The fires of Yellowstone

We are sitting in the path of a rather large fire that has consumed 9500 acres of mature lodge pole pines. The wind has not helped as the firefighters are having a hard time controlling the fire. The area is filled with smoke and the sky turned the sun and moon into a blood red color. They have set up sprinklers and barriers around the hotel, circa 1891, to save this historical site. Our trailer is in the employee RV park which we share with park service employees and park rangers. Many buildings as well as the power plant is in this location. They are saying that they may evacuate all trailers to an area on the other side of the Yellowstone River and move us all into dorms and cabins. If we are relocated it will be in the Canyons which is 15 miles north of here. The hotel and lodge still has to be closed and winterized for the winter. Our store is still open and will close on the 4th. Inventory has to be taken and all merchandise will be picked up and stored at the warehouse in Gardiner, Mt. There is the possibility that they will shut down the hotel and tell us to leave early. The full time staff in Gardiner will then come back to shut everything down. We are waiting on a huge cold front to move in tonight with temps in the teens and snow. They are expecting 2 to 4 inches of snow which would be a blessing as it would help put the fire out. We will know soon what action will be taken. The photos were taken two days ago and gives you an idea of what we are going through. The cycle is in the trailer as well as all the stuff that we plan to take back to Fl. We are ready, whatever we have to do.

Hiking among Thermal pools in the backcountry

Off we went into the unknown. We were looking for a thermal pool called tomato soup due to its orange color. A coworker of mine drew a map from memory for us to follow. There is no trail as the park service doesn't want people falling in due to the thin crusted layers in this area. We were told that we would be ok as long as we follow the hot stream, the animal scat (poop), and their trail. The entire hike was walking over fallen trees, sidestepping marshy areas, hopping streams, and not stepping in animal scat. Well, I stepped into a fresh pile of Bison scat. Yes, they are large piles. About a half mile into our hike Claire said, "I feel faint". Now I am thinking that I have to carry her, the backpack, and my camera gear back to the car. So we sat a spell drinking our water and she started to feel better. So off we went looking for the elusive "tomato soup". Along the way we came across a lot of Bison bones, bear, elk, and bison prints in the mud. Are we the next victim of the bear? We are brave so we continued our trek. By the way we are walking among thermal features and the ground can be unstable. You use a large stick to poke the ground as you walk. You are forever hearing thud, thud. This sound tells you that the ground is somewhat unsafe and there are thermal pools under us. Remember we are walking on top of a volcano. We came across several deep blue thermal pools, hot springs, bubbling mud pots, bubbling and spouting mini-geysers. What a cool place. Most of the fallen trees as well as the Bison bones are quite bleached out by the hot water from the streams and thermal pools. We reached an area where we were close to tomato soup. To our left was a rather steep hill so I decided to hike up this hill to get a better look. Great view up here but no idea where tomato soup was. So off we went into the unknown hoping to find tomato soup. We found more thermal pools but no tomato soup. Now we are in the middle of no where, no trails, just instinct as to which way to go. By this time Claire has had enough, 2 miles of hiking, side stepping the poop, hoping we don't fall into the volcano never to be found again. Unknown to me Claire was stashing rocks that she thought were geodes and Bison bones into her backpack, she was getting tired. I offered to carry her backpack but she said no. (didn't want me to know about the rocks and bones). We worked our way back to the stream and managed to head in the right direction. Now Claire said she just heard a growl. Grizzly bears hang out in this area so we step up our pace. Now I hear a thud and turn around to find Claire on the ground. She caught her foot on a tree root and down she went. Got her up and we continued on to find a spot where we could jump to the other side of the stream to get back to where the car was parked. I jumped across the stream and then told Claire to give me her hand so I could pull her across. Got her across except for her into her one foot that landed into the hot stream and mud. Unknown to me that she must have had 50 pounds of stuff in her backpack. We did make it back to the car hiking for about 4-5 miles. The day was beautiful, we saw a lot of features that most people don't get to see. As far as tomato soup, there is always next year. Less than two weeks and off we go to sunny Florida.

