The Bear's Tooth

September 29 Jean and I decided to drive along Beartooth Pass.  She had been dealing with pressures from her work, and we hadn't done something together since we went to the Montana Fair in August.

We drove in a loop, starting in Gardiner, then going to Mammoth, Cooke City, Red Lodge, Laurel, Livingston, and then back to Gardiner.  It was definitely an all-day trek since we wanted to take pictures and enjoy the day as much as we could.  I'm not complaining about my work schedule, but my night shift obviously keeps me up all night so we had to hoof it a little bit because sunset is now around 7 pm.  I get up late in the morning or early in the afternoon, so I had to get up "early."

We enjoyed viewing the bridge on US Highway 212 at Lake Creek.  There is also a waterfall there for those who are willing to walk one or two hundred feet.  From there we made a couple stops near Beartooth Butte.  We could easily see the fire watch tower on Clay Butte.  There is still some construction at Beartooth Lake, but it's limited.  We hardly had to wait at all.  From there we drove to the top, about 11,000 feet above sea level.  I noticed that the sign that used to say that we were at the 11,000 mark is painted over.

Beartooth Lake

Near the top we could clearly see Quintuple Peaks, also known as the Bear's Tooth.  I am truly a geek because I have the USGS data for Montana and Wyoming on my computer.  Apparently, even though the sign says The Bear's Tooth, that is actually not the mountain's name.  In fact, the official name is Quintuple Peaks.  It certainly is a geologic quandary.

It's me!  I'm in front of Quintuple Peaks on the Montana and Wyoming border.

Probably Jean's favorite spot was at Twin Lakes.  There are so many lakes in that basin, but only the two lakes are named.  The basin isn't named, and neither is the ridge on the edge of the basin.  I am absolutely amazed at the lack of identification for a place which is so popular and beautiful.

Twin Lakes; Hellroaring Plateau is in the background.

On the Montana side of the pass, we stopped at a roadside park.  There were several least chipmunks in the area, and they looked to be well fed.  We took some pictures of them for a little while and then walked on the short trail to the edge of a cliff.  From that vantage point we were able to see a good portion of Rock Creek Canyon.  There was a little bit of smoke in the air from the Antelope Fire in Yellowstone National Park, and it gave the mountains extra character.

Autumn Blaze

Once we reached Red Lodge, we saw a red fox on Shadow Lane.  It must have had fleas or something because it was constantly itching itself.  It was nearing some people's chickens, but didn't actually pay a lot of attention to the chickens.  I think the fox was more worried about my presence than anything else.

Jean and I ate dinner in Red Lodge at Bogart's.  It's a good Mexican restaurant that we can both recommend for anyone traveling in the area.

From there, we drove to Laurel and got some gas, and then headed back home along Interstate 90.  We had a really great time.  The last time I went on Beartooth Pass was with my ex-girlfriend back in 2007.  Jean hadn't been there since she was a child.  It was about time that we saw it again.  We really had a great time, and we got the relaxation that we needed.

The Gardiner Bruins Isn't Just a Team...

I know I still have to write about Jean's and my trip on Beartooth Pass last week, but before I do, I wanted to tell you about a newspaper story that occurred near my home.

Coop-raiding grizzlies back in Yellowstone

BOZEMAN (AP) -- Three grizzly bears that raided chicken coops near Gardiner have been relocated into Yellowstone National Park, but a male bear that had been hanging out near the school in West Yellowstone was not so fortunate....

Also Tuesday, FWP [Fish, Wildlife and Parks] officials captured a female grizzly and two cubs that raided two separate chicken coops in the Gardiner area.

The sow was in fair condition and the cubs were thin and biologists are uncertain if they will survive the winter.

Yes, the sow and two cubs killed about 14 chickens across the road from me about a quarter-mile away.  When I went to work, I saw the bear cage in their yard, but I couldn't see the grizzly if it was there.  I was sorry to hear about the chickens.  I saw them on a regular basis on my way to Gardiner.

It's kind of interesting when the news reports something that's close to you.

I've been having a grizzly boar in my yard lately, and he's messed up a couple trees.

Also one of our neighbors' cats is missing.  I still haven't seen that cat, and I hope that Puff hasn't turned into a grizzly snack.

The End of Summer

It seems like it is the end of summer now.  This summer was way too short.

