Yellowstone National Park

sunday, March 2nd

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:12:36 GMT

Wow,
turns out its been about a month or so since I've last posted an entry...sorry about that. Where does the time fly to? Anyway, I have one week left here in yellowstone. The park closes for the season on march 9th and I am leaving march 10th. I'm a little sad about leaving. There have already been a few guides that I have had to say good-bye too and I almost teared up a couple times. They are a strange sort of friend. I never know when they are coming to the park, but its always fun when they show up and give me updates about what's going on in the world.

As for yellowstone, I know I will miss the park. Who knows when I will ride a snowmobile again? I'm not counting down the days, per say, until I go home, but I will be excited to go back to new york (I think my car is due for inspection OOPS!) and see my family/friends/pets again. I'm not leaving right away, however. I'm going to spend a few days in Jackson, Wyoming visitng with some people before I leave. I want to have one last harrah before I start my journey.

I'm excited to get back to "civilization" again, but also a little nervous. Its going to be great to just go outside, hop in my car and go somewhere, or run down to the store for milk or bread...hell, even a candy bar, but just having TV, and radio and people to talk to all the time is going to be so...weird. The few times that I've had to drive out of the park and go somewhere in my car have been weird. I sit down in my driver's seat and it feels so comfortable and claustrophobic at the same time. If I go someplace (like a bar, or sandwhich place) that had a lot of TV's hanging everywhere I can't carry on a conversation with someone because I get so distracted. I just get drawn to the movement and the light. So weird.

That's all for now. I'll try to post again before I actually get home.

Thurs, Jan 31st

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:46:04 GMT

Well, ladies and gentleman, I'm an idiot.

I am dog sitting another dog for the rest of the week. His name is bailey and he's a beagle. I went to pick him up from his house today after work and there was a coyote about 8 feet from the door eating the birdseed that fell on the ground from these bird feeders. "Crap" I thought. I decided to chase it away because I didn't know how it would react to bailey when I brought him outside, or vise versa. Damn thing wouldn't run away. Animals that are not habituated are so much easier to deal with, you just throw your hands up and yell real loud and they take off. Not this yellowstone coyote. I started walking towards him yelling at him to leave, but he would just take a few steps backwards. I finally got him to back off to the end of the driveway, but he would just follow me when I walked back to the house. Now, I know it is just a coyote and not something like a grizzly or a wolf, but there is just something about turning my back to a predator that I don't really like. Coyotes can do their damage, too, however. There was an employee at old faithful that was out skiing and a coyote went for her food, she ended up having to hit it over the head so hard she cracked her ski pole. It took that much for it to run off.

I decided to chase him again, this time he trotted off around the corner. This whole time I'd been wishing for something to throw at him (I know from a previous experience that snowballs are out of the question). I went to get bailey and happened to glance out the window. The damn coyote trotted around the other side of the house and now I have a dog and dog food in my hand. I put bailey back in the house and went for the coyote again. Same thing, except this time instead of trotting around the house, it trotted up a different driveway and tried to come back to the birdseed with me right there! So I walked towards him again and he started to leave, but (as I predicted) he came back as soon as I was out of sight behind the doorway. I was really getting annoyed. You aren't technically supposed to "harasse" the animals at yellowstone, but sometimes we get a little leeway when we are park employees and we're dealing with an animal like this. I remembered I had my metal thermous in my pocket so I took it out and threw it at the coyote. It didn't hit it, but if it did, it wasn't hard enough to really do any damage. Now...here is the part where I am idiot. A nice, completely sealed metal thermous seems like a good weapon. It has pretty good balance, its durable, and easy to throw. Now, you take that same thermous and have some homemade rootbeer that dribbled down the side and we have a whole new story. In the time it took for the thermous to land, the coyote to jog away, and me to take one step into the doorway to grab a shovel and step back into the open the little F'er took my thermous!! I'm so stupid! DUH! There was nice yummy, sweet, sugary, sticky root beer on the side of my thermous. I just threw food to wildlife. I'm so stupid! I peeked around the house in time to see him trotting across the road with it in its mouth and then climb a snowbank. DAMN CANINE! Cursing myself, I got bailey and walked to my house. I made a second trip to grab his bed and the coyote was back on the road again. I dropped the bed off, then donned my snowshoes. That coyote couldn't have dropped my thermous far and I was going to get it back!!!

I followed its tracks to the back of an uninhabited house. There, way under the porch (quite a nice size space for a cozy place to sleep) was my thermous. I grabbed my ski pole and managed to fish it out, but in the process, I managed to get little burs stuck all over the sleeve of my wool sweater. I havn't seen a plant with burs the entire time I've been here, but now I find one by getting it stuck all over me. Its going to take me forever to get them all off. I made my way back to the road, thermous in hand, just in time for the coyote to come around the corner and see me with my thermous. Luckily, its just a coyote, so I didn't think it noticed what I took. Now my thermous has lovely tooth marks all over it and I have learned my lesson. I think me and this coyote are going to have some words before my time is through here.

Fri, Jan 25th

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:55:51 GMT

Wow,
     I have some catching up to do. This might be a long entry. First of all....It was -20 degrees when I got to the hut wednesday morning. -20! Do you know how cold that is? Pretty damn cold. By the end of the day it was up to zero. Doesn't seem like much, but the temperature raised 20 degrees, so it made a difference. It was zero at the hut this morning and one of the guides and I were joking about it...he said it was "blamy".

Erika and I took our long awaited trip to Jackson. Oh man! It was so much fun. Absolutely great. We hung out, had great food, played around tubing, and Erika bought herself a new pair of skiis! They are Uber nice.

We almost didn't go. To start, we decided to leave sunday that way we would have all day monday and some of tuesday in jackson. Unfortunately, the weather happened. It was pretty bad out and I didn't get out of the hut when I was planning to because there was a family that didn't want to go all the way to canyon, so they had to wait for their guide and the rest of their group to catch up. Man, they surely pissed me off. The little girl was great and the mother was ok. She kept harassing her husband and eldest daughter for being wimps. They were from san antonio, texas so not used to the snow. The father's stomach was apparently bothering him and he was the biggest baby. Then he kept saying stuff like "120 miles, on a snowmobile, in yellowstone...if I'd have known that I wouldn't have come....." In my head I was like "dude, I live here, stop complaining tome because you wont get any sympathy". They were so obnoxious. THEN! He was asking me about the seeds of lodgepole pine. They produce two types of seeds. Regulare ones, and then seeds in a cone that only opens when they reach 113 degrees or higher. "they've eveloved with the forest fires," I said. "This way they aren't wiped out in the firest". He just lays there on the bench and says "You say evolved...I say God created".   I just dropped it, I was in no mood to deal with him. Eventually I ended up just leaving them there, around 3:30. My supervisor said I could so I could get going to jackson (We still had 50 miles to go to get to the car).

