Camping (finally!!)

The past two weeks have been insane. I haven't worked anything less than a 10 hour shift since the first week of June, which is seriously hampering my ability to be able to hike after work. I guess it helps that I start at 5:30 am, because I tend to be off by 3:30 or 4 and can still fit in a short hike.

A few days after we went to the Tetons, a group of us hiked Hellroaring Creek after work. The trail goes down a steep hill into the valley along the Yellowstone River. We hiked about 2.5 miles in and sat by the creek for a bit. The cloud patterns on the way out were insane, and we saw three black bears (a mom and two cubs across the canyon from us). The cubs were wrestling, which was adorable, but they were too far away to get good pictures of.

Clouds over Hellroaring Creek, 6/17/17. 

Last "weekend", Haileigh and I hiked in to a campsite that is about 3 miles in from the Ice Lake trailhead. It took us an hour to get the fire started, because everything was still damp from the rain a few days before. The whole time, we were being devoured by mosquitos. The sunset across the meadow was amazing though. At around 10:30, three more people hiked in, and then the last two got there around 11:15. We all sat around the fire until around 3 am. It was my first night sleeping in my new tent, which takes a grand total of 3 minutes to set up alone. The whole group slept in until 10:30 am, which was awesome except that we all woke up because we were insanely hot with the sun directly over our tents. We packed up and hiked out, then got burgers at the General Store at Canyon. That afternoon, I drove to West Yellowstone to get internet because it had been out for 5 days in Canyon, and I needed to finish FAFSA. Naturally, while I was there, I went to Taco Bus. You can take the girl out of Arizona, but you can't take the Arizona out of the girl!

Sunset from Norris Meadows Campsite, 6/20/17. 

The Crew at Norris Meadows Campsite, 6/21/17. 

Mosquitos are mean, 6/21/17. 

On both Saturday and Sunday, two different groups of us hiked up Gneiss Creek. The hike goes along the Madison River, then through a burn zone from last years fire, then up to a giant meadow. It was a pretty Gneiss hike (ahh rock puns). Both times, we hiked up a huge hill and laid in the grass (yes, I did have to check for ticks after both times, but it was totally worth it). The second time, we hiked back down, and Daniel fished in the Madison while the rest of us chilled by the river. I found a perfect log to lay down on, and I laid there and attempted to mediate, but it was a challenge with people talking and cars going by. It was still a lovely way to end the day.

Gneiss Creek Trail burn zone, 6/24/17. 

Flowers on Gneiss Creek Trail, 6/24/17.

Friends and hats, 6/24/17. 

Yesterday, I got roped into working a double, because there really was no one else to cover the closing shift. Let me tell you, working from 5:30 am to 10 pm is hard. But I luckily worked with good people all day, so that made it infinitely more manageable. Giant paycheck, here we come!

I finally have two days off in a row (yay!!). The weather is supposed to be bad, so we're not camping tonight, but we will most likely to a long day hike tomorrow.

My animal count is now up to 6 grizzlies (two female, two male, and two cubs), fifteen black bears (three separate moms with two cubs each, one adult in the distance, four separate yearlings, and the cinnamon one), 7 bighorn sheep (one male, six females), a bull moose, two swans, two ospreys with hatchlings, and two bald eagles.

Pizza and Adventures

Last Saturday, Haileigh and I went and hiked Mystic Falls. Because of the huge snowfall this winter, the falls were roaring. When we got back, I compared pictures from when I hiked it last year, and the difference was unbelievable. Also different between the two shots is that the first time, I had bug spray on my lens and did not yet know how to shoot manual. What a difference a year of practice and some alcohol wipes can make.

Mystic Falls, 6/9/16. 

Mystic Falls, 6/6/17.

On Tuesday, Haileigh, Paul, Daniel, and I did the short hike from Canyon to Cascade Canyon. It's just across the road, but it is fairly unknown, even amongst staff. We set up hammocks and listened to music as the sun set. The next day, I didn't work until 3 pm, so I drove down to the lake. I was going to sit outside and journal, but the mosquitos were insane. Instead, I went up to the hotel and sat in their lobby. It overlooks the lake and was thankfully bug-free.

Hammocking at Cascade Canyon, 6/6/17. 

I worked Thursday morning, but my managers let me leave early because Mackenzie, her boyfriend, and his family were coming through the park just for the afternoon. I decided to do Mystic with them, because I thought it would be a good, easy hike that we could get done pretty quickly.  On the way to Gardiner after the hike, Mackenzie and I saw a yearling black bear chilling on a log by the side of the road near Tower. We had pizza and ice cream there (I highly recommend Yellowstone Pizza Company. The service is so-so, but the pizza and cheesy bread are amazing), then they left for Bozeman and I drove back to Canyon. On my way, I saw a mama black bear with two yearling cubs. They quickly disappeared behind the hill, so I couldn't get any pictures. A little further up the road, there was one more yearling, but at that point, I just wanted to get home, so I kept driving. I stopped at Tower Falls to get a few pictures of the moon rising (it was the day before the full moon).