August 18-19 Jean and I went to the Montana State Fair in Billings, Montana.  We had a lot of fun.  We stayed at the Days Inn near King Avenue West.  Yeah, I guess I'm a traitor to Super 8, but they had some front desk problems that day, so I stayed somewhere else.  That first evening Jean and I had dinner at Red Lobster.  We hadn't eaten at that restaurant in a really long time, and we both considered it to be a treat.  The next day we went to Best Buy and looked around at all the neat electronics.  What can I say?  I'm easily entertained.  The Best Buy in Billings is closest to Gardiner, and that's about two and a half hours away from us.

Afterward, we finally went to the Montana State Fair.  Jean and I went to see most of the exhibits and animals while we were waiting for Tim, Zana, Kassie, and Jared to arrive.  Unfortunately we didn't see any pigs/hogs or horses.  Also, we got to see how extensively damaged the MetraPark really was from the tornado they recently had.  According to some newspaper reports, it will cost $15 million to repair.

Once the rest arrived, I went on several rides with Jared while Zana took Kassie and Jean got to catch up with her brother Tim.  Jared had a really good time, and even went on the Zipper.  It was funny because he almost puked on that one, but he didn't have any problem with any of the rides that went from side to side.  I guess it was just stuff that made him go forward and backward.  Watch Jared as he does this ride--it's funny:

So after we had all sorts of fun, Jean and I drove back to Gardiner.

Since then Jean and I have been working on the house.  Jean has been doing a lot of housecleaning, going through closets, boxes, and various things that have been in Grandma's house forever.  Myself, I've been helping by going through some of the paperwork.  It's interesting to find things that are so old.  Much of it I am preparing to put in my family tree that I have built.

Dad and Bonnie came over to the house for a short visit on August 28, the day before Dad's birthday.  Dad's continuing to work on another book.  His first book is in the publishing phase.  We had dinner together at Rosie's.  Rosie's is a good place for us to eat because Dad hates cheese and Bonnie doesn't like seafood.  Rosie's offers Italian and steaks, so both of them can find things on the menu that they like.

September 1 Jean and I went to Bozeman to do some shopping, hauling, and watch a movie.  Jean couldn't remember the last time that she had been to a movie, and I knew that the last movie I watched in a theater was Clash of the Titans back in April, the day before I went on my vacation to the Bahamas.  We watched Takers since there wasn't a movie that we both really had to see.

This month we've been seeing a lot of bears in the area.  We have a grizzly boar around our house.  Jean and I witnessed him trying to cross the Yellowstone toward our side of the river.  There were a lot of tourists who were trying to get as close as they could so that they could take pictures.  Fortunately for the idiots, the bear changed his mind halfway across the river and doubled back.  These people just didn't realize how unpredictable a grizzly bear is and that they are the safest in their cars when a grizzly is that close.

A black bear sow and her two cubs have been frequenting the trash cans in Gardiner.  One day the mother even put her nose against our glass door at Super 8!  Black bears aren't as scary as grizzlies in my opinion just because they are scavenger bears.  Idiots were still getting way to close on purpose but no one was hurt; black bears are usually docile anyway.  However, I was working one day at Super 8 about 5:00 a.m. when Roger, our maintenance man, came to the lobby to get some morning coffee.  He left and then came back in a couple minutes later a bit shaken.  He said that he had walked outside with his coffee and then saw that the bear was right in front of him!  By that time the doors on the hotel had already closed so they were locked again.  He dropped his coffee and the bear and he ran away from each other in opposite directions.  I thought it was funny, but I'm glad it didn't happen to me!

My cousin Jared recently had an accident which we just found out about last week.  Some kid threw a rock at him; the rock hit Jared on his left cheek.  The wound turned into an abscess and doctor had to do surgery on Jared.  He's healing up pretty well, but still I think that charges should be brought against the other child for assault just to show the boy how serious rock-throwing is, since the parents obviously aren't teaching him.  Zana showed the mother of the culprit a picture of the wound and what Jared's cheek looked like after the surgery and the culprit's mother almost vomited.  I thought it served her right for being a bad mom.  I saw the pictures too, but my reaction was more of shock than anything else; I've seen bad wounds before.

Grandma and Betty are doing alright, though Betty's health is decreasing.  She's having frequent falls.  As a dementia patient, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she does eventually pass away as a result of falling (direct or indirect).  Alzheimer's patients tend to be obsessive walkers, but they also suffer from gait problems.  The combination can sometimes be fatal.  I certainly hope that isn't the case, but Jean and I are prepared for that possibility.  The nursing home wants to do a CAT scan on Betty to help determine the reason that she's not vocal at all.  They think that she has partial paralysis, but again, she has dementia.  Sometimes dementia patients just forget how to make sounds.  The last time Jean and I saw Betty, she didn't recognize either of us; that is a bit unusual.  She typically thinks that I am my father, and sometimes she recognizes Jean.  We also noticed that she favored her left side as if she's had a stroke.  Don't misunderstand me; I don't think she's had a stroke, but I think there's a possibility that she's had mini-strokes or that her frequent falls have affected her in this way.

