Sepulcher Mountain Trail

Well, after conditioning and getting used to the altitude with my long hike almost a week ago, I decided I would try to tackle my first mountain. The Sepulcher Mountain Trail is in the northwest corner of the park. Here are some of the details that I gathered from various hiking websites...

Difficulty:  Difficult
Elevation Gain:  3,312 Feet
High Point:  9,652 Feet
Length:  12.1 Miles


Kurt, my assistant manager, and his friend Carolyn joined me on this hike. 

Kurt

Carolyn

As you can see, there was a lot of fresh powder on the ground. It snowed about 3-4 inches the previous night, and we were concerned about the conditions of the roads and the trail itself. After all, it was about a two hour drive from Old Faithful to the trail head. We contacted the park rangers prior to leaving in the morning and they informed us that the roads were fine. They also told us that the trail should still be marked and easily visible. So, we took off at about 7:30am with all our gear, trekking poles, ice axes, and snowshoes.

We finally got started at about 10:30. Here are some pictures that we took along the way. Remember, you can click on the picture and it will come up in a higher resolution.

Where are we again?

The trail went from fairly dry to muddy.

And as we got higher in elevation, the trail went from muddy to snow.

Not only was the trail covered in snow, but we started to get covered in snow ourselves.

Soon the snow became so deep that we were forced to use our snowshoes. The elevation was really starting to hit us here. It became harder to breath, and we had to slow down our pace.

But with all our hard work, we finally started to get some great views. We could tell we were getting close.

Success! It was time to relax, eat lunch, and enjoy the view.

I wish I could've stayed there longer. But the wind was picking up, and the temperature began to drop.

One quick pose and back down we went.

Since the wind moved most of the clouds away, we were able to get some great views going back down.

More great views until we got back to the car. Another successful hike!

First Big Hike

Two days ago, I finally got the time to go on a full day hike. My friend Katie and I drove up to a trail called Hellroaring Creek. It was a 2 hour drive to get there, but worth it in every way.

We started out on the Hellroaring Trailhead at 10am, went to the bridge between 2H7 and 2H8, crossed over and headed back to the ford. From there we headed northwest, crossed the stock bridge, and came back down across the Blacktail Plateau. We exited at the Blacktail Creek Trailhead at 7pm, and got a ride back to the car from some co-workers. They saved us from a long walk back, and it surely would have been dark by the time we got to the car. The total mileage of the hike was about 17 miles. 

I picked out some of my favorite pictures but you really have to check out the slideshow because there are so many good ones.

And yes, those are two grizzly bears fighting. The slideshow is below.

Geysers, Pools, and Hot Springs

After hiking on Friday in the Tetons, I decided that I would stay around the Old Faithful area for the weekend and get some shots of the different thermal features in the area. I was pretty tired of driving, so not having to drive very far was appealing. Here are some of the more popular thermal features, and while they look incredible, they also smell really bad!

Oh, and I had a curious bystander on the way to one of the geyser basins...

Well, that is about it for now. I have some adventures planned for later this week, so I will update again probably next Monday when I come back in to town.

Road Opened

On Friday, my friend Susan and I really wanted to do some hiking for the day. After spending all week in the car, in training, and having bad weather, we couldn't wait to get away from it all for a day. We went to the Ranger Station at Old Faithful to see what they recommended. Almost everything near Old Faithful is still closed, either because there is still too much snow or there are too many bears. If we wanted to do some serious hiking, we were going to have to travel up north at least an hour. This didn't phase us, as we got right in my car and started to go.

As soon as we left though, I had forgotten that the road had finally opened to go further south towards Grand Teton National Park. The park is my second favorite, next to Yellowstone. We both decided that this would be a better choice than heading up north. So, we headed south towards the Tetons and arrived at the trail head for Hidden Falls about an hour and a half later. We managed to get some great pictures, of both the landscape and the wildlife. Unfortunately, we couldn't get pictures of the pack of wolves we saw during the drive down. They ran across the road about 100 feet in front of my car, stopped for a second and looked at me, then continued into the forest. It all happened so fast that I didn't have enough time to reach back and grab my camera while trying to drive at the same time. The whole experience sent chills through my body, and I will never forget it.

Here are some of the pictures we did manage to get though...

The First Days

Well, since most of you know by now, the internet in Yellowstone flat out stinks. So, having the day off I decided to make a short trek to West Yellowstone in Montana. It's only about a 30 minute drive, and they have a public library with free internet access. Not too bad if I have to come here once a week, and my friends that come with me can go walk around town and stock up on things. So, it works out for everyone.