Cheesin' at Mystic Falls, 6/8/17. 

Moonrise from Tower Falls, 6/8/17. 

The next day, it rained all day, so we decided not to hike. That evening, it started snowing like crazy, so of course, some of the staff decided to have a snowball fight in front of the dorms. I had just showered and I went outside without a hat, so my hair froze. It was still hilariously fun.

The rest of the week focused mostly on work. They had me work eleven days in a row, and by the end of the "week", I was getting pretty grumpy. The only thing that kept me going was focusing on how huge my paycheck is going to be.

Yesterday was finally my day off! Haileigh and I were going to camp on Tuesday night, but it snowed all day, so we decided against it. Instead, we left early yesterday morning with a big group to go to the Tetons. We heard about a place called Delta Lake that is on an unmaintained trail. It's accessible from the Lupine Meadows trail head, but then breaks off in a different direction. On the way up, we saw two black bears pretty close up. The first was a cinnamon bear, and he was super close to the trail, so he was easy to photograph. We caught a glimpse of another black bear through the trees, but he was moving fast and didn't seem to even notice us.

Grand Teton from Lupine Meadows Trail, 6/14/17.

Cinnamon black bear, Lupine Meadows Trail, 6/14/17.

The weather was perfect, but when we got to the cutoff, there was a ton of snow on the ground. We tried so hard to find the trail beneath all of the snow, but it was pretty impossible. We were all spread out over this snowy boulder field on the Grand Teton, and we started to worry about someone getting lost or sliding down the mountain, so we sadly decided to turn around. To make ourselves feel better about not making it to the lake, we went to Jackson to get pizza. On the way back, Haileigh, Daniel, Carly, and I stopped at Jackson Lake Lodge to see one of our friends from last season. We chatted with him for a while outside of his dorm, then headed back.

Tetons with the most photographed barn in the world, 6/14/17. 

All of us are working 6 day weeks right now, which makes it a little difficult to do all of the trips that we have been planning. I still have yet to camp in the park, and it's starting to get to me. I need to sleep under the stars soon, for the sake of my sanity.

My animal count is now up to 6 grizzlies (two female, two male, and two cubs), twelve black bears (two separate moms with two cubs each, one adult in the distance, four separate yearlings, and the cinnamon one), 7 bighorn sheep (one male, six females), a bull moose, two swans, two ospreys with hatchlings, and two bald eagles.

Rainbows and Sunsets

Work, as to be expected, has been less than excellent, but I'm finally starting to settle in. It's so much easier now that everyone is here and that I have some friends back from last season. I can't wait for when we finally have our weekends lined up so that we can start doing longer hikes and backpacks. I miss sleeping under the stars. 

On Tuesday, Haileigh, Daniel, Max, and I went fishing in Lamar. There is a spot where a stream comes into the Yellowstone River, and the trout leave the river here to spawn upstream. I didn't fish, but the other three caught something like fifteen fish between them.  It started raining lightly, and I looked up to see the brightest rainbow I've ever seen. It turned to a double, and it lasted probably twenty minutes. I'm used to rainbows in Arizona that last a minute or two before fading. 

Double Rainbow, Lamar Valley, 5/30/17.

After work on Thursday, Daniel, Paul and his roommate Adam, and I decided to drive out towards Tower and Lamar to see if we could find something to do. As we were driving, Paul pointed out a super steep hill that looked nearly impossible to climb. Daniel pulled over, and we all got out. It was probably the steepest hike that I've done in the park, but it was thankfully only about a quarter mile up. The view from the top was stellar. We could see the canyon that the river carves near Tower Falls and out to Lamar Valley. We sat up there and watched the light start to fade. Daniel was using binoculars to look across the canyon, and we saw a bear run into the tree line. It was a tan color, so I thought it was a grizzly, but Daniel said it looked like a cinnamon black bear through the binoculars. We waited for it to come out of the tree line, but it never did. We left soon after so that we could get back to the car before the sun set. 

A subpar shot from the hill, (maybe Thunderer Mountain), 6/1/17. 

I was off yesterday, so Haileigh, Columbian Daniel, and I went to Bozeman. On the drive back, we saw a yearling black bear right on the side of the road, munching on grass. We stopped and took some pictures, then as we were driving away, we saw another black bear further back from the road. We didn't stop to look at it though since it was too far away. When we got to Dunraven Pass, the sunset was too pretty not to stop. We missed the best color by just a minute, but it was still gorgeous.

Yearling black bear near Tower Falls, 6/2/17.

Sunset from Dunraven Pass, 6/2/17. 

Haileigh got off work super early today, so we're gonna find something to do this afternoon. 

My animal count is now up to 6 grizzlies (two female, two male, and two cubs), five black bears (a mom with cubs, one adult in the distance, and one single yearling), one bear who was either a grizzly or a cinnamon black bear, 7 big horn sheep (one male, six female), a bull moose, two swans (a mating pair), two ospreys and chicks (from pretty far away), a bald eagle, and the usual countless elk and bison.