Grandma is still pretty much the same.  She is mostly bedridden unless other people help her out.  At least in the natural it appears that she won't regain her physical strength.  When it comes to her mind, she has good days and she has bad days.  Sometimes she can understand what goes on around her, and other times, she doesn't.  Regardless of what we see, I still believe in a God capable of healing even the most hopeless cases.  Some might question why I look for God to heal a woman who has lived a long life of 82 years.  It doesn't seem right for her to linger the way she is.  She still wants to live too.  So unless God tells me otherwise, I pray for her healing.

Yesterday Jean and I went to Livingston to celebrate birthdays for several people: Chris and Bonnie (whose birthdays are on the same day), Dad, Janet, and Wilma.  I was surprised at Wilma because she was an elderly lady and she was bragging about the tattoos that she just got!  They looked good too.  She's a substitute lunch lady at one of the elementary schools in Livingston.  I'm sure the kids give her lots of attention. :)

Union Falls Backpacking Trip

August 11-13, Trever and I backpacked to Union Falls in Yellowstone National Park.  I have been wanting to go to Union Falls since March and have talked with quite a few people who have backpacked in that region to know what is there.  I realized that it was too soggy to go in May with Kevin, so I had to postpone it until later.  The area dries up and is better to hike in August or September.  Although Janet (from Livingston) wanted to go, her schedule was too busy to come with Trever and me this year.  I made last-minute reservations at 9U5 for a couple nights, and then we changed it to 9U4 for the first night and 9U5 for the second since 9U4 was already booked for the second night.  (Anyone who knows back country trails in Yellowstone Park will know where these campsites are.)

Trever didn't have most of the supplies that he needed for this trip, and I wanted to supplement what I already had, so we both ended up spending some money preparing for this trip.  Trever hadn't done a lot of camping and backpacking, so this was going to be a learning experience for him.  I made sure that he had the bare necessities by giving him a list.  One of the things we kind of overdid it on was the food.  We both bought food for about five days and had to take about half of it back with us.

The drive from Gardiner to Grassy Lake Reservoir (map courtesy of Google)

 We started August 11 early in the morning.  As a matter of fact, anything before noon is early in the morning for me because of my work schedule, which has me up until after 6:00 a.m. on weekends.  Trever and I got together about 7:45 a.m. and got to Mammoth a little after 8:00 a.m.

We received our backpacking permit and I made sure Trever saw the bear safety video that they present.  Only at the end of the trip did I realize that we had nothing to fear from bears.

From there we drove to Old Faithful through the construction zone between Norris and Madison.  They weren't kidding when they said that there would be half-hour delays!  On the other hand, I'm very glad that the Park is finally getting a better road for that area because it had previously been in terrible, horrible shape.

We ate lunch at Old Faithful and saw it go off.  It was our last real meal before we would go into the middle of nowhere.  I had seen Old Faithful go off on many occasions, so to me it isn't anything terribly special.  We continued to Flagg Ranch and then went to Grassy Lake Reservoir by way of a gravel road that was somewhat maintained.  From start to finish, it took us about five and a half hours to get to the reservoir with all the interruptions.

Grassy Lake Reservoir

From Grassy Lake Reservoir we had to hike to our first campsite.  Going in seemed a lot longer than getting out.  Part of the reason was because our bags were a bit heavier than they were coming out.  But as well, by the time we were ready to come back home, we were a little more fit for the job.

We had to ford Falls River, and that was pretty easy.  The water was only about knee-deep and the current wasn't very swift.  The river wasn't very wide--maybe only fifty feet.  Once we got to the other side, our feet felt really good.

Trever hikes across Falls River.

Wayne on the Falls River

During our 4 1/2 hour hike to our campsite approximately 6 1/2 miles from Grassy Lake Reservoir, we saw many Boy Scouts.  They were all coming back from swimming in Scout Pool, which is only about 4/5 mile from Union Falls.  We also had to cross one more creek before we got to our campsite: Proposition Creek.  That creek was much easier since it was shallower and also had logs that went across it.  We truly were in the middle of nowhere.  There wasn't a sound anywhere around us with the exception of an occasional group of Boy Scouts or other hikers and squirrels.

