Work Day 1 - check in to my dorm room

March 15, 2011

First off, I have to say, the Xanterra building, where they house Human Resources looks like a prison. PLEASE be aware, that this is NOT where I will be working!!!!

The check in process wasn't so bad. they just want to make sure you've got all your paperwork filled out, and take your mug shot. then we left for Mammoth to begin the check in process in the dorms. I got my own room, so far, until my roomie comes in in 10 days. I was able to get one of the rooms in the Aspen dorm, that has private baths shared by 2 rooms. HOWEVER, my friends Becca (never Becky) and Lindsay (yes spelled must like my girl) have this enormous room at Spruce. Like TWICE the size of my room. And they have more furniture!!!!!

I'm glad my roommate isn't here yet. It's giving me a chance to settle in, unpack and reorganize. My van is in total disarray, and I am having trouble finding some things.
I got my bed all comfy with a foam mattress topper, my little down throw, blankets and sheets from home. bedding is provided if you need it. It was recommended to bring your own. Other creature comforts from home include the Kuerig coffee maker (yum), bath mat, hangers, netbook and DVD player. no phone, no pool, no pets and no tv!!
One thing I'm enjoying about not having phone service is, I don't have to worry about it ringing when I'm in the bathroom, or in the shower. I mean NO PHONE SERVICE. My T-mobile phone doesn't work here in Mammoth, but all others seem to. so I just go down the road a ways near Gardiner and I get a signal.
I'm on the upper level, which is fine with me, since I live upstairs at home and it will keep me in shape. also, I don't have to listen to clomping feet about me. I like that.......
We had a short orientation meeting and then they let us go. They showed us around the office, and the work area is really nice. I'll be working in Reservations. For those of you who have EVER worked in a hotel, I will be booking rooms in 10 locations, some of which have cabins and rooms. It's a HUGE system. And surprisingly enough, the cabins are VERY affordable.
here's something quaint. Rooms only sleep 4 people. But you are welcome to bring bedding for a 5&6 person!!!!! in fact, it's encouraged!!!
Here's another "quaint" feature of the Yellowstone rooms. some of them have to use communal bathrooms!!!! That's the way they were built back in "the day", and remain to this day. Especially the ones at Old Faithful, where EVERYONE wants to stay. but there are many nice properties throughout the park, and since it's so big, it's nice to be able to sty in different areas.
the option of the cabins is a great way to enjoy the park!
I headed out to the Lamar again this afternoon for another fix.
more to follow

March 14th - Oh My! The 1st bear sighted in Yellowstone

Bald Eagle, Lamar Valley, Yellowstone
As you have already read, I was in the first group to spot the earliest bear on Monday.
what a thrill!!! what a beautiful bear. What a bunch of crappy pictures I got!!!!!! Dang!
forgive me, I'm still learning to use the camera. I hadn't figured in the snow in the foreground that the camera was going to auto focus on. Oh well. You get "the picture".
That morning started out with finding the Wuffies group at the Slough Creek campground turnout. they were watching the Lamar wolfpack on the hillside SE of the turnout, across the highway. the wolves quickly made their way over the hill so the gang packed up and headed down the valley. Such is the way of the Wolf Followers.
Let me give a little overview of this process:
Someone spots something and pulls over. Others see this, and pull over as well. In the case of the Wolf Watchers, we have athe benefit sometimes of spotting the Wolf Project people who have antenna with which to track to radio collared wolves. that's how they know where to look.
Folks pull in and start setting up spotting scopes, cameras and use their binoculars to "glass" the area to find the animals.
We then set up on in another turnout to watch the Lamar's up on the hillside on the east end of Jasper Bench. Another watcher spotted the Agate Pack on the south end of the bench. they were just lounging out in the gravel, sunning themselves. the Lamar pups (4) born last spring, were playing "king of the Mountain" on a large boulder, and romping in the snow. It seemed like just a family outing. they bedded down shortly and that's when a very nice man nmaed Doug, from Silver Gate Cabins, said, "have you seen the bear on the bison carcass, and do you want to go?" Uh HECK YEAH! LEAD THE WAY!!!
he also showed up were there were otters, MY FIRST SIGHTING, and there was a nice bald eagle overlooking the whole thing.
Of course you got the bear story. that's few posts down, so I won't repeat my excitement.
another night at the Super 8 and tomorrow I start work. (darn) pics to follow

The fun begins! I'm HERE Finally!!!!

