Canyon - hiking the North Rim

After work adventures!

Driving around Yellowstone is the best. This was the mode of transportation chosen for today:

*This is Paolo's truck - her name is Chelsea. Chelsea is messy but fun to drive around in. She can hit every pothole and still be okay.

Paolo and I went to "The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park". It's pretty sweet and just like most beautiful things, pictures do not do it justice. It's a Canyon that's that up to 900 feet deep, half a mile wide and 24 miles long. YES, 24 miles long! - Take that "Grand Canyon of Arizona"!

This is the classy/cheezy picture (that does the real thing no justice) of the Grand Canyon.

Sometimes it can be really hard to pose for a picture (as seen above). I had no idea what to do with my legs. When I lifted up my legs for the middle photo, Paolo almost had a heart attack because he thought I was going to fall off (the other side is a huge drop and would result in sudden death). While Paolo was freaking out, I almost peed my pants.

O yeah, I forgot to mention. We were hiking. We hiked "North Rim Trail". So, when I almost peed my pants, I really almost peed my pants because there were no bathrooms around. The trail goes all along a steep cliff so there really wasn't anywhere in the woods I could go either. THEN, I found a place :)

Yes, that is a picture of where I peed. The snow was really deep. It has to be noted because it was my first outdoor pee of the season. Woop woop!

Oh yeah, going back to awkward posing. I caught Paolo awkwardly trying to get a better photo of the Canyon:

On the hike, we saw many pretty things. . .

. . . like a tiny cascading river and a rainbow.

Okay, now for the cheesy self portraits with the Canyon:

Gosh, I love that coat.

I really like this one. I didn't know what to do (kind of like the awkward legs from before) so I started waving my arms and hey! it worked!

I found these sunglasses in Paolo's car. He said I could have them. I said, "No, thanks. They give me a uni-brow".

I love this place so much. If ANY of you want to come visit, please please please feel welcome to. I have an air mattress that you can sleep on and I know all the best places to go. I would love to have you.

EDIT.

I almost forgot the most exciting part of my day! Marcus surprised visited Jessica and I! Marcus was a co-worker from my summer in 2008 at Old Faithful. He is really awesome and it was great to see him. He took a picture of us on his camera but I didn't get one. But here's a photo from 2008:

I love Yellowstone! Black Bear, Dragons Mouth, and Bison Carcass

I love Yellowstone! I love Yellowstone so much! Why you ask? Because this place is crazy! There are bears and bison and mud pots and crazy things everywhere you turn!

Anyways, today was average. It's strange how average includes seeing a black bear, boiling mud, and a bison carcass. I love average!

Paolo, Kate, Jesse and I went driving through Hayden Valley to the Mud Volcano. Yes, I was there yesterday. But it's so awesome! Here is a video of "The Dragons Mouth":

*You can't hear it real well on the video but this thing sounds like it's breathing. It's real deep and creepy and awesome.

Also, on the way we saw a black bear in a tree. It was my first black bear of the season! You can't see it real well in the photos but I was pretty close. It was curled up into a ball.

First photo - you can see the ears. Second photo - you can see the snout.

Back to Mud Volcano.... Here is the view when walking down back to the car. I love seeing the steam in the distance. Yellowstone is so magical.

Okay. WARNING!!! The next photos are graphic and not for the faint of heart. Jesse and Kate said they saw a bison carcass when walking. Paolo and I thought that sounded sweet so we had to see it. After some confusing directions we found it! It was nasty!

*Paolo is gross for touching it. Kate touched it too. They are both gross.

*You can see all its body parts laying around. Paolo is by the legs and there is a rib by Jesse.

Sorry, this blog post was so ADD. I'm in a bit of hurry - need to work in 7 minutes and I don't have pants on. Uh oh...

Bed Adventures, Snow Crazy, and The Mud Volcano

Oh, what a day! Work started with a mattress/bed frame adventure...

We have this room that we cram all the stuff we don't need into. It's packed - you can barely get the door open. Well, one of my residents informed me that his bed doesn't have legs (AKA his mattress is on the floor and he needs head boards). That is a problem. It was even a bigger problem when we realized that the head boards were all the way in the corner of the room we crammed too much stuff into.

