Whereupon Jody Gives Angie the Storm Point Tour

Saturday 20 June 2015

Well, that's not entirely true. TR gave a lot of the tour PLUS he showed us some secrets on the trail!

First up, geology. We saw the outlet of Indian Pond and explored some geologic layers of ash that Harlan showed to Ken. Then TR showed us some wire stuck in a tree. This is left from an old fence put up back in the day to keep the cows in. Yes, folks, they had dairy cows penned up to provide fresh milk for the Lake Hotel! And then...super coolness...he took us off trail at another point and showed us a circle of rocks in a clearing. They don't know how long it's been there, but it's at least fifty years old. Could it be a more ancient geologic site? Perhaps. A teepee ring? perhaps. We don't know.

We drove out to Lewis Lake and Lewis Falls. TR has to touch "new" water so there he is dipping his hand into the Lewis River. And then we finished our excursion at West Thumb. I'm slightly addicted to photographing West Thumb. Again, the light was different in the evening.

CL Day 12

Friday 19 June 2015

We tried to show Ang a nice time in the park on today. We hiked up to Natural Bridge and true to the Animal Whisperer she is, upon seeing a marmot with hopes of photographing it, the marmot began to scamper away until Angie said, "Could you please stop for a picture?" And it STOPPED!!! :)

We also stopped at LeHardy Rapids where the cutthroat trout are spawning. Boy, the May Flies were SUMPTHIN' ELSE! Then we went to Canyon to show her some of the hot spots there. On the way back to Lake we stopped at Mud Volcano. The light is so different in the late afternoon than when I hike in the mornings for exercise! We found Mohawk Bison (he has all of his winter coat nicely scraped off except for that one little patch on top of his back...does he realize?) meditating in front of Mud Cauldron. Fun day!

CL Day 11

Thursday 18 June 2015

Met my college freshman roommate, Stephanie, at Mammoth Hot Springs for a hike! We hadn't seen each other in decades! She was passing through from Indiana and all I could think about was that she had been on our university's cross country ski team. I've never decided to ski eight miles up a glacier, so I warned her heavily about my slow hiking pace. When we took off from the trail head I said, "You talk, I'll breathe." She has an amazing story and I'm so impressed with the way she's handled all the curve balls. She is a strong woman and I'm so glad we got to catch up! I really appreciate her reaching out to me and suggesting the hike!

On the way over I saw a bear! :)

I also snapped a couple of pics of visitors getting waaaaay too close to wild animals. Love the elk sitting under the shade tree wearing his crown in such a royal fashion. I'm a tad disgusted with all the teenagers (elk) dominating the village of Mammoth. True to form and just like human teens, they are great at napping!

There was also a bear jam on my way back to Lake so as I drove by, I photographed Kass (or is it Cass...must look at his name tag) who is the Wildlife Ranger handling a lot of that stuff.

And then my sister came to visit and we stopped down at the lake shore prior to Kaitlyn's evening program about Adventurers in the Night!

CL Day 10

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Bison enjoy their slushies too!

We had quite the hailstorm this afternoon. TR was trying to leave our dwelling to get back to the VC but each time he tried, it would hail harder!

The cutest, dearest little boys got their Junior Ranger patches today! Five year old Mikey and four year old Tommy were just SO darling! Their grandparents were exhausted. Tommy kept exclaiming, loudly, that his grandma was SIXTY-FOUR years old and this was her first time to Yellowstone! :) Other visitors are hilarious with no plans whatsoever. "We're here! Tell us how to have fun!"

CL Days 8 and 9

Monday 15 June and Tuesday 16 June 2015

They have me working the front desk now. It's great fun for now although the purpose of putting a volunteer in there is to assist the rangers, but neither of the rangers leave while I'm there, so I'm not sure it's helping them, but it does help take care of all the questions visitors have. I have learned so much from the rangers and they seem patient with my mistakes and learning curve. I photographed some grizzly tracks along the lake shore behind the Visitor Center--not great photos, but it is something to see a long trail of grizzly tracks headed somewhere. You can see Storm Point is aptly named. I tried to go to Mud Volcano with another ranger, but it was his first time doing that program so I backed off. I tried hanging out in the map room to answer questions for visitors, but no one said a word, so I went back to the desk.

Tram Scam

Saturday 13 June 2015

Still no battery...

We hiked to the Phelps Lake Overlook on the Death Canyon Trail...gorgeous! We then headed over to the Jackson Hole Resort and paid good money for the "tram scam" which takes you to the top of Rendezvous Peak. We did eat waffles at the top, not because we were happy about paying their prices, but because we were so hungry. I say "tram scam" because it's the most expensive tram we've ever ridden. We've ridden other trams in Utah, California, New Mexico...but Wyoming charges the most! We shopped for groceries and stopped for pizza at Leeks Marina as per Mike and Laurie's suggestion. The pizza was good...when it finally arrived. The service was terrible...for everyone there.

CL Day 7

Friday 12 June 2015

There will be no photos of our time in Grand Teton because I left my camera battery in the charger at Fishing Bridge. I was BEYOND upset about this. Seriously, life was over. And the Tetons are STUNNINGLY beautiful.

Woke up in Colter Bay Campground this morning which has 350 campsites and who knows how many restrooms. Who did I run into? Gayla Johnson, a substitute at my school. I was exiting the bathroom and she was entering and we hugged! SMALL WORLD. If she's the only one I ran into, how many other people do I know who stayed here last night?!?

We hiked the Hermitage Point Trail along Heron Pond and Swan Lake. Saw three toads. We drove up to the Two Ocean Lake area and walked a bit more. There's a FAMILY of ground squirrels at our campsite. It's hysterical to watch these "four little kids" staring at us from their stump, processing the world around them.