautiful and peaceful area - the creek runs along down a gorge that prevents the wind from whipping around. The trail was (for the most part) a gradual downhill, making it pretty easy to ski on. However, on our way back - we stopped at Lone Star Geyser and back the Howard Eaton, which is a pretty steep hill up and down. (I fell a lot but had a blast!)

On our way back from Bozeman, it was an amazing sunset of the Absaroka Mountain range. The sky was on fire over the mountains. The next day, I was able to take a tour from Mammoth to Old Faithful from our friend, Justin. It was a little bit of a gray day (as most days are around here) but we got to see lots of bison and a coyote. It's just nice to be able to move around the park a little bit since we are pretty much trapped in the Old Faithful area.

I went out one evening after work and skied around the Upper Geyser Basin. It was a rare clear blue day with lots of bison (as they like the warm geothermal features) and quite a few coyotes. The bison use their massive muscles in their shoulders to use their heads to push the snow around to get to the grass underneath. It's amazing to watch them pushing it around and creating a mask of snow on their faces.

There are quite a few coyotes that hang out in the Old Faithful area (people attract coyotes), which I worry about on my way to work at 6 a.m. sometimes. I found a nice spot to watch the sunset where the last rays of the suns light would shine through the steam from some geothermal spots. However, after standing there for about five minutes a coyote came about 25 feet from me and settled in for the night. I didn't stay in this spot because the coyote made me a little worried.

Instead I found a spot where the sun was reflecting beautifully in this creek/marshy area. (Bison often hang out in this spot - I'm glad they weren't there on this particular evening.) I've got to go to work now; however, I won't be as delayed in sharing this past weekend (two 10 mile skis!). Til then - best wishes.

Wildeor.

2011-01-02T11:40:00.000-06:00

When I was a young kid, my family would take camping trips into the mountains of California. As I grew into the awkward adolescent phase, we moved to Arkansas – where I was lucky enough that a mountain that I could explore at my leasuire loomed behind our neighborhood. As an extra bonus, my aunt and uncle took a yearly two-week camping trip at Lake Ouachita State Park and always invited us along.

These trips greatly affected my thinking – in understanding that there was more to the world than just myself. There are fish as big as school buses swimming in our lakes (whether or not this is true – I was told this as a child probably by my Uncle David); there are birds that eat the unfortunate animals our automobiles kill; and there are trees that nourish our souls with their shade. I believe that subconsciously it was these experiences that allowed me to (with relative confidence) quit my job in the big city and head out to one of the last great wilds – Yellowstone National Park.

Since I have arrived here a few short months ago, I have felt a transition within myself – a growing of respect for the natural community around me. I can sit in awe at the beauty of one single spot and notice the hole under a tree that is probably home to some small forest creature, the nest in the tree with baby birds chirping for food and a fresh water puddle nearby that is a precious water resource to all of these animals and more.
When Graham and I took our road trip around, I was often caught wondering how so many people for so long just chopped down trees with the goal of conquering the land. However, it is only through the history that our world has endured that I am able to live the life that I have – a computer and internet where I can communicate my ideas, clean water and food to nourish myself with, and the ability to explore with comparable ease.

I recently read the book Wilderness and the American Mind, which is about the change of perceptions in nature from ancient Greek and Roman times to present day. (I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the history of how we view nature; however, it is a college dissertation so can be a bit dry at times, especially for someone not truly interested in the subject.) I am thankful for all the people who fought to have the few islands of “wilderness” left that allow for an escape back from which civilization came.

There is a paragraph in the last chapter, which tries to sum up and round out the previous 400 pages that I feel fits what I have grown to feel while being fairly removed from civilization: “What wilderness provides is precisely this ‘time out’ from the civilized juggernaut. Its presence reminds us of jus how far we have distanced ourselves from the rest of nature. Wild places, remember, are uncontrolled, ‘self-willed,’ where the ‘wildeor’ are. We didn’t make wilderness; it made us. In it we stand naked of the built and modified environment, open to seeing ourselves once again as large mammals dependent (at the real bottom line) not on our technological cleverness but on the health of our habitat. This is where wilderness assumes not only ecological but ethical value. Because this is country we don’t own or use, we are open to perceiving its intrinsic value. The concept of wilderness helps our kind better understand the rights of other kinds to a place in this planet’s community of life; the actuality of wilderness provides that place. By definition we don’t dominate wilderness, and so it suggests the importance of sharing, which was, after all, the basis of the ethic of fair level, fair play or unselfishness seems to many to be the key to effective global environmentalism. This kind of ecocentrism is not ‘against’ humans; it transcends them and subsumes their interest in that of the larger whole.”

I had a friend who recently moved to New York City who told me that her life had just become to busy to try to retain that friendship. (I mean this as no reflection on her – just as an observation that I see in life in general and of myself in the past.) I see that a lot of people in cities are so self-centric that they are oblivious to the much larger world that is occurring beyond their few blocks of life that they maintain. On the other hand, I have a few city dwelling friends that remain accutely aware of their surroundings (even if not daily, but still inspire). I want to constantly remind myself that I am part of a community called Earth and I never want to be to busy to help nourish any small part of it.