Erika and I were planning on leaving at 4. It was already 4:30 and I just got the tow-sled hooked up and there was no sign of Erika and she left at 3pm to drive 16 miles. By the way, the tow-sled itself decided to give me a really hard time and it was everything I could do to keep from kicking it and breaking my toe. While I was waiting for Erika, one of the resource managers came by and said that it was going to get really bad out because the storm was moving from south to north, so we'd be in it the whole time. "You better no go by yourself, if you go right now you might be ok, but do you have any experince driving through lewis canyon?" Of course, I didn't. So he really freaked me out. Erika arrived and after much dsicussion we decided to go for it. According to the report, the roads were still listed as good. Oh, also, a lot of snow had falled (about 10 inches) creating a lot of powder on the road and our sleds are not made for powder, so that would dramatically slow us down. Also, if we decided to wait until monday morning to go, we wouldn't be able to leave the park until 9 or 10 when the roads open. At least now there were trails already broke from the groups that had come in that day. Neither of us had a bad feeling so we decided to go.

It was a long trip and it got a lot colder once the sun went down. It did snow, and Erika had a hard time b/c she took the lead and had far worse visibility, but in all actuality, I enjoyed the trip. The tow sled would wip me around a little bit more, but once you learn to ride it its kind of fun. I was also getting a bit bored, so I started singing to myself in my helmet. 99 bottles of beer on the wall will get me 8miles. Yes, I sang the whole song. How many of you can actually say that?

Needles to say, we arrived at Flag Ranch, the south entrance to the park. We found the park car, transferred our stuff, and headed on our way. An hour later we were in Jackson and were checking into our hotel, the virginian. We went to a place called Cadillacks for dinner and it had the GREATEST cheesburgers ever. I'm not just saying that because it was 10 pm before we ate or because I hadn't had red meat in weeks. These burgers were SO GOOD! Nice a juicy and yummy! After dinner we went to the Million Dollar Cowboy bar. Its kind of expensive, but we had to go and get a drink because they had saddles for barstools. Erika (her draft horse farm background coming through) complained because she couldn't reach the stirrups so she actually got off the saddle and adjusted them. Such a dork, but I love her. There is also a stuffed bear in this bar. Apparently, some guy killed it with his bear hands. The bear attacked him and he wrestled it to the ground, jammed his fist down the bears throat and bit its juggular until it passed out, then he beat it over the head with a stick. There's a sign about it, so it must be true!. Erika and I remained skeptical. It was a good night and we were really glad we came.

The next day Erika and I walked around town. We went to breakfast at a bagel shop. Now, we are from the east coast, so our bagel standards are pretty high. This place did pretty good, however, until we learned that they don't have a toaster. What kind of bagel shop doesn't have a toaster???? Despite this, we went there again on tuesday for a quick breakfast. The town itself is a pretty young town. There are a lot of young people, but that could also be because there is a LOT of skiing in that area. So we were around a bunch of ski bums. Erika bought a pair of skiis and I got some awsome wool shirts and a sweater at the "browse n' buy". For dinner we ate at the Merry Piglets, a mexican restaurant. On all of the walls they have pigs doing some sort of activity, i.e. dancing, surfing, drinking, etc. except for one wall. On that wall, there is a moose.   Go figure.

Tuesday we went grocerie shopping and made our way home. We did have a dead battery in erika's sled (because it was so cold) and no jumper cables, so that made things a bit difficult, but lucky for us, there was a group of people loading onto snow coaches nearby and we got a cable from them. I got to jump my first snowmobile! Incase you are wondering, its the same as a car, infact we used a jeep to jump it. Oh! I almost forgot. We saw a moose on our way back into the park. My first moose! Granted it was way up on the side of a hill, but it was a moose none the less and it was great to see.

Wednesday, I left the hut early because I had a meeting with my fellow SCA's at canyon about interpretation. It went well and its always nice to see everyone. Michael (the head supervisor who hired me) and Melany, Erika's supervisor, was also there. Michael wouldn't tell us the exact number, but he said that enough people applied to fill our positions several times. I thought my competition wasn't very high, but apparently it was, so I feel even more blessed to be here and to have been selected. After the meeting we had a pot luck dinner and we watched a Bob Landis film called Thunderbeast. Bob landis is THE cinemetographer for yellowstone. He's out 365 days a year filming animals and gets such amazing footage. However...he sells the footage and other people write and narrate it. This one was narrated by the BBC or something like that and it was so pathetic. They would say some of the worst things. For example, they were talking about the rut season and how males seek out females. They do this by getting really close and sniffing to the rear end of a cow to see if she is in estrus or not. the narration from this part was something like "The bull male is not shy about getting close to check out the goods." CHECK OUT THE GOODS!!! Can you believe it? Needless to say, we were making fun of it, but the footage was great.

I drove home by myself at night for the first time. It was the worst ride I've had yet, which is such a shame because the moon was full and it was so bright. 1st problem was, my hands were super duper cold. In the few seconds it took me to take my mittens off and put my helmet on, my fingers froze and I should have warmed them up before I left, but I thought they would be ok. Next time, I'll know. Second, it was so cold my helmet kept fogging up no matter what I did, so now I had to drive with my visor open. Two words: wind chill. I had to take my left hand and keep alternating back and forth from cheak to cheak to keep them from getting frostbit. Third. I hit hayden valley and it was so steamy from the thermals that I couldn't see ten feet in front of me! So now I'm going super slow, can't see, can't feel my fingers or my face and it was dark.  I kept praying that bison wouldn't be on the road cause I wouldn't see it until I hit it. Luckily, I was ok and made it home with no damage to my face or fingers, but it was a long, cold, ride. It was also the frist time I've ever felt "creeped out". I stopped part way through hayden to try and scrape my helmet a little (b/c my face was stinging so bad) and I couldn't see on either side of the road becasue of the mist. The moon was bright, but eerie, again, becasue of the mist, and I know there are wolves there. I'm not afraid of wolves, but it was just a really creepy, uneasy feeling. I wont be disappointed if I don't go through that again.

I think I'll reward you for reading this far by telling you a joke. I guide told it to me at the warming hut yesterday.

So George W. Bush sits down with his advisors every morning and they fill him in on what happened the day before in the middle east. One day they sit down and bush says "Ok, just give me the bad news. How was it?"
His advisors look at each other and reply that it really wasn't that bad. Nothing terribly bad happened except that three brazilian soldiers were killed.
Bush sighs and hangs his head down then he asks "Ok, exactly how many is three brazilian?"

HAHAHAH! Isn't that great? I'll spare you the borderline lude cowboy joke I heard in Jackson. Take care!

