Phelps Lake Hike

Our first hike of the season was to Phelps Lake in the Tetons. We had done this hike in our first year and is a very moderate hike to begin the season. The total distance was 3.5 miles with some uphill sections, but mostly level hiking through the forest. The first leg followed the creek which was running very fast and was running over the banks in several locations:

All of the water was from Phelps lake and was snow runoff from the mountains.

The first leg was also the longest at about 2 miles, after which we reached Phelps Lake:

We stopped at a nice rest area to have a snack and drink some water, and took these shots of the "wildlife" of the day:

As early as it is in the season, we saw lots of wildflowers beginning to show. A couple of the shots didn't turn out clearly, but these few did. Beginning with Phlox:

and Larkspur:

and some Lupines that are beginning to appear:

It was a great beginning to our hiking season and we are looking forward to the next one.

Our first "weekend" was a good one, and we are back to work again today at 3 PM...

New Sightings

The original plan for yesterday was to "hang-out" and not do much of anything. It is tough to do that on a day off with so much to see and do in this area.

We had heard at the front desk from visitors about several sightings of bears in the Jackson Lake Dam area and also about moose sightings in the two most common areas where we have been successful in spotting moose. So, we decided to take a drive through the Tetons to see if we might get lucky and spot those animals.

Our first "known" location for moose didn't produce any activity. We drove north past the Teton Village and about a mile north of the Village we spotted lots of traffic and cars pulled off the road. That could only mean one thing - an animal sighting of some kind. We pulled over to join the crowd and discovered that they were watching a Great Grey Owl. That is a first for us, and a rare sighting:

While driving to our other location, we took a couple photos of the snow situation in the mountains. There is still plenty there:

As we continued on, we discovered that our second "known" location for moose was not productive. We did see some of the early, common wildflowers starting to appear, such as the Balsamroot:

The next stop was at the location where bear sightings have been reported - at the Jackson Lake Dam area. There weren't any bears, but there was other animal activity. We first spotted these elk:

and then a crane:

 

But our timing for bears was off again.

We drove to the Pilgrim Creek Road where the bears are often seen and there were lots of vehicles in the area. One of the folks that was sitting on a chair on the side of this dirt road indicated that the Sow had been spotted with her two cubs. Of course, they were gone by the time we arrived.

We then decided to bag it for the day and headed home. Just as we started out and drove past the Jackson Lake Dam, we spotted another group of vehicles that were stopping to get shots of this young moose:

The animals are out and about, and we just need to catch them in the right place, at the right time.

Our plan for today is to take our first hike. We plan on taking a relatively short hike for our first time out, so we are looking at possibly taking the Phelps Lake/Laurence J Rockefeller trail that we have previously taken. We hope to have some good photos from that hike that will be published tomorrow...

First Work Week Done

Before going into work at 3 PM yesterday, we took a walk - about 4 miles - around the walking trail that we used a lot last year. The Flat Creek was running high and fast and we have these photos taken along the trail:

In some places, it was running over the banks, and in others it was ready to overflow. The runoff from all the snow this year is about 150% of normal. Whitewater rafting here we come!

Our final work day of the first week of the new season was yesterday. We again worked most of the shift alone. There was only one bus, so it  meant more individual check-ins and more walk-ins that we could provide rooms for. It's hard to say how it will go this year with all the personnel changes, but it is still fun - so far - for us.

Today we will catch up on a few to-do items, and will mostly hang-out. We do have our first hike planned for tomorrow - a hike around Jenny Lake in the Tetons - so we hope to be ready for an early start to kick-off our season of fun exercise...

Walk to Town

We took our first walk into town yesterday for the new season. It has been awhile since we have walked so far, and we both felt a bit out of shape. Our regular walks and hiking trips will have to kick-in now so that it won't be so tough on our legs.

Not much has changed from last year, and we did the stroll around the square and visited all the shops to check out new merchandise. Nothing jumped out at us and said "buy me" so we just enjoyed the walk. The arches still provide a unique aspect of Jackson:

 

The stage is running once again and we caught these shots:

 

 

Notice the trees are all coming out now and we could see a huge change just in the last couple days while the temperatures reach into the high 70's.