"Tres Hombres" 3 Bighorn Sheep Rams

common goldeneyes

typical bison jam. they own the road....

one of the little ones as it passed by my car window

Sunday - March 13, 2011
Of course, I headed straight out to the Lamar Valley. I poked along, keeping my eye out for all those darned Foxes (the little animal variety) that everyone reports and I didn't see a darned one.
My first pull-out found me with Rick McIntyre and Laurie Lyman. (Rick sort of head up the wolf project as far as keeping count on a daily basis visually, as does Laurie, and she posts on the Yellowstonereports.com) They were scanning the area after Blacktail, before Tower, where you can see Hellroaring to the west in the distance (don't know the name of that area, will insert later). They said it had been slow day for wolves. She was very friendly and shared lots of knowledge about the wolf packs that I asked about. I have been keeping my own running list of the packs, numbers, colors and numbers to refer to so I don't sound completely ignorant when talking to the Wuffies. (I guess I one of those now) that is the term used by some on the Forums to describe those of us who are wolf fanatics. I'm actually a nut for all the animals but the wolves are kinda the celebrities in the park. I gotta give equal time to the Grizzly Bears who aren't out year round.......and then the Bison, who are equally as popular, if not plentiful. then there are the elk, the coyotes, otters, eagles, ermine, beaver, Pronghorn antelope, badger, cougar and so on.........

I got passed the buffalo institute and spotted some different looking "ducks", so I decided to get a [icture. they took off, but hunted them down and finally got a pretty good picture. these are called Common Goldeneyes

That day didn't produce any unusual viewings, but I got a nice shot of 3 Bighorn Sheep on the hillside just NW of "the hitching post" (last bathroom break turnout about 2/3 of the way into the valley) I call that shot "Tres Hombres".


I got lots of elk shots, saw whitetail deer on the way in, loads of Bison and then 2 coyotes down near the river. It was just plain good to be back in the Lamar Valley, even though it was almost completely white everywhere.
I was really surprised how nice the roads were. I expected to be driving on packed snow the whole time. the roads are the worst between Mammoth and tower, and then they clear up in the Lamar. I think it's because of the altitude and also there's more tree cover to keep the snow from melting.
I stayed at the Super 8 for 2 nights. Reports were that they had the best WiFi and I didn't want to miss my computer time. I bought that little netbook just for that reason.
I have found that I don't type very fast on it, so thank goodness there are computers for the employees to use.

Be patient, I'm still trying to figure out this upload on the pics feature. for some reason it won't let me insert right where I want them......

the journey

view of Yellowstone arch, North Entrance

where do I start? I seem to have already gotten ahead of myself......
I left Oregon on March 7th, bound for my cousin Lesly's in St. Maries Idaho. I had almost great weather the whole way....I made a stop at Cabela's for those last minute cold weather things..... in Post Falls, ID and then down to St. Maries. that's where I hit some snow. and then it snowed just about all the time I was at Lesly's. I found the snow enchanting. Had a couple days there and then went on to Kalispell MT to visit Holly & friends there and see Glacier Nat'l Park. mostly, again, it was cloudy/snowy so I finally made it up there on Friday afternoon. I didn't see much. In fact, I didn't see a Glacier....wasn't that the point of it all????

trumpeter swan, with tag
Saturday morning I was up and gone early, and made my way to Helena, MT to visit my friend Robie. I saw many frozen lakes and 2 trumpeter swans that were tagged.
Robie hosted me at her home and took me to several thrift stores to find a pair of ice skates. She also took me to the St Helena Cathedral. A beautiful church, filled with stained glass windows.