Thurs, Jan 17th

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:36:31 GMT

Hi everyone,
It was -18 degrees the other day! SO COLD! Today was -2, but for some reason I felt colder today. The fire decided to give me a hard time, as well. The paper decided to burn like incense and when I finally got the wood to catch, it just smouldered for the longest time. Finally I got it going, but the hut wasn't as warm today as it usually is. This is a hard day at work for me...the fire not buring properly. Kinda funny...

So, to pass the time at work I've been reading. I finished "the Naked Ape" and I am almost done with "Indian Captive, the story of Mary Jemison." It makes me a little homesick because deals with the seneca nation and they talk about places like fort ontario and various locations in New York. It also describes plant life and had mentioned many trees that I miss because they aren't here. In the book, it is maple sugaring season...oh I will miss it this year! Last year was such a blast. Especially the night I was at Sharp reservation with Jacie, Kelly, Pat, and others and we spend hours in the sugar shack waiting for the sap to boil down into syrup. We drank so much sweet sap, poured it onto popcorn and breathed in the sweet fumes. We also wrote a song as pat played guitar. Everyone in the chack wrote a verse or two like "40 to 1, still having fun.....down by the sugar shack..." I had so much sugar and didn't drink enough water that I woke up the next morning so dehydrated and with such a headach that I woke up and said to myself "man...I drank too much last night...wait a minute! I didn't drink anything!" I just had too much sugar. Man, that was a lot of fun. I'm sad I wont be home for that this year.

There was a ldy at the warming hut the other day that had these AMAZING mucklucks on. She was up in churchill alaska and bought them there from an inuit store. The liners were felted and came up to her knee. The boot itseld was expertly made out of caribu fur. She'd been ridding on a sled and her feet were perfectly warm. I really want a pair. Here's the interesting part. Apparently the boots were not made for sale, but for personal use. The lady at the hut told us that she was at the store and there were no boots to fit her, so the inuit at the store said "here, take these boots. I made them for myself, but I'll sell them to you." The inuit took the boots off her feet and the lady ACTUALLY bought them. I don't think I could buy the boots off of someone's feet. Makes you wonder how important the sale of those boots were, as well. These boots were absolutely beautiful, though, and I would really like pair myself. If I get this internship in alaska, maybe I'll buy a pair, but not off of someone's feet. I don't need/want the boots that bad.

Take care everyone!

Tues, Jan. 15th

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:36:05 GMT

temp. 10 degrees.

So a bit has happened since my last entry. When I went to work on saturday morning the otter was still on the ice except this time it had a HUGE fish in its mouth (couldn't tell what kind of fish). The coyotes were really going after the otter this time because they wanted that fish! The otter kept climbing onto the ice to eat his fish, but then the coyotes would get close and he'd have to slide back into the water. I had to laugh because at one point the otter was sitting on the ice, happily starting to eat his catch (but keeping a weary eye on the coyotes) and two coyotes were slowly stalking up to him to snatch a free meal, but right next to the coyotes was a little magpie who appeared to be stalking the otter as well. He looked so tough with his coyotes buddies to back him up. It was quite the site. You don't normally see magpie's around here. Later that day a group came into the hut and they saw the otter with another fish. After watching it for a bit, the otter dove in the water, swam under the bridge, then burst through the water on the other side underneith a duck. It grapped the duck and pulled it below the water. A few minutes later it came back up with a dead goldeneye in its mouth. I had no idea otters went after ducks like that and I was really sad I missed it.

I had Sunday off so I decided to eat lunch with Erika while she was at her warming hut and check out the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" along with the Upper and Lower falls. It was really pretty and lunch was nice. We had "guide surprise" as we called it. Pretty much we ate up a bunch of food that had been given to us by the guides and their visitors so it wouldn't go bad and we wouldn't have to throw it away. I brought up a bunch of different cheeses and carrots. Erika had a sub sandwich and juices. While we were eating we got an orange from another giude and split that. Doesn't sound like much of a lunch, but there was a lot of it, so we ate our fill. That orange was terribly good as well. For dessert we had oreo cookies. It turned out to be quite the nice little picnic.

Yesterday Erika came down from canyon and I took her to see mud volcano and lake butte. Mud volcano has a bunch of neat thermal features and lake butte is just a beautiful lookout of yellowstone lake. We were even able to see the grand tetons. It was so cold up there, though, and I had taken my gloves off an left them at my sled so I could take pictures. By the time we left my hands were so cold they had almost stopped hurting (key world: ALMOST). They have never hurt so bad in my life. We were gunning it down the mountain just to get out of the wind and the higher elevation to get a little warmer. We also had our hand warmers cranked on our sleds. On our way to and from lake butte we passed a coyote on the road and also this area called Mary Bay. There is a small thermal feature there, but it was creating an exceptional amount of steam this day. We drove through it and it was like a scene of Steven King's The Mist. Luckily, I knew that the road was straight, so I just had faith and kept going. Erika said it was good I didn't stop because she wouldn't have seen me until it was too late. Matt (my supervisor) invited us over to his place to watch a movie so we went and hung out there for a bit. We watched Raising Arizona. I didn't realize that I hadn't seen that movie from the beginning, just bits and pieces on TV. Its such a funny movie. My favorite quote from it is "Boy, you got a panty on your head."

After Matt's house Erika and I picked up Bridger, the australian shepherd/lab mix that I am dogsitting for a week. She's a cutie and reminds me of bean. She jumps up and down when she sees you and just loves to run. Makes me miss the puppies back home. She put herself to bed tonight, got tired of waiting for me, I suppose.

Erika hung out with me at the hut today (despite the fact it was her day off) which was great because it was SO SLOW! I only had 13 people all day. I really hope things pick up tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now, I suppose.

Julia

Fri, Jan 11th

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:10:43 GMT

Today was quite the wildlife day for me. The hut was unbelievably boring (total of 20 people all day - three groups, two at about 2:30). I decided to go outside and make a snowman to pass the time...what a disappointment. I mentioned before that the snow is very light, dry, and fluffly. This is awsome for shoveling, but you can't do anything with it. I spent about ten minutes packing snow, and snow, and snow just to get a weak "ball" about the size of my fist. I took about 30 seconds to try and roll it on the ground to pick up more snow and start the base for my snowman, but ended up chucking it against the side of the warming hut in frustration, storming back inside.