Happy.

2010-12-28T21:29:00.000-06:00

It's been a truly amazing experience to be down at the Snow Lodge. We have probably five feet of snow (and I could be grossly inaccurate in that guess since there are huge snow drifts and no real measuring tool - the snow comes up to our window...) and are surrounded by wonderful friends.

Christmas was a truly wonderful day - we slept in late, went on a long ski about halfway to Mallard Lake (that I hiked this summer with my brother), and then a nice dinner at the dinning room. It was a great way to celebrate being with friends who have become our family out here.

There is a rather steep hill, known as Watertower, that we climb up with some frequency (close to daily) to enjoy the thrill of skiing downhill (although I still fall a bit). The day after Christmas, I woke up just as the sun was coming up in a blaze of glory over the snowy hillside. I ran up Watertower with as much speed as I could muster and still missed the bright oranges and reds. However, I spent the morning on the hill taking pictures of the glorious surroundings.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:37:00.000-06:00

Winter Wonderland.

2010-12-12T07:52:00.000-06:00

We made it back up to Yellowstone - and it's absolutely beautiful here. There is about two feet of snow on the ground that makes everything look somehow more majestical than it did in the summer.

I've been cross country skiing a few times. The first time Graham and I went out, we attempted to go up a rather large hill, which resulted in countless falls. However, after trying a few novice trails, my skill level has improved significantly. I'm still not too sure how to stop (or snow plow to slow down) so I fall going down hill (as in the picture below).

I head down to Old Faithful Snow Lodge this afternoon - they are supposed to have a lot more snow than we have at Mammoth. It's so exciting being here during the winter.

Thanksgiving.

2010-12-01T09:12:00.000-06:00

After finishing our trip, Graham and I spent the last month traveling around to visit our families. I didn't pull out my camera often - I get nervous taking pictures of people. I enjoy taking pictures of things that don't react when I take a picture of it.

However, after our third and final Thanksgiving dinner, we walked around my mom's town. We played in an old school metal playground with my sister's amazing kids, except Savannah who chased after my sister's vehicle to get back to Grandma's.

I really enjoy spending time with family. It's always comforting to be around people who love you no matter what. This weekend, we'll be headed back up to Yellowstone National Park for the winter season!!!

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve – Day 31

2010-10-30T15:48:00.000-05:00

Our last stop on this trip was in the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The Great Plains used to cover North America from Mexico to Canada and was home to some of the greatest herds known to men. Now only 4 percent of this prairie remains – and almost all of that is in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

A year ago, the preserve reintroduced 13 bison back to the area. The herd will continue to grow as the preserve creates a sanctuary for many animals that used to roam the area.

The park also preserves the cultural history of the pioneers as they transformed this land from prairies to the farmlands that we know today. This is a little schoolhouse that was built in 1882 that the local children would walk to for the day’s lessons. We got a little lost here as well – and climbed under a fence and ended up in front of this schoolhouse. We had to backtrack just a little bit.

It had also been discovered that we didn’t have any pictures of just me on this trip – so this is the final picture of the adventure. However, there are plenty more adventures to come.

Great Sand Dunes National Park – Day 29

2010-10-30T15:44:00.000-05:00

These sand dunes appear on a dried up ancient lakebed that resides in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. The mountains behind the sand dunes (which can stand up 750 feet above the ground below) were beautifully covered with snow from the day before.

We climbed to the top of the Tallest Dune, which is not technically the tallest but appears that way from the parking lot. We didn’t make it quite to the top because it was so windy and the sand was pelting us. We are still finding sand in random places, such as our silverware.

Mesa Verde National Park – Day 27

2010-10-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

At this point, we decided to head back east so we’d have more time with our families. We stopped at Mesa Verde National Park to visit the Pueblo ruins. Most of the ruins were closed due to it being so late in the season, but we did do a guided tour of the Cliff Palace.

We learned a lot about the lives of the people there – and it was hard. They lived in these dwellings for 700 years, leaving the area in about 1200 AD. Typically, the women got married when they were 13 and had a child every year of her married life. They would have to climb up these cliff walls by means of little holes with a child on her back and a 5-gallon jug on her head (which could be filled with waste from her family)!

The fall colors have been fantastic the whole trip – but I think they were the most magnificent here. The red, orange and yellow leaves covered the shrubs that covered the mountains.

The next day, we drove to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. We drove through a pass that was snow covered (and being covered). We cheated this night – and spent the night in a hotel.

Canyonlands National Park – Day 23, 24, 25

2010-10-30T15:38:00.000-05:00

Canyonlands preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado River and its tributaries. The rivers divide the park into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze and the rivers themselves. We headed to the Needles section – and it was absolutely amazing.

We did a two night backpacking trip through the canyons – and I think might have been my favorite adventure of the whole trip. The first day, we climbed over the canyon pictured above (on the right hand side) and camped down on the other end of the canyon.

It was a lazy morning as we waiting for sun to reach down into our campsite. When we did finally get started (around 1 o’clock), we headed out of the canyon. The hike took us longer than normal since we were literally climbing up and down the walls. We lost the trail once – so we climbed up and unnecessarily steep mound. We didn’t stay off the trail for long through.

