Hello once again from the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Since we have been here we have not been able to get a good picture of a bull Elk so I asked one of our friends (and also a volunteer here) for one of his pictures. The below photo is courtesy of Max Aldredge and is a beautiful example of the herd that is in the area. Thanks Max!
While we have been here our volunteer duties have been, shall I say, rather varied. To the left is some photos of the Miller House which is a historic attraction on the Refuge. Linda does interpretive tours there on a weekly basis as well as working at the area visitor center. I, as you can see, volunteered to do the dirty work. In this case cleaning out the basement of the Miller House which was filled with various forms of carcasses and feces of numerous rodents, which was sprayed with a bleach compound and then removed. Over forty 55 gallon trash bags full of fiberglass, rodent poop, carcasses and other unmentionables were carried off. And I thought doing breakneck downhill mountain biking was dangerous!
Here is the facility maintenance crew doing a roofing job on an old historic blacksmith shop. I wasn’t on the roof when Linda showed up with the camera but I did spend a lot of time up there complete with body harness. We put a new metal roof on the structure as well as plugging holes, installing heaters, fixing the doors and windows and cleaning the whole thing out. Exterior staining comes next!
Here I am again working on spray foam insulation on the Blacksmith Shop. I had never done spray foam insulation so this was a new adventure for me. I can’t say it was fun but it was really messy. Getting tired of the Bio Suits though!
I made the suggestion to make this old historic blacksmith shop into a winter time man cave complete with big screen TV, surround sound, beer/wine cooler, popcorn machine, bear rugs, Elk mounts and such. It has a huge picture window looking out on the Refuge so when the football games go bad you would just switch the direction of the lounge chairs and watch the Elk and Bison out the window. I even volunteered to do the work. I got shot down! Go figure.
There’s an old saying about life – “you’ll be one of a kind and extremely lucky if you ever get out of it alive!” With that in mind, knowing that eventually we are going to die, we decided to enjoy some excitement, take the proverbial reins in hand and one weekend went Shoot’n the Snake.
We started our two day rafting adventure with a casual eight mile float down the Snake River one evening. There were 12 of us, Linda and I; a family of four; and four teenage boys with two escorts. The first evening for the float we were all in one large raft and pretty much got our fill of young “male” inappropriate comments. The rafting company had a campsite set up with an outdoor cook camp and tepees for us and provided an excellent dinner – and then a breakfast the next morning. After breakfast we were separated into two smaller groups of six each plus a guide in the rafts you see above. So with our guide spouting numerous bad jokes and instructions of how to stay in the raft through the rapids (a very important aspect!) on we went down the next eight mile section with all the rapids. The majority of the trip was rather smooth and our guide was most excellent with instructions of when and how to paddle – then came the rapids! Three Oar Deal, Lunch Counter, Rope Rapids, and then the Big Kahuna (the big photo above) - all names of the various rapids. Hanging on to the paddle was hard enough let alone trying to paddle and stay in the raft. We all did though - wet, cold, and on a wild eyed adrenaline high. It was awesome!
Then it was back on the bus to the office for the raft company. We thought we had experienced a rather unique ride and experience. Then as we rode the bus back up the road along the river we saw the hundreds of rafts coming down the river, filled with people doing the exact same thing we had just done – like a line at an amusement park, just without the cotton candy. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat!
Good friends, Janet and Mitch, came down from North Dakota just to visit us (well maybe it was their vacation also in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area!)! Their daughters, Julia and Chole, greeted us just like family - and in a way we are. Janet is our daughter, Angela’s, best friend - for many, many years - and Janet has always seemed like a daughter to us (Mitch didn’t have a choice, he just had to accept us). Good visit, great lunch at Leeks Marina on Jackson Lake and after that we gave them a whirlwind tour of some of the Grand Tetons wonderful sights.
Linda’s sister, Jeanette, and her husband, Keith, came up from St. George, Utah for a visit. Unfortunately the sky was really smoky from all the forest fires up north and west of here, so the scenic views were vastly diminished. We had lots of fun though with a few walks/hikes and sight seeing of what was available.
Took Keith out on the Gros Ventre River road one day, just looking at the sights and all of a sudden we saw a herd of Bison up on a nearby ridge. They were moving our way so I decided to stop and see what direction they were going to head. It turned out that they headed right for us and the herd that we saw at first was growing in size as more and more Bison came up over the ridge. The herd grew from a couple of dozen to hundreds as they lumbered towards us and the truck. We were standing near the truck as they came closer and closer and then the bulls let us know that it was the rutting season and were in a rather feisty mood. Time to get into the truck! Quickly!
The big guy below came almost close enough to touch - while we were in the truck!
While Keith and Jeanette were here we took the opportunity to go to the Bar J Ranch cookout and show - dude ranch style! The dinner was good – cafeteria, or some people would say prison, style -but really nice steaks. The show was outstanding and had us laughing, clapping and singing along well into the night.
On the way to the Gros Ventre Slide and Lower Slide Lake Linda and I happened on to these old abandoned cabins along the road. We wandered around them for a while and then moved on.
A view of the Lower Slide Lake from one of the hiking trails. This area is a favorite camping area of the volunteers here at the Elk Refuge when they want to get away for a bit.
Took a drive one Sunday morning up through the Grand Teton National Park and up through the lower part of Yellowstone National Park. The skies were clear and the vistas were incredible.
This is the Grand Tetons from the north side.
This is a view from Signal Mountain looking out over Jackson Lake at the north end of the Teton range. The one to the left is Mount Moran and has glaciers all year around.
As we were driving up Signal Mountain for the above photo we ran into these young Mule deer fawns – gotta love the ears on these guys.
Here is a view of the Teton range from Jackson Lake. One of the iconic photos of the area.
As we drove through the parks, one of our intentions was to visit sights and areas we had never been in. The day was a busy one for the park as people from all over the world were visiting and we had to wade through the forests of tourists with “selfie” sticks and cameras to see these wonderful areas.
Here are some views of the different hot springs and pools we visited that day, the colors were vivid with the oranges, greens and blues. The weather was rather cool so the steam sometimes obscured the views but you just had to wait until the wind would pick up a bit and the colors would come out.
Here is a Red Tailed Hawk that stopped to watch us as we were on one of the Hot Springs hikes in Yellowstone. At least I think it is a Red Tail Hawk, not quite sure.
Here is a view of the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. We took a walk to the lower part of the falls on Uncle Tom’s Trail. As we were climbing down the stairs that are attached to the side of the canyon cliffs I decided I had gone far enough and took a break on one of the side benches while Linda continued on down a ways – there is a total of 328 steps. The rocks that the metal stair case was attached to on the canyon walls vibrated from the force of the falls – quite an eerie feeling as I waited for my dearest to return from the depths of the canyon.
It always seems that my pride members are gone someplace and I just have to guard the house all by myself. It’s not too bad though, they go hunting sometimes at a wonderful place called a “store”. I’ve heard them call the hunting grounds “Smiths” or “WalMart” or “WinCo” or something like that. The fresh kill they bring back for me is what I deserve for guarding the house on a daily basis. When they peel back the hard shells (they call them cans) and scoop out the tender guts, I can’t help but drool until they serve me. My pride members are very well trained!
Oreo
Once again we leave you with a stunning sunset and warm wishes from Jackson, Wyoming. We are winding down the season here and will be headed towards our winter homes in Texas this year, we hope we see some of you along the way.
Hope you have enjoyed the pics and the adventures with us here in the “hole”!
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