A little while later I decided to do some shoveling and work out my frustration with the snow. There was a path started behind the warming hut and I thought I would improve on it. I even took the time to make sure the snow-walls of the walkway were nice and even. As I was shoveling I paused and looked behind me and BAM!!! Coyote, 30 feet away, not even caring about me. It would look at me, then start sniffing around the parking lot of the hut for food. My presence didn't bother him, but the flag blowing in the wind did. It would make him startle everytime. I debated for a while, whether I should chase him off or not. On the one hand, he wasn't bothering me. There is the risk of him getting habituated, but then again, if he's already this close and doesn't care, then its probably too late. I kept shoveling as I pondered my dilemma. I eventually decided, since its yellowstone and there are a lot of people and I don't want to coyote thinking he can get an easy meal in the parking lot, that I should chase him off. I had this brilliant idea. IF I chase the coyote off, he'll just come back when I'm not there, but if the coyote were mysteriously hit with something, then maybe it would think that parking lot = getting hit (this is one way I've heard of keeping cats from jumping up on the counter or table- spray them with a squirt gun, but don't let them see its you doing it). Hrmm...what to throw at the the coyote without hurting it??? I know! A snowball! So I work work work to get this tiny ass, wimpy, pathetic ball of snow in my hand. I go to throw it and it lands about 6feet in front of the coyote (it was too light it wouldn't go very far). So the coyote pops his head up and goes to investigate thinking I threw it food or something! I was so annoyed at the snow. Good thing I'll never have to make an emergency snowball....

I grumbled and got back to shoveling. My mind takes over again and decide that I should really chase to coyote away. I turn back to it and watch it dig in the snow for a little while. They really are quite beautiful. Despite this, I pick up my shovel and start marching towards the coyote. At first it just glances at me, but then notices that I'm getting steadily closer ( I got about 20 ft away before it decided to move). Does it run away? Or course not. He just starts moving back a little, slinking. I walk closer, same thing. I eventually get him to turn and start walking down the road. Satisfied, I go back to shoveling...what does the little F-er do? Comes right back to the lot and starts digging!! We play this game a couple more times. He ended up winning. I finished my shoveling and went back inside. When he was done munching on whatever food someone left in the parking lot, he continued on his way.

On my way home from work I also saw something very interesting. I have to drive over a brdige (fishing bridge) that crosses over the yellowstone river. I like to stop because there is almost always some sort or wildlife, be it goldeneyes, swans, coyotes, or bison. Today there were four coyotes on the ice and they looked to be almost stalking something in the water. It was a bit of a distance away, so I couldn't see it clearly, and assumed it was a goldeneye. I decided to watch for a little while. As it got close to one edge of the ice the coyote took a swipe at it, but missed. I watched the little black "goldeneye" as it quickly hurried away and I wondered why it didn't fly off. Suddenly, the "goldeneye" was on the ice and I thought "what a stupid bird" the coyote lunged again and it was quickly back in the water. "Odd," I thought, for a goldeneye to do that to a coyote (it seemed as though it was on purpose) then it dawned on me. I was looking at a river otter and there I was without my binoculars! I watched for a few more moments then VROOOOOOOOM! Away I went on my sled back to the warming hut to get my binos. I came back and the otter was still there, but the coyotes had lost interest. One of the coyotes was digging in the snow where they bison had been a few days before. He dug so deep that all I could see was his cute, fluffy tail sticking out. I wished I had a powerful camera to capture the image. A little while later a second otter appeared. One of the coyotes followed it around a bit, but eventually lost interest in this one, too. The otters met on a patch of ice and rolled around in that typical otter fashion. It was so cool to see.

I have been waiting to see an otter here for quite a while and I got to see two today. Now all I need to see is a pine marten and a moose and my yellowstone animal list will be complete!

Thurs, Dec 10th

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:09:41 GMT

Guess what?!? I have officially been here one month today! How exciting. Only two more months to go. It is going to fly by so fast.

I've been reading about the history of the Lake area here at yellowstone. There have been many quotes that have described the beauty, size, and shape of Yellowstone Lake for which the area is names after. This is the one that I really got a kick out of. Basically, the lake is supposed to look like a hand (hence a warming hut at West thumb - west part of the lake and the "thumb" part of the hand). One description from 1870 quotes
"Its shape resembles the broad hand of an honest German who has had his forefinger and the two adjoining shot off at the second joint, while fighting for glory and Emperor William..."

But wait, it gets better. A few years later, Professor R.W. Raymond described the lake's resemblance to a deformed human hand as follows:
"The hand in question is afflicted with elephantiasis in the thumb, dropsy in the little finger, hornet bites on the third finger, and the stages of starvation in the other two."

Now, doesn't that sound pleasant? If you wanted to know what yellowstone lake looked like, that paints a pretty good picture. Trust me, its much more beautiful in real life.

peace

Wed, Jan 9th

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:51:55 GMT

Hey hey hey,

Its been FOUR DAYS! since I made my last post. Just because its been a while doesn't mean that nothing's been going on. There's always something going on here at yellowstone.

On monday I made my first trip to Mammoth (50 miles one way) all by myself. I had a nice ride on the way there (even though there was only one lane b/c of the snowfall we had had and I had to kinda of swerve a little to avoid people, but they had to do the same because of me). I picked up some milk at the general store, and a cheeseburger for lunch and also spoiled myself by buying a little gift for yours truely. They have a little build-a-bear station at the general store (surprisingly, its cheeper than the actual store in the mall - the general story is really overpriced on some things) and I've always wanted to get one, so I did. All the animal "skins" were animals that could be found in yellowstone - grizzly bear (with claws!) black bear, wolf, bison, beaver, and moose (so if anyone wants one, let me know I'll get one for you). I had to go with the bison and I named him Tatanka (or Totanka), which means, buffalo. At the Lakota neepi I went to last january with josh they sung a song about tatanka. It was very cool. Don't you worry, I posted a picture of him on facebook.

As I was driving my car (you have no idea how much I miss just driving my car and listening to music) I had to slam on the breaks because I almost hit the worlds fastest land mammal - a pronghorn! There was me, without my camera, as three pronghorn skuttled across the road.
It is so interesting. When I was clearing the snow off my car and emense weight was lifted off my shoulders. Traveling around on a snowmobile is fun, don't get me wrong, and quite the experience, but you have to wear lots of layers (and not sweat before you get outside), wear your snowmobile suit over top of it, wear your radio (and check in with people in most situations), carry everything to your sled, bungie everything on your sled, check the fluids in your machine every day, put your helmet on, fasten your helmet, keep the visor from fogging up, and finally you can go, but then you have to take everything off and then put it back on again later - most likely, you're going to be cold anyway. It is quite the hassle. With my car, no gear, no checking in, just get in and go. Its amazing the feeling of freedom I have and everyone who lives in the interior has felt this. I've been told they count down the days until the plows come to "free" them. Its like waiting for santa.. "I hear the plows are coming in a week", "I think I hear the plows, do you?" The plows come and everyone goes to get there car. They even have a car available to shuttle people to their vehicles.

