We are Here, We are Here, We are Here!!

Ok, so I stole that from 'Horton Hears A Who!' But we are so happy, it seemed quite appropriate. There's so much to tell and such little space :)


Our cabin has the green roof

The cabins look the same and even with a change of people thru the year, procedures remain constant so we walked in, unpacked and settled in within a few hours. We have a new cabin mate (Marie) this year until August 15 and then we may be alone until October 1. It's possible a new employee for Gardiner will stay with us for a few weeks in September but that is 'up in the air' for now.



Refresher course...there will be a test later on...


We work for Yellowstone Association. There are 4 cabins on 80 acres overlooking the Yellowstone River and the north end of Yellowstone.

This is the lake down along the road that comes up to the cabins.






We are assigned to live in the Caretaker Cabin and our duties are to provide support for groups and individuals that take a guided course through Yellowstone Association and decide to stay in the cabins for their lodging.

Here you see some mid day visitors to our campus... Big horn sheep.






There are 29 beds and 3 cabins we clean, do laundry for, greet the people as they come and go and tell them the campus rules about. This is our 4th year and we feel like this is our 2nd home except we don't have to pay the taxes or utilities.







Here is another panoramic shot taken on a short hike we did from the cabins. You are also seeing a lot of the vistas that we enjoy daily from our windows. Jealous yet?




Bob and I decided to challenge ourselves so we signed up for the "100 mile" hiking club. We have to hike 100 miles within the Yellowstone range system to qualify...in one year, or for us, in 2 months. So, at the end of each blog I will update our progress...for anyone that cares, ha!








Our first walk around Mammoth I saw this little guy running around under some cars. It's a Pica. The park service is keeping a close eye on these critters to see how different animals are adjusting to the climate change.








We are trying to acclimate quickly this year so we can enjoy some more difficult and longer hikes. This one is the Beaver Ponds hike. Our 4th time to take it. We've never seen any wildlife larger than a chipmunk or bird and never any beavers!  :)

Here's one of the ponds.







The wildflowers are almost all gone due to the dry hot summer. This shot shows how the butterflies and bugs are all sharing the few flowers available.








We had never seen this bird before. It's a male, Western Tanager. He was very colorful as he flitted from ground to tree and back again.



Miles hiked after this:  10