What a Ride!!

On Tuesday we drove 2 hours to Big Sky, Montana and went whitewater rafting on the Gallatin River with 4 friends. It was totally awesome. We had a great guide and the weather was the best we had had in about 3 weeks. It was sunny and in the 70's. Of course, the water temperature was in the 40's but you are dressed really warm with a wetsuit, then a fleece jacket and then a rain jacket over that. We spent about 2 hours on the river. It was up to class 4 rapids and there was one stretch they call the mad mile(WOW!). On the drive up, we saw a Moose and her baby and we also saw a black bear just off the side of the road. We are still having a great time and will now be here until September 28.

I'm Exhausted

Well after a particularly busy week, what to you do to relax. You get together with friends in the Old Faithful Inn and drink wine until 10 PM and then get up the next morning and go on a 9 mile hike. I think every bone in my body hurts right now. Our friends actually hiked 13 miled but we drove to the trailhead and joined up with them. They are younger and in better shape. It was a great hike. The first 4 miles was up hill with an elevation gain of about 1500-2000 feet. This morning we are going to hike 4 miles to pick up our car and then Mary Ann and I both work from 2:30 - 10:30PM. I will be almost happy to go back to work. On our next weekend, we are going white water rafting with friends, Boy, it is a tough life

Another Great Weekend in Paradise

We had another great weekend. On Monday we hiked Mystic Falls again which is about a 2.7 mile loop trail. One of our hiking friends from last year was in town as he will be working the marina at Yellowstone Lake this year and he wanted to hike Mystic Falls. It had snowed on Sunday and closed most of the roads until Sunday afternoon but the weather was great for our hike. Yesterday we drove to the canyon area and hiked the south rim trail which has a little of everything. It is about 5 miles. We started out hiking across a big meadow which kind of felt like the sound of music. It continues on to clear lake crossing a thermal area with geyers and mud pots. After that it goes into the woods and then arriving at the rim of the canyon where you have a wonderful view of the canyon and the upper and lower falls. It then continues down to the river and finishes back at the picnic area where you started. A wonderful Hike. We hiked with our friend Stella who is the Assistant Manager at the Old Faithful Inn and Jim who works at Lake Yellowstone. After the hike, we drove to Rosevelt Lodge which is in the northeast part of the park where we participated in the Old West Cookout. Everyone who works the front desk at the hotels and lodges gets to go to the cookout for free so we can let our guests know how it is. You ride a covered wagon for about 30 minutes from Rosevelt to Pleasant valley where you have a meal of grilled steak, corn, potato salad, baked beans, corn bread, watermellon and peach cobler. They have a singing cowboy and it is quite fun. On the ride out there we saw bison and prong horn sheep. On the ride back to Old Faithful we came across a black bear that was grazing just down the hill from the road. There were about 15 cars stopped and was quite a traffic jam. We got some good pictures. After watching the bear for about 20 minutes, he decided to come up to the road and cross the street to go up the hill. The mass of people who had stopped split leaving a gap between them and the bear walked between the people and up the hill. Then when we thought our day could not get any better, we spotted a big black wolf just off the road between canyon and norris junction. It was too dark to get a good picture but it was really cool. We arrive back at Old Faithful at 10 PM. Today, Mary Ann and I both have to work from 2:30 to 10:30 PM. Thats all for now.

Just Pictures

We had a 3 day weekend so we drove the Beartooth Highway and have spent the last 2 days in Cody, Wy. We actually have good internet at the Holiday Inn so I thought I would download a few pictures.


Mary Ann & Carla - Mystic Falls Hike


Bison and Calves at Biscuit Basin



Our friends Rob, Maggie & Carla

Ron Looking at Yellowstone Lake 5/24

Mary Ann's Bear Sighting Outside of Mammoth Hot Springs

Mary Ann's Bear Sighting

Mary Ann at Trout Lake