I left there headed for Yellowstone, Sunday Morning, March 13th. got down to I-90 through Bozeman to Livingston, and headed south from there to the park.
the van ran great the whole way. No problems. the old gal (the van not me, but I can hold my own) handled well.

on to Yellowstone

BEAR MONDAY-first of the season!!

Sorry, this is out of order, yes, I'm already in Yellowstone and have yet to write about that adventure but I wanted to get this posted for all my friends at YNET. Im having trouble posting pics there for some reason. New camera........

anyway, spotted a Grizzly bear feeding on a bison carcass. Now before all you bison lovers get in a uproar, this was most likely one that died due to starvation. alot of that is going on in the park

We saw him at Round Prairie. that's between Soda Butte and Pebble Creek.

all the folks at Mammoth and the Yellowstone Assoc said it was the first sighting

Leaving Oregon tomorrow 6 am! YIKES

Hey gang, the van is all packed up. I look like I'm going on some sort of outdoor sports extravaganza!! 3 kinds of skis, snowshoes, bike, backpacks, sleeping bags (yes bags - different climates), Tripods, Spotting Scope, Canon Rebel XTI camera. You'd think I'm heading to the desert for all the water I'm taking.....I'm such a clean water nut. Last time I realized I hadn't brought enough water. I'm bringing all my bottles and then I'll be able to get them refilled with reverse osmosis somewhere.....I hope.

Oh, I guess I should mention the container of "Casual Business" attire that I also packed. That's for my JOB. Oh yeah, that.

Hey, while you're waiting for news and pics of my exciting adventure, check out this link. It's to a LIVE bald eagle nest!!! You can see the eagle sleeping on the next, and hopefully, see the "eaglets" when they hatch! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/decorah-eagles

It's not too late, so I feel pretty good about my departure. I'm leaving a couple hours early so in case I encounter snow on the roads to Idaho (most likely) that I won't be stressed out about getting there when my cousin Lesly gets off work. She lives in St. Maries Idaho, that's a hour S of Coeur d' Alene. the roads most of the way are good, but it's when I get close to her little town that they are calling for patches of ice.

I'll make my way along the Columbia River Gorge, which is a beautiful drive. Then I'll head N on 395 and pick up I-90. I'm going to make a stop in Post Falls at Cabela's......of course...just in case they have something else I need!!!! More Expedition weight long underwear! LOL

Ok, this part of the journey ends, and the next part is about to begin. I hope I can keep you entertained....
J

less than a week

Yes, I leave Oregon in less than a week to weave my way to Yellowstone. First I'm going to stop and see my cuz Lesly in ST Maries, ID. Then on to Montana to visit friends and then into Yellowstone a couple days early to acclimate to the altitude (7000+ ft) I have found in the past that I have a bit of a headache upon arriving. I chalked this up to driving like heck to get there, but upon close thought, I think it's the altitude. I got the same headache when I climbed Mauna Loa. When I got to 14,000 ft to camp at the summit, I was in a wired state the whole night, and couldn't sleep, even though I was exhausted. yep, altitude.

so, I'm going to get in a couple days early, so I will be in good shape when I check in on the 15th to report for work.....

My snowshoes arrived 2 days ago!!! I sure hope I get to use them for all the trouble it took me to research and buy them on EBAY. I hear that the snow is insane in Yellowstone right now. The grazing animals are really suffering. Which on the other hand has been good for the carnivores. The poor bison have tried to leave the park to get to lower elevations and they just get hazed back toward the park. Here's another interesting piece. They tried to relocate some bison out of the park. They drove them out, then tested them for brucellosis. the ones that tested negative, they drove out to another area, leaving half the heard behind. Well, Bison are family oriented. they didn't like that one bit. once they got to where the cowboys wanted them, they just turned around and went back. they even crossed a river to do it!!! It's been a crazy winter in Yellowstone, dealing with the bison.

I only hope I have warm enough socks and long underwear...........