It was not a typical day at the lodge last night as we had four tour buses for the first time. They took up most of the rooms and left us with mostly just suites to sell. We came within a couple rooms of being sold out for the first time this season. The last bus didn't arrive until after 10:30 last night which created some logistical problems for us as we were about to close out our shift and start the new one at 11 PM. The last bus was from Joy Holiday Tours and they run only tours for the Chinese. They are a different group entirely from the usual all American groups we are used to. The Chinese go through our coffee and hot water setups like crazy. They all carry thermoses and they fill up when they arrive which requires constant back and forth trips to the lodge kitchen to refill our dispensers. They also complain a lot.

Our Friday is today and we will work our shift alone as Judy - our manager - is still trying to figure out a workable schedule while still being a bit shorthanded. We did last nights' shift alone and it worked out OK. I'll say it again, it looks like an interesting summer ahead...

Lawn Care

We had been putting off the mowing chore for almost a week. It was getting close to needing to be cut when we arrived last Monday. The combination of the grass being higher than normal and our being a little bit out of shape made for a tiring and tough job. here's a shot of Josie doing the main job of mowing while I did the trimming with the weed eater:

This year, we used the mower and trimmer from one of our neighbor's and a full-time maintenance worker - Will. That was maybe a 50 foot walk versus a 150 yard walk to pick up and return the tools. We are set to go for another week or so.

Yesterday was our opportunity to work with one of the new front desk employees - Jill. We were a little worried about that experience as a few of the front desk workers had some concerns about her. We went into the experience with an open mind and, except for a few minor occasions, she worked out fine with us. It is a good thing as it looks like the scheduling changes - at least short term until we get a full staff once again - will require our spending a lot of time with her. Our main partner at the front desk - Donna - will be spending more time covering the night shift, or graveyard shift from 11 PM to 7 AM. It will all work out.

We will have a new experience today at the front desk as we are expecting 4 tour buses for the first time. We have 175 rooms, and those buses will take up about 150 rooms. As it is the first time we have so many buses, our Administrative Manager - Jim - will be there to make sure everything goes smoothly with room assignments and bus parking. Tonight should be an interesting shift for us...

Drama At Lodge

Our second day working at the front desk this season was with Donna, our favorite co-worker. She keeps us laughing and we always have a good time on the days we work with her. She also fills us in on all the gossip and happenings behind the scenes. There have been numerous changes in personnel over the winter, some of which are still occurring. Our poor manager, Judy, is faced with a scheduling nightmare now that one of the regular, long time employees quit over the weekend. Tasha is leaving over a dispute with the handling of her boyfriend's firing. It seems that loud, public arguments in the lodge saloon resulted in his firing, and the management insisted that he not show his face on the lodge grounds. Of course, Tasha cannot have a relationship where she can't have her (now) fiancé allowed to visit her at her home on the grounds. She occupies the fifth wheel in the employees area of the campground that is located next to our rig. Other changes in personnel have surprised us, but none of the others have the potential impact of Tasha's departure. We'll see how the changes affect us, if at all.

We spent most of the morning yesterday watching the Indy 500 race which was, for a change, a crash free race until there were only about 25 laps to go. It then turned into a race run under the yellow flag. At one point, the race was stopped while debris was cleared from the track. It still is always a fun race to watch.

Our day at the lodge today will be with one of the new front desk employees. She has already created discomfort with at least three of our coworkers. We will go into the day with an open mind, and will report our experience tomorrow. In the meantime, have a great Memorial Day everybody...

Start of Third Year

It was tough to plan anything on the morning of our first day back to work for our third year here. The anticipation and concern over whether or not we would remember how everything was done was a distraction. So, Josie did some laundry and I puttered around the rig doing some miscellaneous activities to keep busy.

The worry and concern was unnecessary. After a couple transactions, we each were back into the swing of the front desk duties and handling all of the responsibilities for guest check-ins, reports, reservations and paperwork. We worked with Harvey - a veteran in the business and a long time returning front desk employee. He was terrific and was working a double shift due to the short handed problem that our manager has this year. He felt comfortable enough with us, and we were able to continue the second half of our shift working alone. Our manager has another problem with the scheduling now, as one of the long term employees quit yesterday over an issue with her boyfriend who was fired from a position working in the lodge saloon as a bartender. That's another story.

The biggest surprise for us was to discover how busy the lodge is now, and how busy this summer will be. We had a real problem reserving a room for George and Cheryl's planned trip here in late July. The extra buses that have been scheduled this year have taken many of the type rooms we needed to reserve. We did get the reservation done, and in one of the better rooms at a nice discount. More on that as we get closer to their visit. We also would like to see Patty and her family visit us this summer, so we will have to work on making that happen.