We got to 9U4 at about 6:00 p.m. and immediately set up our campsite.  We were pretty tired from the long day, so we stayed there.  We did build a fire, which was a saving grace because of the number of mosquitoes.  The smoke from the fire kept them at bay.  We did have mosquito repellent, but they still bothered us by flying around us all the time without the campfire.  We made dinner for ourselves and then went to bed around 10:00 p.m. after talking for a few hours.

 

After breakfast Trever and I cleaned up camp a bit.  In case the people who had reservations for 9U4 showed up that night we wanted to be able to quickly pick up camp and move it.  Reserving a campsite in Yellowstone in the back country only costs $20 up front, but if someone wants to cancel it, they don't get their money back.  Since there is no incentive for people to actually cancel, we figured we'd wait and see if the people who reserved actually came before moving our stuff to 9U5.

Trever and I then hiked to Union Falls, a 250-foot fan plunge waterfall.  The hike was uphill, but was fairly easy and only about 1 1/2 miles from 9U4.  It's a pretty impressive site and the main trail ends at a great vantage point.

Wayne at Union Falls

Trever at Union Falls

We decided that we wanted to go down a steep trail that went to the base of Union Falls.  Although Trever had a little bit of difficult, he was able to conquer his fear.  The base was just as beautiful as the vantage point, though significantly wetter.

From there we hiked off-trail up one of the tributaries of Mountain Ash Creek.  We started on the west side of the creek but discovered that it was very marshy.  We saw Early Morning Falls and an unnamed falls.

Early Morning Falls

Unnamed waterfall on Mountain Ash Creek tributary

Since it was so marshy on the west side of the creek, we opted to cross the tributary at the unnamed falls to the east side, where it appeared to be dryer.  We were correct and found hiking on that side of the creek much easier.

Eventually we saw Morning Falls, an impressive 60-foot waterfall with a width of 100 feet.  To the east of Morning Falls we could see Riverwalk Falls on yet another tributary of the creek.

Morning Falls

We opted not to get closer to Riverwalk Falls, though.  Instead we wanted to see the Dawn Cascades.  We rested at the base of the first of the four cascades for about an hour and then walked back to camp.  On the way back, we hiked on the east side of the creek way above it so that we stayed out of anything marshy.  From up there, we had a great view of the mountain on the other side of the creek.  The area was well forested.

Once we got back to camp, we saw that the people who originally made reservations for 9U4 were already there, so we quickly packed up camp and moved to 9U5.  The other campers didn't seem to know what to make of us and didn't say a lot.  Their leader seemed to know the area though and may have been local.  Everyone was understanding and agreeable, so there weren't any misunderstandings.

We did make some discoveries, as you will realize in this next video:

The hike back was easier than the hike in.  The toughest spot was between Proposition Creek and a resting area about half a mile above the crossing.  It was a steep incline up some sort of terrace.  I wish I knew more about geology to describe it better!  We took our time a little more than we did on the way in as well.  We starting hiking about 11:00 a.m. and got back to the Gardiner about 7:30 p.m.  In all, we hiked about 20-25 miles.  For 13 of those miles, we wore heavy backpacks.  We avoided the construction between Norris and Madison by driving on the east side of the Park.

When we got back, Trever had to go to work for a couple hours, but I had to go to work at 10:00 p.m. for eight hours.  When I got off work, I had been awake for about 22 hours.  I had a pretty long day.  Saturday, I did absolutely nothing.

Anyway, Trever and I had a great time and we both considered this a trip of a lifetime.  Trever did well as a greenhorn and he came back from it a better man.  Trever's excited and wants to go on more difficult hiking trips.

Trip to Virginia City and the Park County Fair

Last week I went to Virginia City and Nevada City with Jean.  We went with Stan and Penny Welch, who are Bruce's brother and his wife.  We only had one day there--July 29, 2010.  We met Stan and Penny at Famous Dave's where we had lunch.

Afterward we drove to Virginia City.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the scenery.  Once we were there we looked at a few of the old buildings and museums.  We had to walk through the candy store of course and we ate ice cream in one of the stores.

We also went to Nevada City where we panned for gold and garnets.  The ground had a lot of garnets, most of them heavily fractured, and Jean and I were able to get a little bit of gold out of each bucket that we were given.  We might have $0.25 of gold apiece.  Mining is definitely made for obsessive-compulsive people.  It's definitely not for those who have short attention spans.  It was fun to learn a little about the rocks though.

August 4 I entered three pictures into the Park County Fair.  Tonight I got a call from my Dad saying that I had one first place for my grizzly bear picture, and third place on my blue and gold macaw.

Grizzly Curiosity

Blue and Gold Macaw

Innocence of Summer