We finally got to the Charlie’s Park, where our campsite was supposedly located. However, the trails weren’t very well marked and we couldn’t figure out which path to go down to get to our site. We found a patch of clear sand on the side of the trail and set up camp for the night – just as the sun was going down.

We were up with the sun in the morning and starting to head out of the canyons. However, we made a wrong turn (or possibly two) and ended up going about 4 miles out of our original path. We finally reached a 4-wheel, permit only road and a fork in the trail. At first, we tried to go down the trail be we climbed up a few extremely high patches – just to realize we weren’t on the trail at all. It was awesome though.

We walked back the six miles to the truck on a ridiculous road. It was a really amazing adventure – especially for our last nights away from any sort of civilization.

Arches National Park – Day 21, 22

2010-10-30T15:32:00.000-05:00

After leaving the life of luxury in Denver, we headed back out into the serenity of wilderness – or to Arches National Park. We were so excited to be back out away from the city that we meant to hike out to Delicate Arch at sunset. However, we missed the sunset and caught the arch during the moonrise.

Arches is situated on a plateau that blocks most of the light pollution from any nearby urban areas that allows you to 7,500 stars instead of the usual (in rural areas) 2,500. The moon was extremely bright and clouds spotted the skies preventing this miraculous display. It was an amazingly peaceful evening regardless.

The next morning, we woke up to an overcast day to hike around the Devil’s Garden. It contained six arches, including Landscape Arch (the longest arch in the park) and the Patriarch Arch (pictured below). The red rocks are made of sandstone that has been eroded away at an uneven pace causing these unique rock formations. (For more information, go to the Arches Information Page.)

The first part of the trail was fairly heavily populated before it ran into a primitive loop trail. A lot of families (with little kids!) had climbed up the extremely steep first part of the loop to see a couple of arches that were less than half a mile away. However, the rest of the loop was fairly empty. You had to climb up and down the fins that lined the landscape and follow piles of rock formations to stay on the trail.

Sandstone erodes extremely quickly and created huge muddy puddles that we had to maneuver around. However, the rocks themselves were super slick from the rain that had started to fall on us. We came across one puddle that we have also referred to as a pond, which Graham struggled to hug on to the nearby rock to pass. I tried to follow in his same “just run for it” method; however, I slid down the rock on my bum to land in muddy water up to my chin!

We hiked the rest of the loop. We got back to the truck just in time for the sun to come out. I was excited to change out of my cold, wet clothes.

Rocky Mountain National Park – Day 13, 14, 15 and 16

2010-10-16T16:31:00.000-05:00

We spent some time in Rocky Mountain National Park before heading to Denver (where we are currently staying for a few days – in a hotel!) Our first day, we headed out with backpacks to Lawn Lake – staying in campsite halfway between the trailhead and the lake.

(There is a rainbow in this picture – although, it’s a little hard to see.) It was a cold and rainy afternoon (and it looked like it was snowing in the direction of the lake) so we decided to just relax that afternoon and head out to the lake in the morning.

We were exploring around the creek beside the campsite – and Graham likes to cross what he calls “river ladders” where there are rocks that you can hop across. I always get nervous that I’m going to fall in, which I did do on this particular afternoon. My soaking wet shoes put an early end to the adventure.

The cold wore us out and we went to bed around 4 in the afternoon – not to wake up again until 10 in the morning. I can understand why bears have evolved to hibernate in the winter – it was pretty awesome.

In the morning, after eating our dinner that we slept through, we headed up the lake on a beautiful, sunny day. About a mile or so from the lake, we started to see a light dusting of snow that had probably fallen the day before.

It was a beautiful lake located right at the tree line. It was extremely windy and chilly – but I could have sat there all afternoon enjoying the beauty around us. We headed back down the mountain following the stream that flowed out of the lake.

We grilled steaks and mushrooms over the campfire for dinner. In the morning, everything (including our shoes) was covered in about two inches of snow. So instead of hiking, we drove around and just enjoyed the park.

I went camping earlier this year at Wolf Lake in Yellowstone. We were lazy and napped out in a field for most of the morning after a storm had kept us the better part of the evening. A coyote had wandered to the field and got about 20 feet away from us. He was curious about the area – it was awesome to see one so close.

I have an irrational fear of coyotes because when I was a little kid my dad told me that if I was out after dark a coyote could eat me. However, after seeing them in the wild (always just a lone coyote), I see how beautiful they are – just doing there best to survive in a world so altered by humans.

(Later that night, we went to dinner because it was cold and we wanted to sit inside. On our way back to our campsite, we saw a cat of some kind – maybe a Lynx or a Bobcat – run across the road!)

The next day (after our shoes had dried out), we went for a loop hike that passed by four different mountain lakes – Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake and Lake Haiyaha.

This is a Steller’s Jay. The day before, we had walked about a mile around Bear Lake. There had been two Steller’s Jays that we chased partially around trying to take their picture. On our way down from the lakes, we passed Alberta Falls where a family was picnicking. There were two Steller’s Jays that were sitting on a rock by the screaming kids. (Don’t feed the wildlife.)