With the scheduling problems facing our manager, we will most likely have to work some extra time which is OK with us. There are already some new employees this year, so she will be challenged. As is the case in most businesses, overtime is avoided where possible.

It will definitely be an interesting year in 2014. We are looking forward to enjoying all the activities again and are looking forward to establishing new relationships at the lodge. Cheers to the new season in Jackson Hole!!

Friends, River and Mountain Goats

Another favorite location of ours is the area between the Hobart Junction south of Jackson, to Alpine which is a nice town about 20 miles from Jackson. The Snake River runs through this valley and it is the location for the white water rafting trip that we take each year. Our plan was to stop first at the KOA Campground just before the junction to visit some friends we made during the spring training season this year. Roxie and Terry Austett worked with us in the stand (as cashiers) and they have been fixtures at this KOA for several years. They have been here at the campground since April 7 this year and have seen lots of snow while preparing their park for the season. Here is a shot of Roxie and Terry:

This KOA has been eliminating RV spaces in favor of cabins for the last several years. They are down to about 22 spaces and have these neat cabins that Terry helps build each year:

We had a nice visit with them and will most likely see them off and on all summer.

One of the main reasons for taking this drive yesterday was to see how much the snow run-off has affected the Snake River so far this year. The water was running high and fast, and there were actually rafters on the water. They are most likely crews taking a training float before the start of the season, but they were certainly challenged. Here are some shots of the River and the "floaters":

As we were traveling along the River toward Alpine, Josie suddenly yelled out "stop, stop, stop" as she spotted a family of mountain goats along the side of the road. We have never seen this particular group, but they were nonchalantly grazing on the side of the road with the traffic just whizzing by:

 

and this one, that was sitting on a boulder about 20 feet off the road:

The one sitting on the boulder looked like he was tagged, but was the only one that had a visible (red) tag.

The drive was definitely worth the time. We have really enjoyed our free time before our work schedule begins today. We start at 3 PM for our first shift of the first day of the new season...

Hello Yellowstone

We left early in the morning to make sure we had the entire day to explore Yellowstone for the first time this year. Another reason for leaving early is that there are more chances for wildlife viewing earlier in the day. We were not disappointed.

The drive through the Tetons was beautiful on this clear, crisp morning. We made stops at several places to view the mountains and to get some shots of wildlife.

Our first stop was at the Oxbow Bend area of the Tetons:

 

 

The snow and ice was even more evident in Yellowstone than in the Tetons. These shots are of the drive from the south entrance to the first Visitors Center at Grants Village:

 

 

 

We stopped at the two lakes on this section to take photos of the ice. First was Lewis Lake:

 

 

 

 

followed by Yellowstone Lake:

 

 

 

We knew that a couple that are good friends of ours was working in one of the stores or visitor's centers in the park. We found them working at the Fishing Bridge store, where they were working for the first few weeks of the season while waiting for their regular assignment at the Bridge Bay store to become available. Here are Scott and Valerie:

 

 

 

They, like us, are sold on this part of the country, and they plan to continue returning to the Yellowstone stores in the foreseeable future. We worked with them in each of the two years we worked at Amazon in Kentucky. They joined a church in Campbellsville, and return to Amazon each year for the peak season.

 

 

There were lots of wildlife out and about during the entire day. We spotted lots of elk in both the Tetons and in Yellowstone. Here are some photos of the elk sightings:

 

 

 

There were the normal sightings of bison, and these are a couple shots - close up - of those:

 

 

They are always around in most of the areas in both parks. The big surprise for us was our first sighting of a bear this year:

 

 

He was a big 'ol brown bear that was just walking along in the brush about two hundred yards from the road north of the Canyon Junction.

 

The Canyon roads were open and we stopped to get a few shots of the Canyon and the Falls:

 

 

No trip through Yellowstone is complete without looking at some of the geysers that are always active and colorful:

 

 

It is difficult to sort through so many good photos and decide which to include in these entries, but these give a good example of the beauty and uniqueness of this part of the country. It never gets old.

 

We made it home at around 6 PM and Josie caught this last shot of the cowboy on top of the Million Dollar Bar in Jackson:

 

 

 

The weather was perfect all day until we arrived home to a brief shower. It was another memorable trip through the great National Parks in Wyoming...