South Canyon Hike

We had our day off on Tues. and we decided to take the South Canon hike which is about 3-1/2 miles. This hike required us to take the car and the cycle so that we didn't have to backtrack the same hike which would have made it 6 miles. So Off I went on the Harley and Claire in the car. I parked my cycle at the upper falls parking lot and we parked the car at Artist point. We started our hike at upper falls with our destination Artist Point. We hiked about 1/2 mile and reached a loop and continued on what we thought was the right trail to get us to Artist Point. We hiked and hiked and Claire said, "what is that building?" As I looked over at the building I noticed a Harley that looked just like mine Well, guess what? It was my Harley. We somehow got on the trail that took us back were we started. Being a former Boy Scout I said this was planned. Oh yes, it was not, I got an "F" in boy scout trail guide. So what did we do? Of course, we started our hike all over again and this time we got it right. The hike was just great. We hiked a trail along the canyon with fantastic views. We had to stay on the trail because one wrong step we would go off the cliffs into the Yellowstone River which flowed below us. Of course we had to stop a few times to catch our breath, (now we are not youngsters} so it takes us a little bit longer. When a hiker would approach us going the other way, we would smile and act like this is so easy. We reached our destination which was Artist Point where the car was and we hoped in the car and went back to where the cycle was parked. On the way back we stopped at Hayden Valley to enjoy the herds of bison. Further up we were treated at the LeHardy Rapids a family of Otters. This was a great day in YNP.

Hikin and Bikin

Our last two days off were filled to the brim. Tuesday we decided that we would like to do a hike before going off to the Old Faithful Inn for dinner. There is a 2 1/2 mile hike to a geyser which is called the Lone Star Geyser. This particular geyser is all by itself with no other geysers nearby. Imagine the plumbing systems for this geyser as Old Faithful and the many other geysers are about 5 miles away. Lone Star erupts about every three hours. Unknown when the next eruption would be, we started our 2-1/2 mile hike into the woods. The trail follows the Fire Hole River which makes for a pretty hike. As we got within 15 minutes of reaching the geyser we met hikers who were heading away from the geyser. Claire asked, "did it just go off?" The answer was, yes and it was awesome. Now we had just walked 2 miles with approx. 1/2 mile to go to reach the geyser that is now quiet. Just our luck to walk all this way for nothing. We decided that we would finish our hike and at least take a look at the geyser. When we got there we were all alone with no one in sight. We decided to sit a spell. Within the hour we concluded that we would stay and lay down on the grass and wait. Staying was the right thing to do as the geyser put on quite a show. It lasted about 20 minutes spouting water and steam 30 to 40 feet into the air. We were pleased that we stayed and happily hiked back 2-1/2 miles to our car. We then left and had dinner at the Inn. Claire had bison prime rib, shrimp, chicken, trout...in other words, she stuffed her self. Not liking seafood I gorged on the bison which was outstanding. That was it for our Tues. day off. Now it is Fri. our other day off. We got on the Harley and drove the upper loop of the park which is about 100 miles. The temp. was in the 60's with blue skies above. What a great ride we had. As we were heading into Gardiner, Montana we came across a herd of elk. That was quite a site. We had lunch in Gardiner, me drinking a "fat tire" and Claire a "blue moon". Of course being on the bike we only had one. The ride back was great, taking photos, etc. It will be hard to say goodbye to Yellowstone as it is heaven on earth. For those who have never been here, you must come and see. I hope my photos have been enjoyed by all and my blog has inspired you all. Don't let age get in the way, don't let work get in the way. Take the time to smell the roses. Life is good. Enjoy.

Love being a Cowboy

We drove up to Roosevelt Lodge last night to go to a "Cowboy Cookout". There are two ways to get to the cookout which is a couple of miles into Lamar Valley, by wagon or by horseback. Well, we decided to ride the horses. As we were driving to the Lodge Claire was telling me about her adventure riding a white horse. The last rider had broken his leg as the horse decided to lean up against a fence and the poor guy's leg got squished between the horse and the fence. Claire was given this horse and she was very scared to the point she would never want to get on a white horse again. Well now, there were at least 20 riders in our party. There was only one white horse. Guess who got the white horse? Claire. Her horse was named Pocko. At first she did not want this horse but as fate would put it, she got up on the horse. My horse was huge, and his name was Big Ed. The ride was great, up and down hills, narrow paths through the sage brush, over small wooden bridges, streams, and plenty of dust. When we got there the Wranglers were cooking cowboy coffee over an open fire, steaks were grilled, a cowboy was singing, and we all were having a great time. We left taking a different trail back to the corral which included a pretty good climb up a rather large hill then coming down the other side. When it was over I climbed down off Big Ed and walked bow legged back to our car. Claire has a nice black and blue mark on her........ As we were leaving the sun was setting and the moon was rising. What a day. "Happy Trails to You"