We are in Denver, CO staying at a Hyatt in downtown right now. Graham is working at an expo thing for his mom – and I’m just relaxing and taking as many showers as I can.

Dinosaur National Monument – Day 12

2010-10-16T16:23:00.000-05:00

There is an area on the Utah/Colorado border that has an abnormally large amount of dinosaur fossils caused by a river that used to flow in the area that had a bend. When dinosaurs would die, they would be washed up by the river and deposited in this bend where they would quickly get covered up with other sediment.

They built up the Visitor’s Center around the wall with most of the fossils; however, it is currently under construction so we didn’t get to see it. We did go down a trail that had fragments of bones on the wall.

The area used to be home to the Ute Indians that had left Petroglyphs on the rocks. The lizards had been scraped into the rock on an area that was way to high for us to be able to reach it.

Pacific Coast – Day 9 and 10

2010-10-16T16:21:00.000-05:00

We spent our first night up on this ledge with the beach just below in Pacific Ocean State Park. After the sunset, we wandered along the beach for a while watching the stars and looking for things (sand dollar skeletons and crabs) in the surf. (This was also our first chance to shower on the trip – I was super jazzed to get clean!)

The next day, we headed to the Oregon/Washington border – to the Cape of Disappointment. We climbed out on the jetty in between the beach and the mouth of the Columbia River. We sat out there for the afternoon – watching pelicans fly by the fishing boats just off the coast.

That evening, we made a fantastic dinner with Chanterelle mushrooms, fire-cooked corn and mashed potatoes. The next day, we left our friends and headed back inland towards Colorado.

Olympic National Park – Day 7 and 8

2010-10-16T16:18:00.000-05:00

We spent a day in Seattle running errands and getting various things done. That evening, we met up with a couple friends from Yellowstone in Olympic National Park on the Washington peninsula.

We spent the night beside a river just inside the park (or possibly in the National Forest just outside the park). We were immediately struck by how different everything was here – it had every shade of green imaginable. Giant trees hid under moss that clung to just about every surface possible while ferns and mushrooms covered fallen over trees.

There were insects abound – spiders, beetles, and especially slugs. (Slugs technically are land invertebrates.) We saw probably 20 to 30 slugs on our hike out through one of the last temperate rainforests along the Hoh River.

“The immense vertical barrier of the Olympic Range stops enough precipitation coming off the ocean to drop about 12 to 14 feet of rain per year on the forest.” The trees can be up to 260 feet high and 10 feet in diameter. The moss made the whole thing that much more fantastical feeling – like you should be seeing fairies floating between the branches of the trees.

We saw a Fly Amanita mushroom. They are the most poisonous mushrooms. It was about 5 inches tall and had a bright red top. We saw tons of mushrooms – one of the coolest looking was called Witch’s Butter. It was an orange-yellowish color and looked gelatinous with water dripping off its edges.

It was a beautiful fall afternoon and we set up camp with plenty of time to explore, build a fire and eat a fantastic dinner. The Hoh Rainforest is one of the few homes left for Roosevelt Elk, the largest species of elk. We kept hearing this bull elk bugling and it didn’t sound to far off. So we went creeping in that direction while Josiah was doing his best elk bugle to keep him going.

We stood stooped down in the ferns and watched two bull elk and a harem of females parade by about 30 feet away. As we were eating dinner, two of the females came by our campsite to get water from the river. Instead, they stood at the edge of our view eating grass while we enjoyed our fire-cooked ears of corn.

That next morning, we were sitting by the river quietly sipping on coffee and tea when a black bear crossed the river just up from our campsite. He wasn’t a very large bear – but nonetheless a bear. We yelled at him to let him know that we were there and he just meandered on down the opposite side of the river.

We left the rainforest that afternoon to head out to the Pacific Coast. It was truly a unique experience – and one that I’m thankful to have the joy of witnessing.

Sawtooth National Recreation Area – Days 3, 4 and 5

2010-10-16T16:11:00.000-05:00

Note: We keep track of day by where we slept that night – sometimes it’s a bit off from what we did that day.

We were antsy to get out of the car for an extended period of time – so we went backcountry camping in the Pioneer Mountains. With very little guidance from the ranger, we headed off towards Alice Lake with backpacks strapped on.

The first few miles were fairly flat as it meandered along a stream. At one point, I was crossing the stream over a fallen down tree and had stopped to take a picture. Graham says – be careful. There is a snake right by your foot. Of course, I think he’s kidding and as I turn around to say that’s not funny, I catch a glimpse of a Western Garter Snake.

Eventually, we did start to climb – and gained a total elevation change of (approx.) 1600 feet. We started to see glimpses of the White Cloud Peaks as we headed up the mostly White Fir and Aspen forest.

Our goal for the night was to pass Alice Lake and camp at Toxaway Lake. We started to pass by little lakes that we just beautiful with the fall colors shinning in the evening sun. There were two mini-lakes that were connected by this waterfall. The basin in this area was truly breath taking.