It was crazy. I was making a sour puss face because I got a splinter. After much blood and sweat, we got the head boards and fixed the bed (which was also a feat of it's own).

Then it was dinner time. We have been getting a lot of snow the past couple days (yes, I know it's May 29). Despite how depressing it is people are making the best of it- making forts and having snow ball fights.

#1) Check out how high the snow is in the "tunnel" that we walk through to get the EDR (employee dining room).

#2) Look how skinny I look!

After dinner, Jessica and I ventured to Hayden valley. We ended up at "mud volcano". There's a bunch of spewing mud. It hisses and bubbles and it quite cool.

This is from one of the spewing cauldrons. It was mixing the mud and water into pretty spirals. You can't see it real well in the original so I "auto enhanced" it. It's pretty cool.

SPEWING water and tiny mud pots

I love this stuff. It's so crazy and bizarre. It's like I live on the moon or mars or something.

When I returned to the dorms people were having a good time so I joined them.

Please note the snow grizzly - also the dinosaur.

I thought this was real cute.

I found an alien.

Car Trouble

If you read yesterday, you know my car broke down after watching some grizzly bears for an hour. Well, it didn't really brake down - just my battery died. So, after dinner my friend Paolo and I drove out to jump it.

On our way we saw some internationals with a flat tire. So, we pulled over and helped them out. And by we, I mean Paolo. I took pictures.

Once Paolo fixed them all up, we drove to my car and I learned how to use jumper cables!

My honda is up and running and safely parked away from grizzly bears.

Tonight I had to lead a dorm meeting. We got about 40 new people that moved in today, so a lot of new faces. I gotta say I'm pretty pumped. Everybody seems really nice and cool. It's 9:56 pm - I better get to work (I work noise control from 10 pm to 2 am).

My First Day Off

Today was my first day off. I have been dying to go hiking since about 3 years ago. Since Canyon (where I live) just got 4 inches of snow, I decided to try Old Faithful (lower in elevation). I lived at Old Faithful in 2008 and my favorite hike in that area was Fern Cascades. It's actually a really lame hike but I liked it because it was a place I could go to be alone and think. So, today was I was really excited to hike it. Since I was by myself, I stopped at the Ranger's Station and ask if there had been any recent bear sightings in the Fern Cascades area. There hasn't been - so I was good to go. I set off all excited and nervous. . .

only to get to the trail and it looked like this:

Damn it!

Since I have been dying to hike, I tried it anyways. The first 10 feet weren't bad. There were lots of dead trees that I could climb on and if I avoided the really deep snow (over 5 ft) I would be okay. The snow was so compact that I was able to walk gracefully on top of it - until I fell in and was waist deep in snow.

I was pretty bummed so I walked over to Old Faithful to watch the infamous geyser go off.

Yeah. . . like Mt. Rushmore it was foggy. But unlike Mt. Rushmore, it was freezing and snowy. Gosh, I'm complaining a lot. I'm sorry (not really). I want me some sunshine!

Despite the absence of sunshine, driving through Yellowstone is one of my favorite things to do. Here is a mini collage:

Things to focus on (left to right):

Curvy roads, Bison jam, Snow higher than my car, Winter wonderland

THEN, a miracle happened!!!! SUNSHINE!!

It was beautiful. I smiled.

I got back to Canyon early so I decided to head out to Hayden Valley to search out some wildlife. I was successful and found a grizzly and two cubs.

I sat in my car for about an hour and just watched them. It was relaxing. . . . until my car wouldn't start. I killed the battery - oops. I hitched a ride back home and now my honda sits all alone with some grizzlies.*

It was a really good day off. Despite the snow, I still love Yellowstone. I am bummed that I can't go hiking but the snow will be gone soon. Besides, there is a lot of other things to do other than hike - like my job.

*Dear Mom, don't worry - the ride I hitched was with some other employees and my friend Paolo is going to help me jump it tomorrow.