Two Months and Still Adventuring

     Once again I come to you all to tell you of the adventures and happenings that I have experienced here in Yellowstone National Park and beyond. Let me start off by telling you about work.
     My work here really has not changed much. There are good days and there are bad days, luckily more good than bad. The only real change around here are the faces I see come and go. People that I have come to consider good friends are either now gone or going to be in the next few weeks. This saddens me. But, I have been making new friends as well. As more people keeping coming here for work, I find myself feeling less lonely here. When it is my time to leave I know I will be very sad to leave my friends here. Thank God for Facebook.
     My latest adventure has been my best yet I think. Last weekend I joined a group of my friends on a hike called the Mary Mountain Trail. This has been my longest hike here in Yellowstone by far. Coming in at 24 miles (27 or so if you include all of the wondering we did trying to find the trail again after we had lost it a couple of times) The whole trail was mostly flat with some uphill and downhill areas. We also came across just about every type of terrain imaginable. Hiking the trail made me feel like I was on an epic quest of some sort. The land was so beautiful.
     We started for the trail head at about 4:30 AM and were able to see a magnificent sunrise along the way to the trail. We got to the trail head about 6:30 AM and were on our way. Our first wild life encounter was a huge herd of elk. They were so close and every time we got closer they would run over the next hill making their eerily beautiful sounding calls. I had never heard an elk call until then and now I am glad that I did. It some how makes me appreciate them a bit more.
     We also came across dozens of male bison scattered all over the landscape. Needless to say, those bison in the way of our paths were given a very wide birth as we passed by. We even ran into a lone coyote and even though we did not see any wolves they indeed had been where we were not too long ago judging from the prints we found. Many skeletons of elk and bison were found along the trail as well. Some bleached from the sun and others with still a bit of meat on them!
     After we had past the half way point of the trail (the halfway point being May Lake) things were pretty uneventful., but nonetheless beautiful and awe inspiring. I am glad that I took my camera along for the trip because the pictures I took really are the only way I can show you what I have seen . I have posted the photos from this adventure on my facebook here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150953027938909.437299.660493908&type=3 .
     Towards the end of our journey we were weary and out of water and food. Not a very good thing if you are on an all day hike. And the face that the last part of the trail was pretty much dessert with hot thermal features here and there did not help at all. Luckily we reached the end of the trail before dying of thirst or starvation.
     After Mary Mountain I am a bit hiked out, but I have already been making plans for my next big hike which I will share with you all after it happens.
     This most recent weekend of pretty chill though. Mainly it consisted of a trip to Bozeman where my friends and I ate sushi, shopped for some needed items for Yellowstone, and watched the new Batman movie. Which is freaking amazing by the way. Oh, and I even got to ride in the bed of a truck to Bozeman too! :D Needless to say I was so excited to do so and I was even more excited to find out that it is perfectly legal to do that in Wyoming and Montana. The weekend also consisted of me having dinner with someone that I have grown rather fond of here. I am hoping a second meeting will be in the future soon.
     Things are changing here and I will do my best to make the best of these changes. whatever they may be. I hope that you are doing well at home and that the future holds good things for you. I love and miss you all! See you next post! 
    
      

Mountains and Grizzlies

     Since my last blog entry many things have been going on here in Yellowstone; Some good things and some not so good things.  Let me start with the good things.

     Well, my weekends here have been amazing! I have been camping twice already and each time has brought new adventures for me. The hikes I have taken of late have also been epic. My first trip was to Grand Teton National Park and let me just say now, the scenes there are gorgeous. I had a hard time putting my camera down to do anything else.  You may have already seen the pictures that I took on that trip on my Facebook. I am especially proud of the black and white photo that I recently posted there. I may have it printed and framed when I get back home.  The people I camped with are amazing. I have come to know them well since I have met them here and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. Even if they do get a little crazy at times ;) We say many specimens of wild life and even saw an antelope.  Which I am told are not all too easy to find. Bison were also on that list of things we saw. In fact, while we were visiting a place called Mormon Row, there was a huge herd of bison in a nearby field. Needless to say we did not get too close to them, especially since there were many calves around. The calves were so cute though.  That was a great way to start my camping experience out here I think.