On my way home, something rather tragic happened. I cute little, fuzzy red squirrel decided that since I was almost to where he was standing, vrooming along at 45mph on my sled, it would be a good time to cross the road. The only sound was me screaming in my helmet hopelessly watching as he ran right infront of my sled (by the way - you can't swerve on a sled and if you slam on the breaks, specially at that speed, at the very least you will fishtail like crazy). He rolled just to the right of my left ski. If he was lucky, my tread might have missed him as well. I tried to find a body, but couldn't. Either he got barried with snow, launched out from under my sled, or maybe he survived. Don't know, but either way, it was HORRIBLE! I'm a killer of red squirrels (And a feeder of ravens!). Matt has forbidden me to get too close to the red squirrel that hangs out by the hut.

Lastly, I have very exciting news, which is probably mostly exciting to me, but others may find joy in it. After owning the workbook for a couple years and slowly making flashcards, I finally got down to business and learned Hirigana from my japanese workbook! That's right, I can look at hirigana and translate it into romanji (our letters). I barely know what I am writing because I don't speak japanese, but, hey, you have to start somewhere. So GO ME! I can write in it, as well. I'm very proud of myself for learning. I have all the time in the world to learn, though, when only THREE GROUPS :( show up at the warming hut ALL day. I was in the hut from 8:30 to 4pm today and the only time people were in the hut was from about 1 - 2:30. We only need so much kindling.

Alright everyone, until next time...

Julia

Sat. Dec 5th

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:19:18 GMT

crazy day...
we had snow last night and there was about a foot on the ground when I left for the hut. Let me tell you, it is a whole new new ballgame driving in that much snow with my sled...wooh! I was glad I only had a little way to go to the hut. The south entrance of the park didn't open until at least 10 am this morning so I didn't see as many groups and it was fairly slow. I did have a lot of shoveling to do this morning, though, which kept me occupied. The snow here is so nice! Even with a foot of snow it was all light and fluffy and so easy to shovel. It wasn't tiring at all, not like our heavy wet snow back home. I really enjoyed the snow today.

Two coyotes walked by the hut today, about an hour apart. I think they were so close because they were walking in my snowmobile track. Its a lot easier than trying to walk through the deep snow.

Erika told me a very funny/creep thing today. She met one of the people that live near her at canyon (I wont mention his nickname) and she asked how he was doing and he looked at her and replied "I feel like a bull elk in rut". HAHAHAHAHA! I can't believe he actually said that to her...she was so creeped out, I think it was the funniest thing she's ever told me. She went to leave and he actually said she should come over for dinner sometime.....oh man...that poor girl. Cracks me up. This was the first time that they had met. He's obviously not a very subtle person. I told Erika that when we go to Jackson, she should use that line in a bar. Although, now that I think about it, I don't think she could use it while I was within earshot...I'd just start cracking up and it would ruin it.

Fri, Jan 4th

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:39:21 GMT

It got up to 30 degrees today! It was so warm. It may even get above freezing this week.

There was a total asshole today at the hut. It was just a guide, his dick visitor, and me in the hut. As they walked in I said my cheerful "Hi! How's it going today." The guide smiled at me and said great...the visitor (henceforth known as "ass") barely even looked at me, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he didn't hear me. NOPE! The guide and I were chatting, like we do. I was asking about what they had seen, how mice it was today, etc. etc. Ass didn't even look in my direction. The guide was as nice as you please and were were exchanging wildlife stories...no response from ass when I was talking, but he enjoyed the guide's stories. Finally ass decided to talk, never even looked at me. One time I thought he was actually turning in my direction to include me in the conversation, but was just scratching his neck. Maybe I'm too tainted, but I think this guy was a sexist pig. It really sucks when people don't even act like you are in the room.

Gray Jay was hanging out again today at the hut. Didn't see red squirrel, though.

Wed. Jan, 2nd - 2008

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:42:17 GMT

Temp: -4 - 18

So yesterday was an amazing day. The sun was out and it was beautiful. My neighbors have two border collies (Dyno, 5yrs, and Bivy, 5months) and asked me to walk them. That was fun. Then I got to play catch with Dyno for about a half hour. Around 3pm I got sick of being inside (b/c it was so nice out) and decided to take a trip up to Lake Butte. This is an area that is high up and gives you a full vantage point of the lake. It was spectacular. On top of the beautiful scenery, I saw a fox up there when I pulled in.

When I returned to my apartment the rangers who own the collies invited me over for dinner. Bivy is my new best friend...she just climbs all over me. She's so freaking cute. Turns out, the rangers know the people who own the kennel in alaska that hosts the SCA internship that I applied for. I think that is going to work out in my favor. After dinner we watched an episode of "planet earth," the really cool program that aired on animal planet a few months ago. We watched an episode on caves. The cinemotography is really well done. Apparently, the camera crew had to spend a month living in a cave full of bat guano. It was pretty gross.

Today was spectacular as well. I met Maura (one of the rangers from above) and she took me up sylvan pass today and out the East Entrance to the park. On my way to fisihing bridge I could see the mountains (I didn't even know they were there until yesterday) in the distance and the sky was a hot pink because the sun was rising. It took my breath away. On the way to the pass we climbed a bit in elevation and, because it was so clear, we could actually see the grand tetons. There was a pink hew behind them, as well.

Sylvan pass is really tricky because it is prime avalanche real-estate. Yesterday, they had to use a helicopter to drop explosives to set off an avalanche. I saw the debris from it. The snow isn't a happy, light powder that falls down, these were chunks of snow that took out trees in its wake. The crown (where the snow broke from other snow) was estimated to be about 15 ft. high. There was even rock and soil that came down the the avalanche. It was pretty crazy. Sometimes a howetzer is used to set of the avalanche. I got to see that today, as well.

I may have picked up a babysiting gig. The father of the 4yr. that was at the warming hut with me lives in the park and shovels off rooves. He asked if I was ever available to babysit. This means EXTRA MONEY FOR ME! Woot! Didn't realize I'd get to be able to do any moonlighting while I was here.

I got to ride on the back of marua's sled for the duration of the trip. Its kind of neat looking at your reflection on the back of someone's helmet as the world seems to pass by. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera today so I'm going to consider this a memory that I get to keep all to myself.

Tues, Jan. 1st

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:37:25 GMT

I just have one thing to say about this day:

I am absolutely, positively, 100 percent without a doubt, so unbelievably lucky to be here at yellowstone.

Happy 2008!

New Years eve!

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:14:05 GMT

This was an exceptional day.

I left for canyon around 9am. This was the first time that I drove to canyon on my sled all by myself.   I ran into a herd of bison, but all went smoothly. It is really kind of nerve racking when they start to walk past you, but then turn to face you at the last minute...they just stare at you and you are right at eye level with their eye...its hard to remain calm.