We didn’t make it all the way to Toxaway Lake because it was starting to get dark. However, we camped in between the two lakes at the Twin Lakes. Down in a rocky basin, there are two lakes, so calm and still, that were barely separated by a small stretch of earth. When we were trying to fall asleep, I kept thinking I was hearing something because I could hear my own heart beating.

In the morning, we woke up the sun reflecting a mirror image of the rocky slopes to the west of us. We went over to the sunny side for breakfast and a morning stretch before finishing the loop.

We headed up the ridge, which gives you a better view of what the lakes looked like form above. The little pond in front of the two lakes didn’t have a name – but it rested over these two that were our home for the night.

We hiked 9.5 miles that day back down the other side of the ridgeline. We heard Pikas for a good majority of the hike, which are relatives of the rabbit that live in rocky high altitude areas. They sound a bit like a squeak toy that you would give to a dog.

The Sawtooth Wilderness surpassed our expectations of mid-Idaho and I would definitely recommend making a stop if you are in the area.

Craters of the Moon – Day 2

2010-10-16T15:53:00.000-05:00

We drove all that next day through the Idaho Mountains. (Who knew Idaho had mountains? I thought it was all potatoes.) Our first official stop was Craters of the Moon National Monument.

For most of the drive, the mountain range was to the north of us while farms and a few sagebrush flats zoomed by on the south. Suddenly, black rock formations began to jut out of the ground and immediately we were in the park.

There is a fissure in the land here that allowed lava to escape from the earth – the release of the lava prevented the upwelling of the earth, which is why its flat instead of a mountain at this location. The last release was about 2,000 years ago and geologists predict there will be activity again the future.

We also met this half mountain that is barely visible in the picture. (Note: I normally do enhance some of the black and white in my photos to help bring features out. I did not enhance this photo at all.) This is Crescent Butte. Pioneers on the Oregon Trail used to use this as a landmark to avoid the rough terrain left by the lava flows. However, there is so much air pollution in the area that has floated in from more populated areas that this probably won’t be visible that much longer.

That evening, we explored the lava tube caves. Lava tubes are created when lava hardens over still free flowing lava that leaves behind an empty tube. We had to have flashlights to enter the caves, which were awesome. The Boy Scout cave was the longest and contained ice throughout about half the cave. The walls were wet so they glowed iridescent in our lights.

The next morning, I was up with the sun again. I played with some of the colors in the morning light with the brush landscape. I love the soft tenderness in this photo – it makes me want to relax and breath in the warm morning light.

We did a hike up the north side of the park. We started out climbing up what was sort of shaped like stairs but really made of cinder stones (that sink when you step on them) only to discover that we had unnecessarily climbed up. We did see a snake because of it though.

The ranger had warned us of mountain lions, moose, possibly blacks bears. And oh yeah – bow hunters. He also told us to just keep to the right at each of the forks, which we did. However, after we had hiked about a half a mile out of the way – we realized that he had forgotten about this fork and we needed to go left at the first fork.

We didn’t see any mountain lions – but we did see a snake (mentioned previously), a deer, eight elk (which we heard down a creek long before we saw them), three more deer, a lizard and about a million grasshoppers.
That evening, we headed to the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. We got there just with enough time to set up camp and get a fire going before the sun went down.

We were headed down to the creek to get some water to put out the fire when we noticed a set of eyes just across from us. We slowly backed up and watched the two sets of eyes watching us. Finally, we scraped dirt on to the fire and went to sleep with bear spray in hand – just in case. In the brightness of morning, we think it was just a couple of deer. It was a really eerie feeling though.

Gallatine National Forest - Day 1

2010-10-16T15:29:00.000-05:00

Our first day out of Yellowstone and we had traveled to just ten miles or so outside the west entrance. The season (i.e. work) was over. Our grand adventure was beginning.

We camped in the Gallatine National Forest based on a friend’s recommendation – she said it wasn’t very far and the sites were pretty secluded. We passed by an area that had three sites – and two of them were taken. We figured there would be more so we headed up the very rocky road up into the mountains.

After driving four miles up the mountain with no signs of another site, we turned around and headed back to the one available site. We saw a deer on our way down – the first wildlife outside of the park!

We quickly set up our tent, went for a walk and headed off to sleep without a fire to commemorate the event. I was up before the sun rose and sat shivering watching the sunrise on the hillside while Aspens quaked beside me in the morning breeze.

Family in Yellowstone #2.

2010-09-22T10:01:00.001-05:00

After we returned from the Fairy Falls hike, my parents took it easy and my brother and I hiked out to Mallard Lake (near the Old Faithful area).

It was a beautiful afternoon with bright blue skies and big fluffy clouds dotting the sky. Unfortuantely, it was about this time that my camera died. (My camera has only died on me twice - it's just that I love taking pictures!)

However, my brother had his camera with him and was excited about taking pictures as well. The hike was through mostly burned forest; however, there was one section of mature forest, where we found mushrooms growing.

Mallard Lake was a beautiful mountain lake. My brother's camera has a cool feature where he can take panaramic pictures with instanteaous results. (My camera does it but I have to come home to see the result so I always forget about it.) I was watching a ducks that was hunting for fish - you could see his little head darting around at any movement he would see and then he would dive down for about two minutes to catch it.