     My last weekend also consisted of camping, this time though we decided to go back country camping. This was my first time doing any back country camping here in Yellowstone and I was excited. We found a pretty awesome campsite in an area called Sentinel Meadows. Just the name made me feel like I was in a whole different world where civilization had never touched the beauty that I saw before me. Again, you may have already seen the photos I took of that trip. I seem to have a habit of posting my photos sooner than I do these blogs. Perhaps it is the fact that posting photos is a bit easier to do. Anywho, it was an amazing trip and I am glad that I went. Although: I will say that I was not pleased with the fishing there. The ranger that told us about the area said that the fishing there would be good. I did not see one fish while I was there.  We were kind of hoping to fry up some fish for dinner but, no such luck. It was a good thing we brought tons of snacks. Besides the horrible fishing Sentinel Meadows was an amazing experience and I hope to go back country camping again.

     This weekend has been quite enjoyable for me. I think that after the last two weekends of camping, I am willing to take a break from that for a bit before I go again. Yesterday (my Saturday) my friend and I decided to go climb to a place called Avalanche Peak. And on the way there I saw my first grizzly bear! :D It was pretty amazing. It was a bit far away so I couldn’t get any pictures, but still, it was epic. So, basically we climbed a mountain.  And let me tell you; It was one hell of a climb. I had never been so exhausted and weary on a hike. It was steeper than anything I had ever climbed in my life and just as traitorous. There were times I thought I was not going to make it back down the mountain. Our ascent lasted for about 2 and half hours or so and like I said, every second was tough for me. Somehow though, I did it. I made it to the top and I have the photographic evidence to prove it ;) The view was so worth the climb. I wish we could have stayed on the top for a little longer. Unfortunately my friend needed to get back to Old Faithful to work the dinner shift :P  So, our descent began, which only took about 45 minutes since we literally were running down the mountain like a couple of mountain goats ;) We even were able to sled down part way because of the snow that was still around. That was an experience that I will never forget.  Once we made it back to the car we drove back to Old Faithful just in time for my friend to make it into work on time. The only problem I had on the ride back home was that my stomach was not being friendly to me at all for some reason.  I literally was not able to focus on my surroundings because the pain was so bad. And on top of that I had gotten a splitting head ache that started about the same time the stomach pains started. The car ride home for me was not pleasant :P We saw some male elk on our way back that I barely remember seeing because I was pretty out of it at the time. When we got back, I went straight to bed and took a several hour nap. Thankfully that nap worked wonders for me and when I woke up I was feeling much better than I was before. So much in fact, I was actually able to eat again. The rest of my day was pretty chill. I tried some new ice cream with a friend, (I got ice cream called Huckleberry. It was amazing!) went to the employee pub shot some pool and threw darts with a couple other friends, and to finish off the night we all took a night hike. And today I sit here just chilling writing my blog for all you wonderful people.

     Now, onto the not so good things that have been going on here; work is where all of the trouble seems to be coming from. Go figure right? :P First, people have been either quitting and leaving Yellowstone all together or getting fired for some reason or the other. Most have been leaving because of family issues or personal ones. Or just because they think things are getting too tough for them to handle. This has resulted in the kitchens being understaffed and not able to work at full capacity. This just makes things horrible for us who stay and try to make the best of things.  More than once I have thought of joining those who seem to fleeing. I do not think I will do that though. I came here to work till September 16^th and I will keep that promise I made before I came here. Even if I am the only person on staff left I will stay till the bitter end. 

     Other than those things I just mentioned my time here has been an experience of a lifetime. I am so glad I decided to come here. I have met so many new people, done so many new things, and seen so many things that I thought I would never be able to see in my lifetime.  I do miss my home, family, and friends dearly, but when the time comes for me to leave a piece of me will stay here in Yellowstone.