Posted on

Sunday

It was good to be in church. Starting a new summer series on Psalms. Talked about the difference of the tree by water and chaff in the wind. The church park services have also started. The bulletin has a listing of all the park locations and times. Need to start making plans to go to some of these services in the park and support the youth that are looking to go into the ministry.

I needed to do some work, but it was just to nice of a day to be in the trailer. I went to Mt. Washburn. The hike was 8.7 miles total with an elevation gain of 2133 ft and ending at 10,219. At times it was full on sloth hiking.

The trail alternated between dry and snowy.

 

I can’t believe I am wearing short and walking on multiple feet of snow?

The tiny spec on the mountain top on the right side is where I am going.

My own personal Khumbu Icefalls.

The face of not knowing how high and how far I would be going over ice and snow.

 

And is was a long way….

Now they tell me I am not supposed to be riding my bike. A day late and a dollar short now that I rode it over all that ice and snow uphill for 2000 feet 🙂

This looks like what you get when taking a picture through glass, but no glass was between me and the sun. I really like the effect that was created.

And this monstrosity is the heart of the communications through the park. I really want to get rid of this and move to better communication technology.

Proof I made it to the top.

Check this critter out, getting overtime pay for working on Sunday. Not sure if it is a scruffy ground hog or a porcupine with short quills. Don’t think I want to upset it either way.

Well the ranger living hear has some amazing views and the one house smaller than mine. Right now the trailer is feeling a little spacious.

The view was amazing.

Looks like they are getting ready to do some snow removal.

On the way home I stopped multiple times to watch some bears. Total bear count is now 18.

This one was trying to look like a rock so I wouldn’t spot him.

Posted on

National Trails Day

For National Trails Day I hiked the south rim of the canyon. This is referred to as the grand canyon of Yellowstone.

The colors in the canyon were very cool looking. It reminded me of ice cream.

A majestic shot with the mountains in the background.

You could hear the water roaring.

Well I am leaving tourist land and going on a back country trail. The NPS want you to understand that you are now on your own.

I met a lady on the trail that told be she heard my bear bells and got really scared. She said that she was connecting the bear bell to bears and she though one was coming toward her. She then realized that the bell was to deter the bears, not that the bears had bells on. Good thing she didn’t use the bear spray on me.

Funny side story. A coworker was telling me that a tourist sprayed his kids with the bear spray because he thought it was a repellent like bug spray. Those kids are going to have trust issues for a long time.

The trail guide was correct in saying sudden and steep drops were near the trail and that small children should be watched at all times.

I didn’t know the Ricola horn was missing, but I found it pinned under a log in Yellowstone.

 

Is that a mushroom or an ear? I don’t think I want to know. Moving along….

The colors in the water were very neat. Almost fell in crossing this spot.

If you get vertigo from heights you should skip the next few pictures.

It was amazing being at this spot. This was the furthest point of my hike and while I started the trail with a couple of hundred fellow hikers. I was all alone at this point in the hike.

I really wanted to climb out onto that middle section of rock.

Well this could be a fun slide to do once. Well the fun would stop abruptly with that sudden stop at the bottom.

The terrain changed a lot on this hike.

This was a little freaky.

Bubble bubble toil and trouble.

I had a total of over 6 miles of hiking and I only saw two trail markers the entire time. As Janet said about the cross country skiing, it does seem like the NPS is trying to get you lost in the woods.

Do you feel like you have hiked 6 miles though this blog post?

Back at the house my neighbor had a fire pit going. We sat by the fire and made s’mores while listening to howling coyotes.

It was a good day.

Posted on

Going out to Canyon

It started out like a spring day.

The black dot behind the center tree is a black bear.

Hey wait, where did the spring day go.

I was sitting in a meeting trying to pay attention while it was snowing like crazy outside the window. I just kept thinking it is June 1st and I am seeing it snow.

The black dot left of the no parking sign is a black bear.

All totaled I saw three black bears and one grizzly bear. Was working so I didn’t have time to stop and chat with the bears.

Wrapped up the work day with a beautiful rainbow.