The next day, we all hiked out to Cascade Lake to try some fly fishing and sit on the lake shore. Mom and Mark had never been before but were both enthusastic about trying. Mark was pretty good but it was so windy that he practiced without a hook on his line.

After resting for an hour or so on the lake shore, Mark and I continued up to the top of Observation Peak. I think this might be the best chipmunk picture that I've gotten all season. (We didn't see any bears while they were here but I think Mark was just as fascinated by the little wildlife.)

On the trail, most of the flowers were in their seeding stages. These plants reminded me of the tufata (if my memory serves me correctly) plants from Dr. Suess's The Lorax.

I've done Observation Peak in just about every season now. However, I think this time was my favorite - the weather was perfect, the colors were amazing and it was great hiking with my brother.

He got lost looking at this hill. Whenever you are looking at a hillside, all of the trees look perfect. They are evenly spaced and have very little evidence of the fallen down trees hiding in the shadows. It looks like a painting. (I often get this feeling when looking at the canyon as well.)

I asked Mark to take a cheesy photo of him smiling really big with the country in the background. Grebe Lake is the main feature that appeared.

On our way back down, my parents had already left Cascade Lake, but we met them by the truck. On our way out, I noticed this bushes that appeared a dull green when walking towards them but when looking back, they appeared a bright yellow as the sunlight went through their leaves. It was really great having my family here and to show them everything.

I am planning my next big adventure - a two month trip with Graham. We are going to start on the 27th and head west starting with Craters of the Moon National Park in Idaho. From there continue west to Olympic National Park in Washington and eventually head down the west coast stopping at National Parks along the way. There is a rumor that two of the people who got winter jobs aren't going to be showing up - so we don't want to have a lease or anything. (Keep your fingers crossed for us!) I will probably be mostly out of communication during that time but hopefully I'll be able to get a few posts in during stops along the way. Best wishes.

Family in Yellowstone.

2010-09-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

There are officially four days left in Canyon Lodge's season. My family made it in to visit this past week. Graham and I are planning for our two month road trip/backpacking experience. So I decided to take this calm morning where I'm up way to early for my day off to share when my family was here.

It was great having them here. It reminded me of when I first got here and was awestruck by the beauty everywhere. My mom said something about how she loved my pictures but they really can't due justice to the actual beauty that is in Yellowstone.

I had to work the first few days there were here - but Mark and I got to go on a hike one of the evenings out to Hell Roaring Creek. About a mile into the hike you pass by a suspension bridge that goes over a river that is active with the fury of the mountains.

Then you pass through to a sagebrush field that we hit right as the sun was going down over the mountain in front of us. The yellow blooms on some of the brush were fantastic in the evening light. My brother said that this was his favorite hike at the end of the week - it probably had a lot to do with our timing on hitting this field at the perfect time.

Behind us the moon was rising through the clouds over a hill that rose out of the field. (I think this photo is one of my favorites from the summer - although that changes frequently.)

When we made it to the creek, the sun was looking like it was giving us the last glimerings of evening light, so we put away our cameras and pulled out our flashlights. Luckily, we made it back before the sun went down - although, it was a close one.

The next day, we saw two wolves on our way down to the Old Faithful area. There was a white wolf and a black wolf with a kill about 40 to 50 feet off the side of the road in Gibbon's Meadow. Apparently, there is a wolf pack that is about 25 strong that lives in this area. The ravens were so thick around the kill - it's amazing what fast scavengers these huge birds are.

I was reading the National Geographic article from earlier this year about "Wolf Wars." They talked about how two wolves had migrated down from Canada and ended up staying in Glacier National Park. As the two began to breed and grow their pack, they began to expand around the area. They introduced wolves to the Yellowstone area - but it seems like they would have eventually reached the area later than sooner. This is the first year that Montana, Wyoming and Idaho are allowing wolf hunting (with specific quotas), since the numbers have improved so vastly that they are confident in their return to the Northwest.

After we checked into our room, we went out for a walk in the Upper Geyser Basin (which includes Old Faithful Geyser). This pool of boiling hot water had an interesting ridge around the entire edge. It amazes me how often we (humans) imitate stuff like this in manmade objects.

There was a storm rolling in on us from the Northwest, which created dramatic contrasts between the smoke coming up from Castle Geyser and the sky. Normally, the smoke disappears into the sky but on this evening it seemed to linger waiting for the rain to fall.

Sawmill Geyser was erupting as we walked by. The geyser spit out spirals of water, which makes whirrling sounds giving it it's name. The sky above looks like a painting from Bob Ross.

Shortly after this picture was taken, we heard the wall of rain coming up behind us. My parents took off for the hotel while my brother and I trotted through the rain - stopping at Old Faithful Inn.

The rain didn't last long and the colors of the sun came out for a brief moment to wish the world a good night.

The next morning, we went over to the lodge for coffee and tea. A herd of bison (about a dozen or so) flooded around the field surrounding Old Faithful. The geyser went off right as the sunlight passed into the field. Even a lot of the employees came out to take pictures of the event.

The bison were being pretty active - rolling around on the dirt, wandering around, sticking their tongues out. It was nice to see that for a change over them just standing there eating grass.

