My buddy Richard comes for a visit!

Richard came to Wyoming for the weekend, we fit as much as we could into our 44 hour window!!

He arrived a little late, slight delay in SLC but he arrived and that is all that mattered. We went straight to a restaurant called Dornan's in the park for a late lunch.

We weren't the only ones eating lunch, as we left the restaurant we saw a moose chowing down beside the river, we watched him for a while......

After we had seen enough of the Moose, we drove over to take a boat ride across Jenny Lake, and from there we hiked up a hill to see some waterfalls.....it was a nice day, pretty hot, but near the falls you could feel the cold mist, it was great.

After the hike we drove around the park so Richard could see it from all angles, and along our drive we found another moose, this time one that was taking an afternoon swim in one of the ponds......

The rest of the evening was spent just driving around taking in the sights. The next morning we got up on a quest to find more wildlife, we entered the park around 9am and had to stop at the ever popular photo point to have our pictures taken as tourists....

We went straight to Antelope Flats Road to find some Bison, and boy did we ever find Bison! At first they were pretty far from the road, but soon they wandered toward the road, so we sat in the car and just watched. It was fun seeing Bison and a calf wandering right in front of us.....

One big guy had a bird taking a ride on his back for a while

and then Momma Bison and baby calf crossed the road, looking both ways as they passed by....glad they were playing safe!

We went to Jackson Lake Lodge for lunch, it was really nice and there is a great view from the restaurant. Here we set up my tripod right outside the lodge, what a view!!!

After lunch, we drove to the Signal Mtn Summit, the summit is at 7700 ft so you can see a long way from up there! It was a beautiful day, everything is so green and flowers are bright beautiful colors.

Another wonderful weekend in Grand Teton Park and I am so glad I got to share it with my friend Richard. He's on a plane headed home now, and I'm off to enjoy my day and prepare for another grueling (ha ha) week of "work" in the park.

:) Pam

Camping, Mapping, Hiking and more.....

My time here in Wyoming is more than half over, I just can't believe it! I'm having fun though!!

This past week we went camping for 4 days with the GIS crew from Yellowstone to work together on utility mapping. It was fun, I learned a lot about utilities, we worked a little and played a lot -

On the way to meet the Yellowstone gang we saw a grizzly bear on the side of the road! I was very excited as this was my first since my arrival, during the trip we saw another one.

Anna, Janice, and Alex getting ready for dinner the first night -

After dinner, Alex talked Janice and I into taking a 10 mile drive down Grassy Lake Road, it's a really rough road out in the middle of nowhere - it was amazing, the sun was going down and by the time we got to the dam it was totally dark, that is when we found out we were almost out of gas, we took these photos wondering if we'd be sleeping in the car that night -

Lucky for Alex, we made it back and the gas light came on right as we were reaching our campground.

The next day we worked at Colter Bay: Andrew, Alex and I hung out on the dock while we waited for the rest of the crew to finish out a little hike they took. As you can see, it was a brutal day at work......

On Wednesday we went to Lewis Lake in Yellowstone to map utilities - we split up into teams and went to work! I was on Andrews team, before we got started we took a moment to take in the view of the lake, it was amazing!

Once we got started, we hiked up a hill to get to the water tower, here Andrew takes the coordinates while I take in the view.

On our last day we were done with our utilities so our boss gave us a trail mapping assignment - it was at Glade Creek Trail and here we go into the wild.....

At our turn around point Anna decided to climb an old tree that had been burned in the forest fire - all fun and games til she came down covered in soot.....

There is still so much more to share, but I have 5 minutes left on my time here on the library computer and then I'm off to the airport to pick up my friend Richard who is visiting for the weekend. I'll post more in a few days!!!

Love, Pam

Bison Bison Bison and a little Yellowstone....

Am I bragging yet? Yesterday we had a meeting in Yellowstone park regarding the White Bark Pine Trees, they are dying and the meeting was about both preservation and restoration. Very interesting stuff. I was just an observer, but was glad to learn about it! We left at 6am and arrived at our destination in Yellowstone at 9am, and here the first thing I see are a few bison out having breakfast.......

How would you like to wake up to find these guys in your front yard?

I have learned that no matter where you are, Bison have the right of way...........

After the meeting we were able to spend a couple hours driving around Yellowstone to see a few things........here are a few pics........

Today, Anna (one of the other interns) and I finished mapping the bike pathway, I biked, she rollerbladed, and we were out there from noon to 5pm, it was fantastic. When we were done we took a break to pop in the shop at South Jenny Lake for an ice cream, but first we had to finish our work.....

I am still amazed that I have the opportunity to do this, I am having the time of my life and can't think of a better way to spend my summer!

And I got paid to ride my bike today......

So, we're almost done with signs inventory, happy to move on to the next assignment, but at the same time really enjoyed it and didn't mind it at all. Then, yesterday we were told that we also needed to do signs inventory on the paved bike pathway in the park - of course, the two other interns and I had to arm wrestle for it, and somehow I won! Today I got to ride my bike for 3 hours, I got paid to do it, and it was a beautiful day! I am about 25% done so hopefully on Thursday I can pick up where I left off!

I was also able to take some pictures of some of the wildflowers in the park - still learning them, I've bought books on both wildflowers and wildlife - who knew there would be so much to learn. Don't even get me started on the glaciers and topography! At any rate, today's focus was wildflowers...... The red one is called "Indian Paintbrush" and the white one I think is "Yampah"

I am not sure what the purple is, maybe a primrose? And the berries have me bewildered in the wilderness! Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone for a meeting regarding the White Bark Pine Trees, apparently they are dying off and there is hope for saving them. Should be interesting! Will post more soon, until then, adios amigos!

What a way to spend a Sunday....

Well, I am completing my 2nd weekend here - I have weekends off to explore on my own. Today there was 40% chance of rain but it turned out to be beautiful so I was able to go on a bike ride anyway!!!


There were lots of people out on the trail today, but still a very peaceful ride, not too crowded. I did get to see some wildlife. There was a pronghorn antelope taking a break from eating at one of the turnouts...it was about 50 yards away and just taking it easy......







There are lots of beautiful wildflowers out, I have learned that since the snow is still melting off the mountain, flowers bloom all summer long. I have purchased a book to identify them, but didn't have it with me today - these yellow ones are very common and all over the park.



I used my new tripod that I ordered from REI, it has flexible legs that wrap on anything, so I hooked it to my bike and took a photo of myself. You can see it was a great day for a bike ride! Also, I wore the new bike jersey and socks that Becca got me for graduation, thanks Becca! I love them!






There is also a horse farm right along the trail I take, today there were many out in the field having lunch as I passed by, I thought these two were particularly pretty.






Well, my time is up on the library computer, I'm going home to prepare for another week of "work" (hard to even call it that because it's such an adventure!).

Have a great week and I'll post more soon!
Love,
Pam