I picked Erika up and we headed on down the rockies to the town of gardner. We ran into some more bison, but we managed to get through them. There was one group that was pinned between us and a snow coach, another bison that was walking down the middle of the road and didn't want to move over for us, and a third group that was moving along the same direction we were on the road, so they got nervous we were behind them, but we eventually made it through.

We got to mammoth and unbaried my car. Along the way we saw wolf tracks. It was really cool. My car started like a dream and we headed out, but the weirdest thing happened. I was driving a car!! You have no idea what its like to not drive, ride in, or even see a car for two weeks and then drive one after driving snowmobiles. I almost got dizzy/car sick at one point and I was driving!! I was lower to the ground in my car and it was such a different feeling. So weird.

After running some errands in mammoth, Erika and I continued on our way to Gardner (just five miles from mammoth.). We went to this place called the K-Bar and had pizza for lunch. Man, I have never been so high on life. I was amazed at how happy I was to order pizza in an actual town. The pizza itself was nothing spectacular, but while I was eating it it was the best ever! We just sat there giggling almost the entire time.

After eating we went shopping at "Food Farm" for some minor things (fresh milk!!! It tastes divine!), but then we had to head back to mammoth and get back on the sled. Its 50 miles to canyon from mammoth. Making really good time it took us an hour. We didn't really hit any bison and the road was pretty smooth (it had just been groomed). However, it can always take a lot longer. I dropped her off and then headed on my way. I got to drive through hayden valley when the sun was beginning to set, it was so amazing. We also saw two bald eagles on our trip today. I got home and settled by around 5:30.  Erika and I are really excited because we are planning on going to Jackson Hole in three weeks.

I also got Josie back. Josie is what I named my sled. I named her that because she is an Arctic Cat model and the only "cat" thing I could think of was Josie and the pussy cats...so my sled is named Josie and she is the GREATEST sled ever. I was driving canyon's sled back and when I was slowly working my way through bison the engine would keep stalling. Josie would never do that.

All in all it was not a bad way to spend new years. As for a celebration, I think i'll be lucky if I can manage to stay awake until midnight! We'll see, though, we'll see. I hope all of you have a splendid new years eve!

Sunday, Dec. 30th

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:40:54 GMT

It was pretty warm today, never reached 20, but it was at least 10 when I got to the hut this morning.

Yesterday I showshoed to work and it was great, except that now I have a GIGANTIC blister on the bottom of my foot...and I still had to walk home. It hurts to even think about.

The past two days have been a little slower. However, I did meet a new guide...his name is Bob. Bob is....well....he's quite the character. Almost everything out of his mouth is a lie, but he does it on purpose to be funny. He told me yesterday that he went to school at MIT to be an aeronautical engineer, but got board so became a guide. Let me tell you, this is guy was born and raised in wyoming...are you picturing the stereotype? Good. That's bob. He's funny though, especially b/c his group sees right through him and give him a hard time about it. Today he told people that I was the fire burning champ in New York, and that I've won medals, so that's why they hired me for the warming hut here in yellowstone. I looked at one of the visitors in his group and said "there's a reason his eyes are brown..." Makes the day, fun, though. A guide harassed me today because I told him I was excited to be going into civilization tomorrow. "Oh yeah," he said, "where're you going?" "Gardner," I replied. He just looked at me and laughed. Going to garder is like going to hannibal...there just aint much there. Erika and I looking forward to a piece of pizza, although, I have been warned by a ranger from Jersey that this is the west and you can't find a good slice of pizza like you can back east. However, standards tend to drop when you are an "interior" and you never get to have pizza. Its amazing the simple things that are so wonderful when you don't have them.

I hung out with a 4 year old yesterday. Her dad works in the park and she was visiting him. He had to pack stuff on the sled, so she hung out with me for a little while. She was really cute. I asked her if Jackson was a nice city and she said there is a great playground there and a super swim center that is open all year round. It was fun, and I got to sing my beaver song. For those of you that don't know it, ask me really nice next time you see me and I may sing it, although, I usually save it for people ages 8 and under.

I got to "rescue" someone today. One of our LE (law enforcement rangers) likes to give me a hard time about stuff (in a nice way), but today, I got to get him back because he drove his snowmobile right off the road. And who came driving by? Why little old me...I got to drive his ass back to the village so he could get someone to help tow his sled out....ahh, revenge can be sweet sometimes.

I had a pretty nice wildlife sighting today. There were bison on fishing bridge. A group of them walked right by the hut (I'll post pictures on facebook) and it was especially nice because there were people in the hut with me so they got to see as well. It gve me the opportunity to do some interpretation! Woo hoo!

Today was the first day I didn't want to be stuck in the hut because it was soooo beautiful outside. The sun was shinning so bright. I wanted to drive to all of the scenic points (becasue I could actually see the horizon, instead of white) or go for a snowshoe walk just so I could be outside. Towards the end of the day, though, it started snowing again. I think this was the second super sunny day in my three weeks of being here.

oh, I almost forgot, I heard a joke yesterday from a guide. What did the mother buffalo say when her calf walked away? Bye-son. HAHA, great, isn't it? Thousands of miles away, but you still can't escape my cheesy jokes.

Have a happy new year!

Friday, Dec. 28

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 03:35:47 GMT

Temp: 0 - 16
Ah...another day in yellowstone.

Worked at the warming hut again today. We have to chop our own kindling (its actually one of my favorite things to do) from our wood stash at the hut. Some pieces are actually easier to cut than others. For example, pieces of wood that had a branch growing out of them at one time generally don't split as well. Matt had a stack of great pieces to split set up in front of the hut. This morning, when the first group came in, one of the guys in the group grabbed a bunch of wood from that pile and brought it in for me. Don't get me wrong, that was really nice of him, but I then had to pick it out from the stacked wood inside and bring it back outside after he left. I jokingly mentioned to him that it was our to-become-kindling pile and he looked at me and said "well you better grab that axe and start chopping, hun..." He was one of those guys that give you a hard time about everything, he was nice, though a bit trying at times.

Those of you that really know me know that I am such a typical "country girl" and like my space. People who NEVER break eye contact and who are "close talkers" really make my uncomfortable. I slowly back away from them when I can...even though they always seem to follow me to keep the distance close. Well, I have another pet peve. My name tag that SCA sent me (which broke a week ago, I've had to doctor it) reads:
Julia Preston-Fulton
ontario, NY

Now, my name is one thing, ok fine, but the fact that they put where I live, and in such small lettering, drives me crazy. Not that I'm embarrased, heaven's no! I enjoy talking about where I am from, but people walk up to me and try to read it, but its usually middle-aged to older people that try to read it and apparently, they can't see....so they get as close as they can...I had a guy 5 inches from my chest today!!! Not a fan of that at all. Its so weird when people are trying to read your name tage, that's attached to your chest/shoulder area and then put their finger on your name tag to try and follow along while they read! ITS RIDICULOUS! I have to back up all the time and just tell them b/c it makes me so uncomfortable. I HATE IT. And its winter, so they usually have snot dripping off their face or something, its so gross!