We did the hike out to Fairy Falls, which starts just south of the Midway Geyser Basin. We started with crossing the Firehole River, which was laden with fly fisherman (a new favorite pasttime!). There was an amazing spiderweb that had morning dew drops exposing the secret silk on the bridge crossing the river.

The start of the Fairy Falls trail is an old stagecoach road that has a hill right beside it. You can tell where other people had scurried up the hill - so we did the same. You get a great view of Grand Prismatic.

Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the park (and the third largest in the world). The vivid colors are the result of pigmented bacteria in the microbial mats that grow around the edges of the mineral-rich water. The center of the pool is bacteria-less due to the extreme heat. The center appears to be deep blue due to the purity and depth of the water.

The colors of fall are out in full force right now. I was nervous that we weren't going to get any of the effects of fall since we live in a pine forest; however, everything but the tree's needles are taking on vibrant hues of red and yellow. The yellows on this hike tended to be baby Aspen trees and the reds were the seeding remains of Fireweeds (a beautiful fusia flower that is popular in recently burned areas).

Fairy Falls is a 197 ft. drop off the Madison Plateau. The hike to get out to the falls itself is mostly flat through forests burned in the fire of 1988. If you look closely, you can see Mark standing in the bottom left corner.

There was a raven that was hanging out where other people were picnicing (don't feed the wildlife - whether it is bear or bird...). Ravens are huge members of the crow family with their average livespan reaching 69 years. There are known for being a menace but are starting to get more positive reputations as being smart birds the more research that they do on them.

We went the extra .3 miles to see Imperial Geyser. From the geyser there was a stream of hot water that grew heat loving algea and thermophiles on it's way down.

The geyser was erupting when we got to it. It would pause for a few seconds but then erupt with even more force than it had a few minutes before. The clear blue water was amazing and shows the extreme heat that was coming out of the geyser. On the edge of the pool of water had some boiling mud pots. It's always a different experience to see geothermal activities away from the boardwalks - and I'm glad my family got to see them.

The hike back gave a great view of just how big Fairy Falls is - and how it can be seen from the distance. If you were one of the first explorers in the area it would be hard to see this from a distance and not make your way over to the base of the falls.

My dad was really excited to be here. I think it reminded him of when he used to go backpacking a lot more. It was nice to see him get so into being out in this place that I love so much.

On the last leg of the Fairy Falls hike, we passed back by Grand Prismatic. The steam gave an optical illusion of looking blue due to the vibrance of the water below the steam. Ok - I've decided to break this up into two posts because I just realized how long this one is becoming. Look forward to Family in Yellowstone #2.

Landscapes.

2010-08-31T02:18:00.000-05:00

It was weird during my forced hiatus from blogging (due to lack of internet availability) - I kept a journal to remember my journeys but the writing style changed dramatically. I've had trouble getting this started but I guess I just need to bite the bullet and start with the series that I talked about earlier. (Oh! Also, I've decided to move to Bozeman, MT for the winter with a group of friends - so I'll have a kitchen again!!)

This first photo is from Dunraven Pass, which is the road in between Canyon (my home) and Roosevelt Lodge. It's one of the most scenic drives in the park - it goes up through the mountains and winds back down through a valley before being dropped out near Lamar Valley. This was taken very early in the season and has become one of my favorite pictures out here - I just love the blueness of the sky overlooking the ridges of the snow covered mountain. It makes me feel at peace with the world.

My home is Canyon Village. It's about a mile or so north of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I often walk down to the Canyon and sit contemplating when I just need some time to myself. The area called Inspiration Point, has a board with info and this quote: "I thought how utterly impossible it would be to describe to another the sensations inspired by such a presence. As I took in this scene, I realized my own littleness, my helplessness, my dread exposure to destruction, my inability to cope or even comprehend the mighty architecture of nature." - Nathaniel P. Langford, 1870

Just to the south of the Canyon is Hayden Valley. It's well-known for viewing wildlife and wildflowers. The bison's rut season in Hayden Valley just ended, which is when they are fighting for the female's attention. The valley contains geothermal features as well since it is right in the middle of the caldera. (The caldera is the top of the volcano that Yellowstone is situated right on top of.) One time I went on a hike through Hayden Valley (not on a trail) and we ran into a mini-geyser basin where I saw a wolf! This is on the Wapiti Lake trail during the height of the wildflower season.

I didn't go all the way to the Wapiti Lake, which is about 20 miles out from the trail head, but instead turned in at the Silver Chord Cascade drop and went back towards Lily Pad Lake. Lily Pad Lake is covered with wild water Lilies that have yellow flowers. My old roommate once informed that water lilies are an endangered species so it makes me glad whenever I see them growing in their natural habitat.

The Silver Chord Cascade Overlook (on the opposite side of the canyon) is one of my favorite places to go and sit. It's only about a mile or so into the Seven Mile Hole trailhead and not often traveled. You can hear the roar of the river below you and I often run into not often seen animals (such as a short-tailed weasel!).

I'd been wanting to get up super early in the morning and walk down to the Canyon to see the sunrise, which I did one morning (and will have to re-attempt) that ended up being mega foggy. It added a neat affect to the forest - kind of made it feel forbodding.