I started orientation and training last Tuesday in Mammoth Hot Springs. They had me stay there for a couple days before going to my real destination, Old Faithful Lodge. Mammoth is a really nice place in Yellowstone, and is one of the oldest "towns" inside the park. The only downside with staying in Mammoth for a few days was having to unpack all my stuff for the dorm there, only to pack it all up again to make the 2 hour drive south to Old Faithful. Otherwise, I had a great time meeting new people, learning the system, and getting prepared for my new job.

After the first day of training, I took a trip to Lamar Valley with some friends to see if we could get some pictures of wildlife, and we were treated to some great opportunities...

Bad Internet

I know it's been a few days since I last updated, but the internet connection is terrible. Most of the time, I can't even load this site to work on here. But, luckily the connection is good enough this morning for me to hop on before work today and do a small update.

Everything has been going great so far. I'm finally settled in with my room mates, but we really don't see eachother very often because we all have different work schedules. Today will be my first full day of work, and I'm pretty excited to finally make some money. I've met all my managers and they seem like really great people so I am looking forward to working with them.

I've been able to get some more great pictures of the wildlife around here, but they won't be uploaded until Tuesday when I go to West Yellowstone. I plan on going to the library there so I can upload everything I have so far. And, I am searching for a place to get my windshield fixed because it got hit by a stone and cracked. It isn't too bad, but I'd rather get it fixed before the crack gets worse.

Well, it's time to get ready for work. Hopefully the pictures will be up by tomorrow afternoon.

Almost Settled In

Today has been interesting so far. I woke up early for my orientation so that I could get there before the bus crowd. When I got to the orientation building, there were only a few other people there. I was asked a few questions, I filled out some forms, and was on my way to Mammoth Hot Springs. What I didn't know is that I have to stay here for 2 nights instead of going to my location right away. So, I had to unpack a bunch of my stuff for now. I don't have any cell phone service here, but at least the internet is fast. As you can see, I made myself right at home...

And I have one more picture to share that I took on my way to the park today.

It reads "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people", and is at the north entrance to Yellowstone. Well, time to go do some more training and do some hiking afterwards. All these days in the car have started to get to me...I need some exercise!

By Myself

Another reminder: you can click on the picture slideshow and it will open in a new window. Then, you can manually go through each picture at a much higher resolution and in more detail.


Well, I dropped my dad off at the airport this morning so now I am by myself. This will be the first and last day by myself, since tomorrow I will be in the dorms meeting my new roommates and moving in. My plan was to drop off my dad, then come back to the hotel and get a couple extra hours of sleep. Unfortunately, waking up at 5am the last few days has gotten to me, so now I am wide awake. No extra sleep for me! Oh well, more time to go explore.


Yesterday we traveled to Old Faithful so my dad could see where I am working. It turns out that the place I am working at isn't even open yet until later this week! But, we did have good timing for the geyser as it erupted right when we went to see it. After that, we traveled to Lamar Valley in the northeastern end of the park and got to see some wildlife. My dad managed to get some great shots with his camera...

A Grizzly snacking on an unsuspecting tourist. (Just kidding!)

Check out this great set of pictures, and the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOK1kTJXD14

And last but not least...

Here is a slideshow of everything from yesterday, including higher res photos of the ones above.

Finally in Yellowstone

Had a long day today. We weren't expecting to do a lot of driving, but we still ended up driving almost 12 hours. Despite all of this time in the car, we managed to see a lot of wildlife and scenery. My dad and I have been having a great time so far. There's been a lot of laughter and a lot of joking around, which always makes the time go by fairly quick in the car.

By the way, tickets for speeding are cheap in Wyoming. 20 miles per hour over the speed limit only costs 90 dollars. My dad found this out the hard way, thinking the limit was 75 when it was really 65. Over the last 3 days, I'd say we averaged about 10-12 hours of driving followed by 2 hours of drinking.

After all of this mountain driving, I am happy to say that my new brakes have done quite well...especially when rounding corners in Yellowstone with bison standing in the middle of the road. Thank you Dad for having a fast reaction time.

So far, we have seen mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, bison, deer, prairie dogs, pronghorns, and swollen raccoons napping on the side of the road. (Sure is a funny place to take a nap.) This has only been over the last two days, so I can't wait to see what's in store for me over the course of a whole summer.

I can't individually post comments for each picture, so I am going to choose a couple of my favorites from today. The rest will be in the slideshow below. Speaking of slideshows, I want everyone to know that you can click on the slideshow and it will open in a new window. Then, you can manually go through each picture at a much higher resolution and in more detail.

Thank God for good brakes because this would have left a mark.

Right before I almost got killed by falling rocks.

My dad smiling as I almost get killed by falling rocks. 

Now you know why we drink for 2 hours every night.

The orange pole is 6 feet tall. I left 80 and sunny in Toledo for this.

And I'm still glad that I did.