Yellowstone Update

More news from the Stone.

* A lot of my favorite people are leaving for the season - photographers, animal watchers. I might see some again in September. For now, they are getting out of dodge before the real tourist season hits. Unfortunately, they will be replaced by silly, stupid and annoying tourist. People who ask me how they ended up at Canyon, if the road is really closed, where the restrooms are, if they have to prepay and why we don't keep trash cans outside. Sigh.

* I said goodbye to one pair of photographers yesterday. They are headed to the Tetons for awhile and then to Michigan. They told me how to find them in Jackson so that I can come say hello if I make it that far south. They also told me where to find an osprey nest (see below).

* There is an osprey nest located north of Tower. I haven't made it up the pass yet, to find it for myself, but I hear it is near the interesting rock formations just north of the falls. You take one of the pull outs and then look down into the canyon. The photographer told me there is a hoo doo down there and the nest is directly on top of it. You can look right into the nest and see the mother sitting on her eggs. As of yesterday, the eggs hadn't hatched and you could watch the father bring food and feed the mother osprey.

* I can't remember if I've mentioned the ice climbers on here yet. They were the first deaths of the season in the park. In May, 2 twenty-something guys from Bozeman came to the park to ice climb silver cascade. When they didn't show up for work on Monday, a search quickly discovered their bodies in the canyon. It appeared that the ice column broke as they were ascending. I've never ice climber and don't claim to be an expert by any means but climbing ice that late in the season and have a very mild winter just doesn't seem to be a good idea.

* Another strange occurrence (and perhaps the 3rd death of the year) was another twenty-something that left his care at the Hellroaring trail head and disappeared. From what I've heard, they haven't been able to locate any evidence as to his location. He was a marine back from Iraq and suffering with PTSD. Many are assuming he took the Hellroaring trail in order to commit suicide. There is a variety of locations on that trail that are cliffs overlooking the canyon.

* We had a recovery recently of an RV that went off the road near Norris. I've heard they had to move over in the lane in order to avoid an 18-wheeler than was over the center line. As the did this, one of their tires went off the road and took the rest of the RV with it. There was actually no damage to the RV. It stayed upright and just needed assistance getting back onto the road. The mistake cost them close to $1500.

* Speaking of 18-wheelers in the park, last year there was a griz just south of Canyon. A few of us were on our way back from hiking around the Canyon and stopped to watch him. Of course, there were tons of cars stopped because he was so close to the road. He ended up wanting to cross the road. He was in front of a car and about to step out when an 18-wheeler speed by - nearly hitting him. I don't think the truck even hit his break to pass all the cars and I'm positive they never saw the bear. The bear had to raise up on his back legs to avoid the truck. It was super annoying.

* I was wrong in my last post. I mentioned a griz being hit in the park near Canyon. I read an article that it was a mama with 3 cubs. Rangers hiked into the back country and didn't find her dead so they believe she survived the hit. Unfortunately, that information was in an article about another griz getting hit that did not survive. That griz was on the west side of the park and it was a hit & run.

* Most of the tourist we meet are nice and interesting but others are just annoying. A few tourist we've had in recently:

~ One guy told me I look like Picabo Street
~ A foreigner came in, looked all around the store and then asked if we had any snacks. It's a gas station - show me a wall that doesn't have a snack.
~ A French guy came in asking if we spoke French. I told him a little but he then said, "a man, a man" and had the non-speaking French help him look at something on his car.
~

All for now.