However, once the sun came out and started burning the fog away the light was able to shine through the trees. It was really beautiful in the forest.

One popular hike to do just north of us is Cascade Lake. It has pretty good fly fishing on the lake and is a really beautiful area. On my only fishing trip attempt, we headed out there (after a few beers) and forgot the reel for one of the rods and the other rod was too tangled! We had a good time just sitting out on the edge of the lake though.

I talked about the time early on in the season when Adam and I hiked out to Cascade on a rainy afternoon. The double rainbow appeared behind us while a sepia colored mountain was in front of us. (I have seen more rainbows this summer than I have seen my whole life - they are so magically beautiful!)

There is a mountain on the side of Cascade Lake that you can climb up for an additional three miles. It gives you a great overview of the area - the big lake is Cascade and the smaller one just to the west is Grebe Lake. Off in the distance, you can see Hayden Valley (only a sliver of it is really visible of the far east). The clouds were covering us like a blanket this day, but thankfully it didn't rain or hail on us!

We hiked Mount Washburn, which is Dunraven Pass and is the northern point of the Caldera. It was soo incredibly windy that I didn't even have a desire to pull out my camera. However, from the top you could see the Beartooth Mountains, Lake Yellowstone, the Tetons, Electric Peak - pretty much anywhere in the Greater Yellowstone Area. We did get this group shot taken after multiple tries of the camera being blown over from the wind.

Further north (almost to Roosevelt Lodge) is a geological feature that I really don't know very much about. These ridges just pop out of the mountain sides and create the designs.

Just past Roosevelt Lodge is Lamar Valley, which beings with Slough Creek. The Slough Wolf Pack lives on top of this rocky ridge; however, they are too far away that you can't see them without power scopes. (Although, it's worth it to stop - there are so many people out here with their scopes and are usually kind enough to share.) The sun and clouds were creating beautiul shadows and colors.

My mom and brother (and possibly my dad) will be here in a couple weeks. I'm super jazzed to share Yellowstone with them!

Hitting a Bison.

2010-08-22T15:13:00.000-05:00

My roommate, Carole, and I went out to West Thumb Geyser Basin last night. We really haven't explored any of the geothermal features and we wanted to see something new. On our way down to West Thumb, it was raining and the wind was blowing (and lots of trees blew over). However, as we approached our destination, the sun came out. A beautiful double rainbow appeared (it's hard to see the second one) over where the forest had burned the previous year.

As we pulled into the parking lot, we notice a herd of elk that were grazing just off the edge of the parking lot. There is a family that is extremely close to the big bull elk (it's almost bugling season!) and I'm afraid that are going to get gored. I asked them to move back away from the bull elk and the babies, but they just stayed. He kept pausing to watch them, which is a bad sign. I thought something was going to happen - thankfully, nothing did.

We walked around the geyser basin. They have beautiful pools. The light blue pools, which was what was mostly in the area, are the hottest. They are too hot that they really can't support the thermophiles that are found in many of the springs - so they are just a crystal blue color.

This is Carole standing next to the edge of a spring overflow. The overflows are able to cool off a little bit and provide life to red thermophiles.

The blip in the water is called the Fishing Cone. It is an active geyser that is found just off shore in Lake Yellowstone. The setting sun was casting beautiful shadows on the mountains on the other side of the shore while the almost full moon shone brightly above us.

This is a different extremely hot pool - called the Abyss Pool. The hot springs are incredibly large and can easily burn a person to nothing but bones in a matter of a few minutes. (There is a book, Death in Yellowstone, that gives very gruesome descriptions of this - for more details, check it out.)

West Thumb is a fairly small geyser basin but it's known for being one of the most scenic since Lake Yellowstone is situated directly east of the area. It was really beautiful.

We did a short (1/2 mile) hike out to Duck Lake, which few people have probably walked out to. It was a neat lake with a black sand beach and lots of elk prints from where they went to get a sip of water.

On our way back to Canyon (about a 2 hour drive), we were going around a curve in the dark. There was a bison standing in the middle of the road that we didn't see until we were about 5 feet away from the 1 ton animal. We smashed into his rear (in Carole's Mini Cooper!) and he slid up over the roof of the car and smashed into the windshield. Luckily, Carole had just gotten her windshield fixed or else he might have slid right on through. Carole and I were shaken and had some minor scrapes - but overall we were very lucky.

Unfortunately, when we struck the bison's rear end, the impact looked like it broke his hip bone. He limped off the side of the road (while 20 bison surrounded our car - grunting the whole time). The rangers had to put him down. (There is going to be a rather blurry picture at the bottom - so if you don't want to look, don't go all the way to the very bottom.) The other bison kept circling around him and licking his head. It was extremely sad. However, he will become part of the food chain and be food for a bear.

This morning, I got up bright and early and went out for a hike. (I wasn't able to sleep for some reason.) The lighting on this field was perfect and there were a few bison that were hanging out, eating grass. I felt oddly at peace with the bison this morning.

Don't go further if you don't want to see the picture...

The red is from the flashing ranger lights. Poor guy!