We have a raven that has made the parking lot a regular stop. For the past three days now I have seen it and its at about the same time. I'm waiting for it to come earlier and see all the sleds in the lot (usually it comes after people leave)...then it will really have a field day. Today it took some toilet paper that someone had apparently dropped outside of the vaulted toilets (porter potties on stilts). On the brighter side, I really enjoy watching it. We also have a red squirrel that I see almost every day. We had an added bonus today because there was a pair of gray jays around the hut and also a male and female Pine Grosbeak fed on a tree right outside the window and I got to point them out to visitors.

Tomorrow, I have resolved to wake up early and snowshoe to work. This is in part because canyon has two broken sleds, so they took mine today. Matt said I could take his sled, but I think it'll be good for me to walk, especially considering all the chocolate people feed me at the hut. Today I got juice, chips, an apple, and a cute guide gave me a homemade chocolate chip cookie (is that courtship in the back country?). That's practically and entire lunch.

One last thing for tonight. I seem to be adapting a southern drawl...Many of the people that come to the hut have an accent. Whenever I mention something someone said or tease someone it comes out with a bit of a twang! Can you believe it? I pick things up so easily. I have to concentrate sometimes to sound like myself. It really slipped out today. So weird. I wonder if people notice it.

Thurs, Dec. 27th

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:05:31 GMT

Temp. -7 - 14

Oh man, I had 40 people in the hut today at the same time and they were all eating lunch. To put things in perspective, about 10-13 people can eat comfprtably in there. Its a little tight with 20. Just when I thought no one else could fit I would look out the window and another group of snowmobiles would be pulling in.

It was cold today. About zero when I got to the hut, but then it warmed up a little. Its nice where I am because we are surrounded by trees and that gives us a break from the wind coming off the lake.

We have an area that is sometimes closed due to avalanche risk. I met with one of the rangers today and she offered to take me out to the pass and give me the "tour" so I will get a better understanding of how they assess the conditions. I'm super excited about it. I drove out that way a little ways, but that was to get to a good lookout to see if the lake had frozen over (we need to determine it for records sake).

I'm getting much better at chopping kindling.

Christmas at Yellowstone!

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:56:33 GMT

Temp: 4 - 18 degrees F
Did you have a good christmas?

Mine was really nice. It would have been nice to have been with my family, but I'm not the sort of person to sit around missing people. I'd rather being doing something when I miss people. Besides, I got to speak with them on the phone. I little while after I got off the phone with my family I happened to look up out my window and a coyote was walking right by. It was sooo cool!

Erika, the SCA at Canyon, came down and we went snowshoeing. Our goal was to walk up elephant back. Unfortunately, we had to break trail the whole way. When we finally got to the actual trail head we took a few steps and found we were sinking up to our knees (so much powder!). We decided that elephant back wasn't for us today (we would rather turn around then have to be rescued becasue we couldn't make it down). I decided to take her to the warming hut, this way should could help me break trail.

We were walking along and managed to finish breaking trail through the field that I had started the other day, which was nice, but we took a detour and climbed to the crest of the hill to get a good view of Yellowstone Lake and the mountains behind it. We finally finished the field and got to the fishing bridge. There were a lot of swans (tundra and possible trumpter) goldeneyes and even some buffle heads. It was at this time we looked at the time. We had left my apartment at 1:30 - it was now 4. Matt was hosting a party at 6 that we wanted to get back for and it is also pretty dark by five, which means its a lot colder. We turned around at the bridge and came home, never making it to our second destination.

Matt's christmas party was fun. There was soooo much food. I want to list it because I want everyone to be impressed at the food I ate (especially those who know me and my pickyness). We had spinach balls that had onions in them (deeeelish), sesame seed chips, ham, and chilli. The chilli was good, but it was soo spicy, I was sweating. I also had Grog for the first time which is like a malt wine with spices. It was pretty good, too. The party didn't last too long because almost everyone there had to ride their sled home, so I was home by ten. It was nice to have everyone together and joking. Erika and I got harassed for not breaking trail at elephant back, I even more so after erika left. I also got harassed because people happened to notice the case of Ramen noodles that I had brought in. NEVER living that one down. Here's the best part. One of our law enforcement officers mentioned he has a sewing machine that he never learned to use.   I am thrilled at using a sewing maching. He is going to let me use it if I teach him how to use it, along with a maintenance guy (who has already asked me to hem pants) and possibly another person. How crazy is that? I'm going to teach three guys how to use a sewing machine......only in the backcountry at wintertime....

Today was a crazy day at the hut. There were three accidents (two visitors tipping there sleds and another visiter driving his sled into another persons) and a lot of people. The red squirrel came back for a visit and also a raven. They are so big! One flew over head and it had such a big wing span Ididn't know what it was at first. Jeff (the SCA at grant) left his bag here last night, so he came to pick it up and he came for dinner. I was told by visitors to harasse him because he doesn't make a warm enough fire in his hut. One of the guides also brought me a newspaper from jackson hole and I got a list of events going on at old faithful. I think one of my favorite things is when people ask me where I live and then watching their reaction when I tell them I live here. "No cell phone?" they say, or "what do you do for fun?"  I even chuckled today when I saw girls come in to get warm from sledding and they pulled out makeup and started fixed their faces. Can you actually believe that?

Bonus x-mas eve entry

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 04:47:54 GMT

This entry is just to express my frustration and to possibly give people something to laugh about...and its ok, you can laugh at me...I'd laugh at me.

My toenail on my big toe of my right foot has been slowly falling off. The past few weeks its been hanging on by a little corner, but hanging on none the less. The other day at the warming hut, I had taken my socks off to dry them out. As I was putting them on my hand accidentally caught my toenail and almost ripped it off. I cannot express in words the pain. I was lucky there was no one in the warming hut when it happened. My eyes were watering and my toe was bleeding...worst of all, the damn toenail was still attached! Oh my gosh it hurt so bad. I tenderly put a bandaid on it to attempt to stop the bleeding and prevent any more injury.

Fast forward to 10 minutes ago (around 9:10pm). I decided that I should "take it like a man" and just rip my toenail the rest of the way off. I had been considering this for the entire day. I knew it would take me a while to build up to it and I kept accidentally catching it on things sending shooting pain up my foot. I thought I should just get it over with instead of suffering until it fell off naturally or I caught it on something else. This way, I would be sure to get it all the way off.

I started analyzing my toenail. I gently tugged in all directions to try and find the least painful way, if that was possible. I saw where it was attached and if I would pull anything else off (ie skin) along with the nail. Finally, I grabbed my nail and said "Ok, on the count of three...just like a bandaid. One....two...

