YELL Day 33

Monday 07/29/2013

What a thunderstorm. It was LOUD and LONG (came in wave after wave) and it made the ground beneath my sleeping pad shake. There was so much lightning I kept thinking, "Stop the flash photography!" However, there was no wind, therefore, none of the lodge pole pines blew down to kill us. Our tent kept us dry and comfortable.

We rented a crawdad at Mack's Inn and paddled ourselves for about five miles down the Hentry's Fork of the Snake River. Oh JOY! It was a glorious morning and a soothing event. We saw fish and birds and moose! We laughed and learn to work better together as a paddling team. I think we should do it every year.

Back-to-School Stress Dream #3

Sunday 07/28/2013

I woke up from my third back-to-school stress dream this summer. The others were on the 4th and the 9th. This one was really bad. The stress dreams occur every year. What about you? Does it happen to you?

Anyway, we went to Church in West Yellowstone, Montana and again, the people were lovely. After that, we went on a little geology driving tour to learn about the Hebgen Lake Earthquake in 1959. Wowzers. We did the whole tour and all I can say is that I hope I don't have to do what some of those people did to escape. We camped in Idaho at Flatrock and enjoyed tacos for dinner since we had leftover tortillas from last week's fajitas.

Marmot Fortress

Saturday 07/27/2013

I went on the Storm Point hike this morning (my all time fave so far) and one of my favorite parts is about half way through when you come out at the beach where a community of yellow bellied marmots has taken up residence (for centuries?). There are some rock formations which serve as palaces to these R.O.U.S.'s On this particular day, no one was moving much. They were just all flopped out on top of their rocks, sun bathing. Seriously, zoned out. No movement, no chirping. Vegged. What I could do with a zoom lens...

YELL Day 32

Friday 07/26/2013

We took a dip in Yellowstone Lake. It was cold. People have died there very quickly from hypothermia. We thought we could get ourselves all the way under at least for a second, but we both failed. That is some mighty cold water! K's boss and the other rangers kept asking, "Are you CRAZY?"

YELL Day 31

Thursday 07/25/2013

This was a day for one of my little "excursions." Field trip if you will...

The trick to getting a parking spot at Artists' Paint Pots is to go early in the morning. Ahhhh...I love this place. I especially loved the white mud pot--cracked, bubbling, and white. I could have stared all day! After the paint pots I headed to Old Faithful to walk the 2.4 mile (round trip) path to Morning Glory pool. Along the way I got to see a nice eruption from Daisy Geyser. I took a different route on the way back and saw people gathering around Grand Geyser. There was a spot on the bench and about ten minutes later, it blew! All I can say is it was GRAND! The run-off from Grand has patches of orange that remind me of a creamsicle or dreamsicle or whatever they are. TR and I went to Bruce's evening program about wolves.

Elephant Back Trail on Pioneer Day

Wednesday 07/24/2013

My neighbor, Bev, and her coworker, Marlene, invited me to hike Elephant Back with them this afternoon. This trail is right next to park housing, but I've heard of enough bear encounters on this trail this season that I've never been able to hike it alone. Bev herself pointed out spots on the trail..."This is where I was when I ran into that grizzly." Well, you can get quite a view from the top! Park housing, the Lake Hotel, Stevenson (Stephenson?) Island...it was 3.36 miles round trip according to Bev's GPS and the elevation at the top was around 8,800. Whew. I was probably slower on the way down than the way up so Bev asked if they could hike ahead. So I kept calling out, "Here, Bear! Comin' through!" I knocked on Bev's door when I returned so she would know I got back down and she said, "We could hear you singing!" I had to chuckle. Singing? I could barely breathe! But at least they could hear me which means the bears did too and I didn't have any trouble. The terrain was forest with grass between the trees.

YELL Day 30

Tuesday 07/23/2013

Slept in after our weekend. Did a lot of housekeeping type duty today. Made Mexican Lasagna for dinner. And now you know all our secrets.