"well, maybe I should look at it again...."

This happened two or three times. I thought I didn't have the right grip on my nail and it would slip from between my fingers before becoming fully detatched, or I was just wimping out. Then I realized if I had pulled it off the first time it would be all over by now. I looked at my toenail again. I thought I saw it attached to the re-growing nail. I took out my trusty leatherman and pulled out the biggest knife on it. Slowly, with hands of a surgan I started cutting the nails apart. Of course this caused some pulling and the corner of my nail started to bleed. "Alright" I said and put the knife down. "Its time, don't be a wimp...you're tough you can handle it."

I took my foot in my right hand, my toenail in my left, making sure I had a firm grip on it. I looked to my left and picked a spot that I would pull my hand back to, so as to make sure I would get the nail off completely and not have to repeat this agonizing process again.

I finally took a deep breath and pulled.

Nothing....no pain, no blood, just my toenail in my left hand...I was so pissed!!!! This was supposed to hurt and I was so meticulous about it. So now I need to vent because I couldn't swear at the pain of my nail. I can't believe it! Its not like I wanted the pain, you can see from what I wrote I was trying to avoid it as much as possible, but that was ridiculous. Just *boop* and that's it. No more nail. I felt cheated...all my planning and anticipation for nothing. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Christmas eve

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:40:23 GMT

Today was nice. I got to sleep in and I went for a snowshoe walk out to the warming hut to see how long it would take me to get there. It takes about two minutes by sled (snowmobile), but much longer by snowshoe. It took me about an hour to get there and it was a LONG hour.

First, I went the wrong way, so I had to turn around and start over again. To save time I decided to stick to the road part of the way. I stopped for about five minutes because I couple of Gray Jays were next to the road. One kept jumping down into a hole in the snow and came out with a nut or seed that it would quickly consume. I'm assuming it was a cache from earlier this year. They weren't afraid of me and I was able to get about 8 feet away. They didn't seem to mind, but they did make some interesting noises. I started following my supervisor's (matt) ski trail to the warming hut, but didn't want to mess it up so I walked next to it. I had to break trail across a field. With snowshoes I was still sinking almost up to my knees. It is incredible how much more work that is.

Unfortunately, I am really out of shape and walkin through snow on snowshoes with a bunch of snow gear on at an elevation of 8000 feet doesn't help. It got to a point where I had to stop every ten steps or so to catch my breath. If I wasn't ny myself, I might have been embarassed. For those of you that have never experienced this, one of the major thoughts in winter time is energy conservation. You think about it all the time and even if you aren't directly thinking about it it's somewhere in the back of your mind. Yes, I had snacks in my bag, and water, and my radio, and I was in an area that someone could find me relatively easily, but, damn it, I still had to go home after going to the warming hut! I wanted to be able to make it home on my own. I decided I would slowly work up to breaking trail all the way to the hut. I was already sweating too much (another bad thing in winter) so I gave up on breaking trail for the day and headed towards the road. So much easier. I made it to the hut and drank all of my water.

There was a red squirrel chitterig outside so matt and I watched it for a while. It was so cute! It had a white circle around its eye, like eye liner. It was looking for a cache near a tree. Finally he found it. Along with jumping from low branch to low branch it seemd he had tunnels, as well. He climbed down to the base of a tree and disappeared into the snow. He would pop up a few moments later at the base of another tree, but he wasn't covered in snow. I don't know if he made the tunnels, or if he was just using them. Either way, it was kind of neat.

Apparently, there was a wolf in the general area of the warming hut today. Matt said he saw two bison (a cow and her calf) running towards him on his sled this morning and later a ranger saw a wolf. He said the bison looked pretty freaked out and they were probably running towards him as some sort of protection from the wolf(ves) chasing them (wolves don't like people, generally, and avoid them). The wolves in our area (considered to be in Hayden Valley) are usually the mollies pack. Its an interesting area becasue there isn't any elk, so the wolves specialize in hunting bison. Its really impressive, not only because bison are considerably bigger, but the will actualy stand their ground and fight instead of just running. There used to be another pack (the Hayden Pack), but about a month or two ago the Mollies pack killed the two alpha wolves in the Hayden pack and took over their territory.

Yesterday I saw two coyotes on my way out of the warming hut. One was across the road and the other was near the bridge (fishing bridge). It was really beautiful because it was almost grey and I'd never seen a coyote that color before.

I stuck to the roads on the way home (I was already exhausted) and it took me about 25 minutes or so. I may start walking to the warming hut and save gas, instead of riding the sled.

Yellowstone Journal

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:49:11 GMT

Temp: 4 - 15 F
I started work as usual, arriving at the warming hut around 8:30 am. After starting the fire and opening the hut I decided to rove to Mud Volcano. As I arrived a coyote walked across the parking lot in front of me. It was about 50 yards away. It looked at me and sat down. I sat on my sled looking at it and decided to take some pictures. I took a picture of the coyote and also of some of the gysers at mud volcano. I returned my attention to the coyote. It was still sitting in the same spot just hanging out. I had to head back to the hut, so I started up my sled and started moving. At that same time the coyote stood up and started walking past me on the other side of the parking lot. It seemed that as I was waiting for it to move, it was waiting for me to move. Another theory that I heard today was that it was just waiting for food, which is a probable explanation. Either way it was a very interesting encounter.

Yesterday was a really amazing day as well. I went for a walk to the lake shore on my snowshoes. It had been snowing for days, but today it had stopped and the sun was shining in that fashion it tends to shine in after a storm. On my way out to the lake a heard coyotes howling. There was one howl coming from somewhere around the lake and the other howl was from behing me a ways away from the lake, but it was a group. More than one coyote could be heard. A few moments later I broke out of the trees and saw the marvelous yellowstone lake before me. It was half frozen with ice. The other half was reflecting the sun's light with its shimmering waters. In the background were some of the rocky mountains. Beautiful. Later, at the hut, a girl who was training to be a guide asked me questions about working at yellowstone.
"Are you in here [the warming hut] all day?"
"Yep," I replied.
"All by yourself?" She looked a little shocked.
"Yes," I said, "but there are other people near me where I live."
"Wow, seems boring." She said, still in shock.
"Not really," I replied, "this morning I went for a beautiful snowshow walk out to the shore of the lake. It was really nice."
"Sounds...lonely" she replied. And as she left, I couldn't help feeling sorry for her because she didn't understand how wonderful it is too walk alone in a place such as this. I was also disappointed becasue she was supposed to be a guide that will bring groups of people into the park on snowmobiles and show them around. I would be disappointed to be in her group if should couldn't understand why I enjoyed it here so much. Unfortunate.